Sam Chandler has been dealing with a knee injury all season.

The injury held the Seymour senior out of some matches during the middle of this wrestling season, but as the postseason neared, Chandler wanted to tough it out to get back on the mat.

He returned at the sectional two weeks ago at Jennings County, placed third overall to qualify for the regional. At the regional last week at Jeffersonville, he placed fourth to advance to semistate for the first time in his career.

Chandler wasn’t able to go to sectional his freshman year, and last year in his junior season, he missed out on competing at regional due to a soccer tournament.

This year, nothing was stopping him, and he made the most of his opportunity.

“Getting to semistate my senior year is really great,” Chandler said. “Overcoming that (knee injury) was a challenge. Going toward the end of the season with nothing else to lose, I just decided to go all out.”

Chandler’s ticket to semistate was punched last week when he pinned Charlestown’s Jordan Guerrero in 44 seconds in the 152-pound weight class.

“I came out ready to go,” Chandler said. “I had a great warmup, and then I just came out and had to get the win. I made sure to end it fast so I had time to recover for the next one.”

In the semifinal, Chandler nearly topped West Washington’s Wyatt Johnson, the eventual regional champ at 152, but Chandler got stuck at the end, and Johnston was able to score a fall at 5:40.

But the quick work Chandler did in his first match was enough to advance him to this weekend at the Ford Center in Evansville.

Chandler has been down to the Ford Center a couple of different times. He remembers traveling down a few years ago to watch former Owls Nate Banister, Sam Castetter and Jake Rotert compete in semistate. Chandler also wrestled in that venue for freshman/sophomore state meets.

Now a senior, Chandler said he doesn’t get too nervous for matches. He knows if he’s nervous, it means he’s excited, and that’s a good thing.

“I always focus on what I’m most comfortable with and try to control the match from there,” Chandler said of his style. “I feel like I have a good takedown. I just have to know when is the best time to try to take that shot.”

Due to the injury, Chandler hasn’t been on the mat a whole lot this season, so he’s working to gain more confidence in that area during matches.

Chandler won’t be going alone, either. One of his teammates, sophomore Ricky Bogard, also is a semistate qualifier.

“It’s really great,” Chandler said. “Last year, we only had one guy go down, so it’s nice to have more than one.”

Bogard is one of many underclassmen the Owls had on the roster this season.

As an experienced veteran, it has been cool for Chandler to see a lot of the young guys grow. One wrestler in particular, freshman Briley Compton, Chandler has been able to wrestle a lot in practice, and he has noticed a lot of growth in Compton, who was a regional qualifier this season.

“The start of the season was a little rough,” Chandler said. “We have a lot of new guys. Watching them learn and grow was really cool to watch. I got to wrestle Briley Compton, he’s a freshman, so watching him improve has been really cool to see.”

Chandler said he has been soaking in these past few weeks, having a smile on his face during practices knowing his wrestling career could be over soon. The senior played soccer for the Owls in the fall and plays club soccer in the spring, so this is his final team sport at Seymour.

It will be single elimination this Saturday at semistate. If you win your first match, you enter what’s called a ticket round, meaning you have to win a second match to punch your ticket to the state finals.

Chandler has a tough draw. At 17-10 this season, Chandler’s first opponent is Bloomington South’s Evan Roudebush, who is 33-2 this season.

“Semistate is definitely going to be a hard challenge,” Chandler said. “I’ve got a really hard draw, but whenever I don’t have more expectations put on me, it makes me more creative because I don’t have anything to lose.”

Matches get underway this Saturday at 9 a.m. EST (8 a.m. Evansville time).

Chandler knows his final match could come at any time, so he plans to leave it all out on the mat this Saturday.

“I’m just trying to go out there with confidence,” he said. “After my match, I don’t want to feel any regret, so I just want to leave knowing I did everything I could, and I’ll be happy with that.”

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The second installment of Seymour’s semistate preview, featuring Ricky Bogard, will be featured in Friday’s Tribune.