‘Dominate everybody’: Cougars’ junior named county’s best

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GREENFIELD — Cooper Noehre is comfortable under the spotlight.

Literally.

With all eyes on him, with a packed Bankers Life Fieldhouse watching his every move, the Greenfield-Central junior didn’t notice any of it.

He was wrestling for a state championship, and the spotlight helped block out any nerves. Instead of feeling pressure, he felt focused.

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“It seems like everything would just be on you, which it is, but just the lights shining down on the red mats, all you can see really is the flashlights,” Noehre said. “You can’t really see everybody else, so it kind of blocks everything out. It helps a lot, I think.”

“I didn’t hear a single thing, either, especially during the match,” he added. “Before the match I could hear the crowd, but when that whistle blows, it’s just you and him. That’s all I heard the whole match. Maybe Coach (Josh) Holden spit a couple words at me, but that’s about it.”

That 152-pound championship match didn’t go the way he wanted, but the state runner-up finish was a bookend to a fantastic high school wrestling season. The junior went 41-4 on the year, defeating several of the top wrestlers in his weight class throughout the year.

Noehre, already comfortable in the spotlight, has earned himself another distinction that singles him out, this time as the Hancock County Wrestler of the Year.

“It shows that hard work pays off,” Noehre said while sitting in the Greenfield-Central wrestling room. “I spent countless hours in this room and other rooms too, just training hard to get where I am today. It’s pretty cool.”

First impressions

For someone who only started wrestling regularly five years ago, Noehre has quickly risen to the top of Indiana’s elite.

It’s especially impressive given the initial reaction he had to wrestling. Put simply, he didn’t like it.

Noehre first tried wrestling sometime around kindergarten, and he disliked it. He stopped. Fast-forward a few years, and he decided to give it another try. He had a family background in wrestling — his dad and his older brother, Carter, were wrestlers — so he gave it another go.

His mindset changed as he grew older.

“In sixth grade I picked it back up,” Noehre said. “I liked it. You get to beat on some people.”

A year later, he started going to Central Indiana Academy of Wrestling. He “absolutely hated” that, too the first time he went, he said. But it was a good workout, so he gave that a second shot.

He fell in love with it.

Now, wrestling is a year-round sport for Noehre. He almost never stops, even when his high school coach, Holden, suggests that he take a break.

The hard work he puts in all season, and even more importantly in the offseason, is a big part of why Noehre has been able to ascend the Indiana ranks so quickly despite the late start.

“Cooper, even though he hasn’t wrestled since second grade, he’s wrestled a lot of seasons because he never stops,” Holden said. “Offseason tournaments, state level, national level. We were getting ready for the season this year and he was going to New York. He was the only kid who did that, wrestling competitively at that time. That gets you good, fast. I think that’s what’s really helped him. He never stops.”

The Greenfield-Central wrestling staff talks about utilizing the offseason to catch up to people who are better than you, people who have been wrestling for longer than someone like Noehre has.

“If I wrestle in the offseason it’s like another season. If I’m a second year-wrestler but I’ve wrestled two offseasons, that’s like two more seasons in a row,” Holden said. “That’s how you get good. The season is kind of the test. It helps that you’re getting the reps. It’s the offseason that really kind of separates you. A lot of these kids do start in second grade now, so we’ve got to catch them.”

With the hard work and the offseason dedication, Noehre has caught up. Fast.

A new name

Meet Hydro.

Noehre earned himself that new nickname this season, and it kind of came out of nowhere.

The first time someone called him by the new name, his reaction was a bit of confusion.

He didn’t get the nickname by dominating on the mat. He didn’t earn the nickname by advancing to state. He didn’t earn it by doing anything in particular on the wrestling mat.

He got it by drinking water. A lot of water.

“So, the beginning of the year, I drank a crap-ton of water. Obviously hydro is water, whatever. I don’t really know how it came on, but it just started one day,” Noehre said. “I don’t remember if Coach (Austin) Early or (sophomore) Matt Torres made it up. It was one of them. The first day they called me that, they broke me down to go wrestle a match, and they called my Hydro, and I just looked at them like … ‘What?’”

The new nickname didn’t catch on right away. It took until nearly the end of the season, but once it did catch on, it happened quickly.

“No one really knew that was my name until after semistate,” Noehre said. “A lot of my friends came and watched me at semistate — I like that a lot. Love the support — but all the teammates that came and watched, they told all my friends that my name is Hydro. So at school they’d just walk past me like, ‘What’s up, Hydro?’”

Leading up to the state finals, he was regularly referred to on Twitter as Hydro. Sometimes even that name wasn’t used, and instead, drops of water emojis were all that was needed.

Being easy-going and fun-loving, Noehre just kind of went with it. In his free time, he said he likes to just hang out and go with the flow — no pun intended — so it’s no surprise he just kind of accepted his new nickname.

That personality works well when it comes time to hit the mats.

“I think he’s got the perfect personality for wrestling. I think it’s such a rigorous sport that I think it gets to a lot people mentally,” Holden said. “He’s just got that fun-loving personality where he’s always got a smile on his face. I think it really helps him when he goes to big tournaments like state or national-level tournaments. He manages to stay relaxed.”

Bigger goals

What Noehre was able to accomplish this season will affect both wrestler and his team heading into next year.

For the Cougars, watching the junior excel, watching him wrestle under the spotlight, serves as big-time motivation and inspiration.

“I think he does two things for us. Number one, he shows people that its possible, and belief is such a big part,” Holden said. “If I don’t believe I can ever get there, how am I motivated to put in the work to get there? He shows the young kids that it’s possible. He came from the same place they did. He shows them the way — these are things you need to do and how you can get there. The other thing I think he does is he kind of shows them the attitude you’ve got to have to be good at this sport, which is I’ll be your best friend outside of the room, things are laid back, but once practice starts, it’s competition time. It’s time for me to get better. I’m coming after you. That’s really helped because we have a lot of good, nice kids, and sometimes in wrestling you can’t always be nice.

“We’ve had a lot of guys that have wrestled with him that I think have kind of gone, oh, that’s how you do it. He just flips a switch.”

Noehre is pretty confident in himself. He believes in himself and believes he’s the best. What he accomplished this year affirms his confidence but also will push him moving forward.

Second place wasn’t good enough for him. Not a chance.

“I thought I could win it, just because I know who I am and what I’m capable of doing. I didn’t think anyone could stop me,” Noehre said. “Obviously, it happened. You live. End of the day you’re still going to go home, go to sleep, wake up and be the same person.”

He had some memorable matches and moments this year. One was at the Perry Meridian Duals in December, where he beat the second- and third-ranked wrestlers in the state at the time. Winning a semistate title was another, as was getting to wrestle under the spotlight in the finals

But he’s already looking ahead. He begrudgingly took a short break after the state finals, but he is heading to Wabash College in early April to wrestle in a tournament. He’ll be starting training soon, four to five days a week, split between Greenfield-Central and the Central Indiana Academy.

That’s also in preparation for the Junior Duals in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and the Junior National Duals in Fargo, North Dakota.

He’s been to Fargo twice and hasn’t placed, despite coming close last year. Placing high this time around is a big goal.

But the Most Improved wrestler of the year, according to HoosierMat, has grown since then. The changes are something Noehre attributes to his maturity, knowledge, a stricter diet and hard work.

“It’s cool to see that. Most improved, I mean, from not going to state to being under the lights is pretty significant, I think,” Noehre said. “Last year I beat plenty of state placers; it just didn’t go my way in the ticket round. I think I was capable of going to state last year, but I didn’t. Should’ve, would’ve, could’ve, right?”

Once he gets through the offseason, the goals are obvious for his senior year at Greenfield-Central. The Cougars wrestling room has a wall of champions.

He wants to be in the spotlight again. He wants to be on that wall.

He doesn’t just want to beat everybody. He wants to dominate.

“Obviously, a state championship. Get on that wall. Dominate everybody,” Noehre said of his goals. “If you can just break somebody in a match, it says a lot, especially if they are good.”

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Greenfield-Central junior Cooper Noehre accumulated plenty of accolades and accomplishments this year en route to being named the Hancock County Wrestler of the Year.

Win/loss record: 41-4

Falls: 13

Tech falls: 8

Major decisions: 6

Takedowns: 137

Team points scored: 230.5

Connersville Classic champion

Hoosier Heritage Conference champion

Regional champion

Semistate champion

State runner-up 

INSIDE: Learn more about Cooper Noehre on Page B2.

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