SHELBYVILLE — At less than 100 percent, the Mt. Vernon Marauders were already tough to beat. Now, that the wrestling team is nearing a clean bill of health, the lineup is getting even stronger.
The 17th-ranked Marauders proved it on Wednesday night by sweeping past Hoosier Heritage Conference foe Shelbyville with a dominating 76-0 victory powered by seven pins and three major decisions.
The return of senior Parker Bishop helped bolster the Marauders’ at 160 pounds where he posted an 11-2 major decision despite being sidelined for two weeks.
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Out due to a collarbone injury, Bishop improved to 5-0 after recently being cleared to resume activity with the Marauders, who are now 12-1 on the season.
“I’ve been waiting to get out there all season. I’ve been ready to go. Me not being able to go was hard,” said Bishop, a regional qualifier last season. “I missed about seven matches. I was cleared yesterday and wrestled off that day. I wanted to get at it.”
The entire lineup went for it against the Golden Bears with Parker Smitley (220) and Riley Anderson (285) both recording the fastest pins of the dual at 49 seconds each.
Carson Johnson pinned his opponent in 1:09 at 132, while Aiden Alford used 1:45 to win by fall at 152. Unbeaten senior Max Hayes, a semistate qualifier last season, scored a pin in 1:07 at 170 to improve his season record to 12-0.
“This helps us out by putting us in a positive mindset and be ready for the weekend,” Senior Chris Wilkerson said. “It also keeps our team focused on wanting to win. I’m excited for Saturday (at the New Palestine Duals) and hopefully finish off a few more conference teams and put our name out there and make a statement.”
Wilkerson, a two-time state qualifier and place-winner last year at 138, cruised to a 13-0 major decision at 145, racking up two takedowns and eight nearfall points to up his record to 12-0.
“Chris is ranked third in the state now, and we count on him. Tonight, he was sick, and I told the kids, he makes no excuses. There’s zero excuses from that kid,” Mt. Vernon head coach Chad Masters said. “He’s just out there wrestling, and even came out and said, ‘Coach, I can’t breathe.’ But he still dominated the kid. He sets the example.”
Andrew Johnson set the tone with an 11-1 major decision to open the night at 120. Zach Haughton won by decision 7-0 at 126.
Avery Hanson pinned for his win in 1:15 at 195 after Haiden Rose won by fall in 1:19 at 182.
“We want to get everybody to state. That’s always the goal. We’ve been working hard and we sent eight to semistate last year. We want to do that again,” Bishop said. “We just want to send as many as we can, so we can be part of the top teams.”
Ranked in the state’s top 20 by Indiana Mat, the Marauders are chasing their program record of 22 dual victories which they tied last year. A strong showing at the New Palestine Duals on Saturday will help them get closer to their first of many goals.
“I still don’t know exactly where we’re at. I know we’re pretty good, but I know (coach) Josh (Holden at Greenfield-Central) and (coach) Alex (Johns at New Palestine) will have their guys ready to roll,” Masters said. “They want us, so I told the kids, we have to be ready to go.”
The Marauders needs little motivation.
“The ADs annual conference was going on last year, so when we won, they didn’t have a team trophy. The boys always say, ‘Coach, that’s the tournament we won that we still don’t have a trophy for.’ So, in their minds, they feel they got snubbed a little bit,” Masters added. “So we want to go in there and get our picture with our trophy. It’s the little things the kids find motivation in.”
