FORTVILLE — Downtime for Chris Wilkerson is typically brief and rarely unproductive.
After spending countless minutes at practice drilling and going live with his teammates Aiden Alford and Max Hayes inside the Mt. Vernon wrestling room, Wilkerson recharges by staying active.
While the Marauders break, Wilkerson doesn’t stop. The 145-pound senior burns through sit-ups, throws in some crunches and runs laps.
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He’s always in motion.
“There’s no time off. He’s joking and having a good time as well, but he’s determined and focus, putting in his work, but he’s also extremely calm, which is nice to see,” Mt. Vernon head coach Chad Masters said.
In years past, Wilkerson could get too amped up, a direct result from his intense sibling rivalry with older brother Chase, who is now at the University of Indianapolis.
While at Mt. Vernon, Chase set the bar, winning a school-record 145 matches with 32 losses before earning a national ranking from Flowrestling as a 145-pound freshman at UIndy.
Set to join Chase next season after committing to the Greyhounds, Chris is eyeing history himself, on his own.
At 32-1 on the season and 141-31 in his career, four more wins will tie him with his brother for the program’s all-time record.
And, if he achieves his ultimate goal this postseason, beginning at the Indianapolis Tech Sectional on Saturday, he would become the school’s first state champion while also having the final word.
So to speak.
“They would finish 1-2. I guess, they already are, but Chris would finish on top,” Masters joked.
Chris Wilkerson has been making up for lost time since he had to injury default during sectional as a freshman, leading to a sixth-place finale at 132 and a 32-13 record.
Halted by an incidental headbutt against Warren Central’s Tim Wright four years ago, Wilkerson ended his first postseason at the hospital with a missing tooth and other sustained injuries.
But adversity isn’t anything new. At 170 pounds in middle school, Wilkerson has been a self-made wrestler that’s trimmed down from the upper weights to 145 before high school and 132 as a freshman to a state contender.
A third-place run at the Hoosier Heritage Conference Tournament in 2017 led to a runner-up placement as a sophomore at 132 and back-to-back titles at 138 and 145 the past two seasons.
The postseason saw similar results. At 37-9 his sophomore year, Wilkerson took second at sectional and regional before securing third at semistate to advance to his first state finals in Indianapolis at 132.
As a junior, he upped the ante, winning both sectional and regional before taking third at semistate to reach state along with his brother before placing seventh at 138 with a 40-8 record.
Dreaming of becoming a state champion, Wilkerson turned the corner as a junior after getting a taste of the state finals two years in a row, but now, he’s zeroed in to take one more step.
“He’s always been focused, but this year he seems even more determined. His attitude has changed,” Masters said. “When he took (his one) loss at North Montgomery (last month) in the tournament final, he came off the mat and he was upset, but not like he would have been in years past. He knew this one didn’t really mean anything. He’s just dialed in.”
Wilkerson doesn’t necessarily like to lose. Far from it.
He just refuses to let setbacks slow him down despite seeing his 23-match winning streak end in sudden victory overtime 3-1 to Warren Central’s seventh-ranked Jajuan Anderson of Warren Central at North Montgomery in December.
Defeating Anderson the day prior by decision 5-2 en route to the tournament finals, Wilkerson admitted he wasn’t sharp in the rematch.
He let his guard down, momentarily. Lesson learned.
“I actually beat him the previous day. I just kind of got unfocused. You get unfocused once, and someone will take advantage of it,” Wilkerson said. “Props to him for that, but that will never happen again.
“That’s pushed me tremendously. I don’t like that feeling. I don’t like to feel defeat. I never get down, so immediately after I lost, I realized this is what it is. I flipped the switch, and I’m hoping not to do that again.”
In nine consecutive matches, Wilkerson, who is ranked sixth in the state by Indianamat, has been true to his word.
During the HHC Tournament on Jan. 18, he ran the table to to win the 145-pound title with a pair of pins in a combined 3 minutes, 58 seconds. In the finals, he put together a 20-5 technical fall in 5:31.
“I want to go as far as I can without losing, and that loss fueled me. It made me realize I do need to work more,” Wilkerson said. “Just keep working. Just keep working. Until the goal is done.”
The seed to be a champion was planted as a youth while training with Chase and his father Craig through the years. This past June, however, he elevated his confidence with a 10-0 run during the AAU Scholastic Duals in Orlando, Fla. at Disney World to become a Gold All-American.
“I’ve kind of switched it from last year. I believe that if I can, I want to go out there and get six (points) for my team every time,” Wilkerson said. “I push for that. I try to use what I know and keep pushing it every single time and get better at it.”
Better is the key word for Wilkerson, who wants to end his career as a contender during the placement rounds inside Bankers Life Fieldhouse next month in his potential third go-around at state.
“For him, now there’s nothing he hasn’t done, except be under the lights. He’s been there on Friday twice. He’s got his picture on that podium. Now, he’s just focused on taking it a few steps further and be there under the lights wrestling,” Masters said. “With his style, he’s tough to beat. He won’t beat himself. He doesn’t put himself in bad positions. He wrestles smart.
“He’s 100 percent focused on sectional, taking care of business and moving on.”
