GREENFIELD — Greenfield-Central found out two weeks ago it would be one of eight wrestling programs competing in the Class 3A Indiana High School Wrestling Coaches Association Team State Duals this Saturday at Franklin Community High School.
On Monday, the Cougars found out the route it will need to take to win a championship.
Greenfield-Central is the tournament’s No. 3 seed and will open against Hobart. The other schools in the tournament are Roncalli, Terre Haute South, Floyd Central, Columbus East, East Central and Mishawaka.
Roncalli is the top-ranked team in the state. The Cougars will wrestle them in a regular season dual at Roncalli on Wednesday.
On Saturday, the Cougars are in the bottom half of the eight-team bracket. If they defeat Hobart, they’ll take on the winner of East Central-Mishawaka.
Based on the most recent official enrollment data from the IHSAA, the IHSWCA broke schools down into four classifications. For the state duals, teams accumulate points through the advancement of wrestlers starting with the previous year’s sectional tournament. More points are given to underclass wrestlers, who would be eligible to wrestle in the following year’s state duals.
Six teams solidified spots by last year’s points, two additional wild card teams were selected, one last year and one this year.
Greenfield-Central was the wild card team named to this year’s field.
“It’s a huge deal for us,” Greenfield-Central coach Josh Holden said. “Say what you want, it may not be an IHSAA-sanctioned tournament, but it’s eight of the best teams in the state that are comparable to our size.
“We’re wrestling against seven other of the best teams in the state of Indiana. You can argue who should or shouldn’t be there, but there are eight really good teams at the tournament and we’re one of them. It’s a big deal for our program, especially to be selected. It says a lot about our program.”
The Cougars are 11-6 in duals, 2-5 against Class 4A teams, 3-0 vs. Class 3A, 1-1 vs. 2A and 3-0 vs. 1A. They have also wrestled and won against two out-of-state teams.
“Our losses are all 4A ranked teams outside of Delta who is one of the favorites to win the 2A tournament,” Holden said. “We’ve wrestled a lot of Top 10 teams … Our kids go in with the same message every time, wrestle hard, wrestle smart, do your best. There is no such thing as pressure. There is only opportunity.”
Class 1A and Class 3A state dual tournaments are being held at Franklin. Class 2A is at Jay County and Class 4A is at Brownsburg. All tournaments are taking place Saturday with wrestling scheduled to begin at 9 a.m.
“(Hobart) always has good quality kids, athletic, hard-working, hard-nosed kids,” Holden said of the Cougars first-round opponent. “They’ve been a great program as long as I’ve been alive. They’re going to be tough and we have to wrestle our best.”
2023 IHSWCA Team State Duals
Date: January 7, 2023
Site: Franklin Community High School
Time: Weigh-ins, 7:30 a.m.; Doors open, 8 a.m.; Wrestling begins, 9 a.m.
First-round matchups: No. 1 Roncalli (10-1) vs. No. 6 Terre Haute South (14-1); No. 7 Floyd Central (9-3) vs. No. 5 Columbus East (9-3); No. 3 Greenfield-Central (11-6) vs. No. 9 Hobart (11-2); No. 4 East Central (8-5) vs. No. 2 Mishawaka (13-2)
