NEW CASTLE — Greenfield-Central’s Cooper Noehre may have been the only area champion crowned at Saturday’s New Castle Wrestling Semistate, but he wasn’t the only one smiling at the end of the day.
Noehre (38-3), Mount Vernon brothers Chase Wilkerson (32-4) and Chris Wilkerson (38-6), and New Palestine’s Christian White (33-5) all punched tickets for a chance at a state championship. The Hancock County quartet will compete in the 81st Annual IHSAA Wrestling State Finals beginning Friday at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.
Along with Noehre’s title, the Wilkersons and White all finished third in their weight classes. The top four in each class advanced.
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At 152 pounds, Noehre beat Cathedral’s Elliott Rodgers, last year’s state runner-up in the same class, 5-3 in a sudden-victory overtime match. Noehre picked up a late third-period escape to tie it, 3-3, then got the takedown in overtime for the win. Rodgers came in ranked No. 2 in the state and Noehre was No. 3. They had previously met in December with Rodgers winning a similar match, in sudden-victory overtime.
“It was the very same thing only he took me out in overtime. I had a game plan to take home the trophy (Saturday),” Noehre said. “When I was on bottom, I thought to myself that I can get up and I can win this match. I feel I can beat anyone in the state if I put my mind to it.”
It was the second straight individual championship for Noehre, who won at the Perry Meridian Regional last week. The title gave him a favorable draw at semistate, but he took nothing for granted. Noehre earned his trip to the finals by winning twice by fall and once by major decision.
“Everybody here is good,” Noehre said. “You cannot overlook anybody because, at this level, anyone can beat anyone. I had to go out and wrestle my match.”
Package deal
It had been discussed at home and in the room at Mount Vernon. The Wilkerson brothers wanted to make the state tournament a packaged deal. They did just that on Saturday.
“We had been talking about it all week,” Chase Wilkerson said. “It’s amazing. I think we will do big things at state, too.”
It was the last chance for Chase. A senior 126-pounder, he won by fall in the first round, got out to a big lead in the quarterfinal and hung on for an 8-7 win over Jeivan Ross of Warren Central.
“I got my lead and I didn’t want to get caught (and pinned). I played it safe knowing one more win would get me to state,” he said.
Chase Wilkerson suffered a heart-breaker in the semis, losing to Zionsville’s Logan Wagner in sudden-victory overtime, 6-4. He bounced back to pin Pendleton Heights’ Jared Brown in 2:50 to take home third place.
“It feels pretty good (going to state). I should have been in the finals, but I’m happy to get third and move on,” Chase Wilkerson said.
It was a repeat performance for Chris Wilkerson. A state qualifier a year ago at 132, he made the field this season at 138.
He was in tight battles all day, edging Southport’s Luke Goodwin, 3-2, in the opener. He earned his second-straight state tourney bid with a 6-3 win against Knightstown’s Nick Walsh. The state-tourney vet was edged in the semis by eventual champion Tyce Frejie of Roncalli, 7-5. He picked up third place with a 4-3 victory over Centerville’s Gabe Phillips.
Chris Wilkerson is glad to be going back to the state tournament, especially with a teammate — his brother.
“It’s awesome. It’s definitely going to be a different vibe this year than going by myself,” Chris Wilkerson said. “It’s going to make everything better. It’s going to make practice more doable with both of us having the same mindset. We’re going to work hard together.”
Bouncing back
A year ago, as a freshman, New Palestine’s White was defeated in the quarterfinals. On Saturday, he and Lawrence North’s Anthony Hughes were deadlocked at 4-4 heading into the third period in the 113-class quarters. White did the needed work in the final two minutes to win 7-6.
“I watched his first match and the (single-leg takedown) was open and I went for it,” White said. “This is what I trained for all off-season and in-season. It has all paid off.”
White was defeated by eventual champion Zeke Seltzer of Cathedral, 19-6, in the semis. He bounced back to take third with a 7-1 victory over Hamilton Southeastern’s Jake Simone.
Noehre’s performance accounted for all of Greenfield-Central’s 22 team points, good enough to tie for 11th. Mt. Vernon was 13th with 20 points. New Palestine scored nine points and tied for 18th. Roncalli won the event, boasting four champions and scoring 104 points.
Thirteen area wrestlers started the morning in New Castle and 10 were victorious in opening-round matches. Six wrestlers suffered the heartbreak of coming just one win short of a berth in the upcoming state finals.
Eastern Hancock senior Alexander Burton, who set the school’s single-season pin record at 26 last weekend, suffered the closest loss in the ticket round. He was defeated 3-1 by Northeastern’s Cullen Browning, who finished fourth.
Mount Vernon’s Andrew Johnson (113), Aidan Alford (145), Maxwell Hayes (152) and Drake Kendrex (170) and New Palestine’s Noah Wright (145) were also eliminated in the quarterfinals.
