By RICH TORRES
FISHERS – Ranked 10th in the state this wrestling preseason, the Carmel Greyhounds continue to live up to expectations, and they didn’t disappoint on Wednesday night.
With seven pins and one technical fall by state-ranked lightweight Suhas Chundi, the Greyhounds built a decisive 37-0 lead on the road en route to a 64-3 dual win over sectional rival Fishers.
Carmel (7-1) entered the evening white-hot, winning its first six duals to open the season with just one loss, 29-27, to No. 7 Roncalli during Saturday’s Shamrock Duals in Westfield.
The Greyhounds recovered quickly from their weekend setback as Chundi, who is ranked 14th at 113 pounds by IndianaMat.com, set the tone at 106 with a 24-9 tech fall.
The team’s first pin went to freshman Brac Hooper at 113 in 3 minutes, 39 seconds, followed by a major decision from A.J. Gunn at 120 by a 17-3 margin.
The Greyhounds’ fastest fall was scored by senior Logan Hart in 23 seconds at 195. Hart is ranked 16th in the state at 170 pounds by IndianaMat.com. He was a semi-state qualifier at 182 last season, along with Chundi.
“We’ve been excited about this team because of the pipeline we knew we had coming in. We have a great group of seniors. Those guys are amazing teammates and great athletes, but we also like the younger guys we have in the room now,” Carmel head coach Ed Pendoski said. “They’re competitors.”
Carmel’s lineup is still in flux with the late arrival of some Class 6A state runner-up football players, Pendoski said, but despite several wrestling out of position, the Greyhounds were sharp. The team claimed the dual’s first eight matches before Fishers erased Carmel’s shutout bid at 160.
Senior Ben Hartley seized a 1-0 lead in the second period against Carmel’s Adam Johnson and never relinquished as he rode out the final period from the top position.
“That made a big difference. He’s a senior and I told him before he went out there, he needs to be senior for us and not let this shutout happen,” Fishers head coach Frank Ingalls said. “We knew they were going to be tough. We watched them this past weekend at the Shamrock Duals. They’re an experienced team, and we have one semi-state qualifier from last year’s team, so we knew it was going to be tough.”
The Tigers (3-4) nearly added another victory at 182, but a late escape by state-ranked senior Cameron Bacon in the final 10 seconds of the match fended off Fishers’ junior JD Farrell, a semi-state qualifier at 170 a year ago.
Bacon, who was a semi-state competitor as a junior, trailed 1-0 after a scoreless first period until a pair of takedowns in the second put him ahead 4-2. A penalty point to Farrell made it 4-3, but Bacon charged to a 5-3 advantage early in the third. Farrell scored a takedown with 20 seconds remaining before Bacon broke free for the win. Bacon is ranked seventh in the state at 195.
Carmel senior Kyle Holman won at 138 with a pin in 2:24. TJ Barrett recorded his fall in 3:37 at 132, while Garrett Sharp won by pin in 2:46 at 170. Jack Heldt had the second-fastest fall in 1:01 at 220.
John Williams punctuated the dual with a pin in 5:14 at heavyweight to end the night.
“It shows it’s a program level where we can go while missing some of the guys we don’t yet have,” Pendoski said. “We always have a season goal where we ask, what’s the job of our seniors? We always think our seniors and the heavier guys call the shots in the practice room, and we challenged this year’s team and this year’s leaders to figure out our identity.”
Against Fishers, they began to answer the question, along with victories last weekend versus No. 11 Crown Point (45-20) and No. 20 Zionsville (57-15).
“We need people that can put together good matches and go out and beat people they aren’t supposed to beat. So we have a lot of tools, and we’re having fun. It’s exciting for Carmel wrestling right now,” said Pendoski, who is in his seventh season since taking over for John Kopnisky in 2013. “We feel we’re as competitive as we’ve ever been with great leadership, so let’s see what we can do.”
Ingalls was a varsity assistant at Hamilton Southeastern for five season prior to taking over the Tigers program this year and was an assistant at Lawrence North for seven years where he coached during two team state championship runs.
With stability, Ingalls believes the Tigers will soon catch up to their county foes. Ingalls is the third head coach in four years since Jake Harreld’s departure after 2015.
“The way we look at it, it’s the only way we’re going to get better,” Ingalls said. “You only get better by wrestling the toughest guys around. That’s what we want. These guys learned a lot tonight individually and as a team. We just need to create a culture here. I plan to be around for a while.”
Carmel 64, Fishers 3
106: Suhas Chundi (CA) def. PJ Prichett (F) by tech fall 24-9
113: Brac Hooper (CA) def. Zach Struder (F) by fall 3:39
120: AJ Gunn (CA) def. Dillon Parodi (F) by maj. dec. 17-3
126: Joey Langeman (CA) def. Joshua Thompson (F) by dec. 9-6
132: TJ Barrett (CA) def. Pedro Tecua (F) by fall 3:37
138: Kyle Holman (CA) def. Zach Willard (F) by fall 2:24
145: Joe Theriot (CA) def. Tyler Lindamood (F) by dec. 8-4
152: Gabe Davin (CA) def. Josh Reardon (F) by dec. 11-3
160: Ben Hartley (F) def. Adam Johnson (CA) by dec. 1-0
170: Garrett Sharp (CA) def. Mason McCartney (F) by fall 2:46
182: Cameron Bacon (CA) def. JD Farrell (F) by dec. 6-5
195: Logan Hart (CA) def. Preston Putzback (F) by fall 0:23
220: Jack Heldt (CA) def. Jas Singh (F) by fall 1:01
285: John Williams (CA) def. Nat Paritz (F) by fall 5:14
Fishers competes at Shamrock Duals
Fishers wrestled at the Westfield Shamrock Duals this past Saturday, with two Tigers going undefeated.
Pat Pritchett finished 5-0 at 106 pounds, while JD Farrell was 5-0 at 182 pounds.
Host Westfield had three undefeated wrestlers: Dylan Driver at 113, Carson Eldred at 120 and Kyle Saez at 170 all finished the tournament 5-0.