Fishers wrestling coach Jason Cook had an unusual, but accurate, way to describe the athletes on his team.
“I feel like these wrestlers, these guys from Fishers, just were a sponge this week, because everything I mentioned to them they took to the next level,” said Cook.
The Tigers were quick at picking up things during practice, and that helped them be quick at picking up points during their dual meet with Noblesville Thursday night at The Mill. Fishers beat the Millers 43-25, breaking out of a tight competition with wins in the contest’s last three matches.
The Tigers led 28-25 going into those last three bouts. But Fishers quickly distanced itself from Noblesville by getting pins from Sal Cohoon at 152 pounds and Teegan Heiniger at 160. JD Farrell finished the meet with a 9-3 decision win at 170 pounds.
“Every breakdown and every little strategy tip that I tried to give from what I knew about our opponents was on the mat scoring points,” said Cook. “I’ve never had a team look that coachable, and I don’t want to say it’s about me.”
“But I’ve never had kids able to pick up strategy like that that well. It’s on them being smart, aggressive wrestlers. That’d be the short answer. They’re smart, aggressive wrestlers and they learned a lot very quickly.”
The Tigers won nine of the 14 weight classes. Alexander Strueder got a pin in the 138-pound match. Dane Smith was an 11-2 major decision victor at 220, while PJ Pritchett (at 106) and Cole Ludlow (at 120) won by decision. Ben Hartley and Jack Phillips also received victories at 182 and 195 respectively.
Noblesville got on the board when Sam Wertz won the 285-pound bout by fall. Dalton Huffman also got a pin, in the 126-pound match. Justin Johnson-Sparks was a 14-4 major decision winner at 132, while Sebastian Dillon picked up a 3-0 decision at 145. Joey Kitko received a forfeit at 113.
“I think the fight tonight wasn’t there like it was last night,” said Millers coach Michael Weimer. “We got a lot of work to do with a new team and a new coach, trying to figure out the expectations that I have for them and the expectations they need to have for themselves. It’s something that we’re going to have to talk about.”
This was the third competition for Noblesville in the past six days, with one more to go: The Millers will travel to the Valparaiso Viking Duals on Saturday. But Weimer didn’t want to use the busy schedule as an excuse.
“They’re going to have struggles in life just like having two back-to-back weigh-ins,” said Weimer. “So how are we going to deal with it in life? We got to fight.”
Fishers, meanwhile, will also be in action on Saturday. The Tigers will compete in the 16-team Westfield Invitational.
Carmel beats Lawrence North
The Carmel wrestling team won a 47-15 dual meet over Lawrence North on Wednesday.
The Greyhounds won 11 of the 14 matches, including pins by Kyle Holman at 132, Cameron Bacon at 195 and Hawkin VanBeynan at 220.
Carmel’s junior varsity won 54-19.
Noblesville’s Justin Johnson-Sparks (top) was a major decision winner over Fishers’ Chance Vonkamecke during the Millers-Tigers dual meet Thursday at The Mill. (Kent Graham)