WRESTLING: CC experiences youth movement

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With eight dual meet wins, Bulldogs exceed coach?s expectations

 

Phil Friend

Sports Editor

 

MICHIGANTOWN - Clinton Central wrestling coach Austin Faulkner always uses the team's regular-season dual meet with Southmont as a gauge to where his Bulldogs stand.

 

This year's meet, which took place last week, brought a mixed bag of results. Central lost, 45-28, but had to forfeit three matches. Take away the 18 points the Bulldogs lost there, and you have a one-point victory for Faulkner's squad. Not bad, considering they're going through a huge youth movement and that Southmont advanced as a team to the semistate last year.

 

"They're always good," Faulkner said. "We wrestled really well, we're just three guys short from being a solid team and that's the way it's been all year.

 

"Our older kids know what they have to do to make up for that. Pin when they can pin, and our younger guys have to stay off their back when they can. If you go out and do your job individually, the team takes care of itself."

 

As a team, Central is 8-12. The Bulldogs started off the year going 1-2 at the county meet and followed with a 2-3 mark at the Western Invitational, in which they defeated South Bend St. Joe's (46-22) and Taylor (40-36) but lost to Western (60-18), Hamilton Heights (66-10) and Kokomo (48-36). They followed that up with another 2-3 performance, this one at Rensselaer Central. They beat Ritter (58-24) and Dupont Manual (42-30) but lost to West Central (48-32), Cass (45-33) and Beech Grove (42-33).

 

At the Seeger invite just before Christmas, they went 3-2, beating South Newton (48-36), Rockville (46-33) and North White (47-36) and losing to North Vermillion (42-39) and Seeger (42-39).

 

"If you would've told me in November that we'd win eight duals I probably wouldn't have believed you," Faulkner said. "I'm happy with the way we're wrestling. It's crunch time now and they've got to pick it up and be ready for the tournament."

 

One thing the team has, though is talent on the individual level. Senior Josh Petty (160 pounds) and junior Taylor Evans (145) are both 21-2 on the year. Although the Bulldogs had no individual champions at last week's Tipton Invitational, they did have three runners-up: Sophomore Cody Leicht (103), Evans and Andy Jacquet (215).

 

But Petty and Evans have been the standouts so far this year. Evans' goal is to reach the 100-win mark before he graduates, and has already accumulated 74 in less than three years after going 27-9 as a freshman and 26-6 last year.

 

"I just really wanted to improve my record over last year," Evans said. "My overall goal is to clean up all the slop over the past few years. I still got a long way to go but if I plan on getting anywhere past regionals, I still have a lot to accomplish at the end of this year."

 

Petty, on the other hand, was more of a work-in-progress that has blossomed. After suffering a concussion during the first match of last year's sectional, Petty dedicated himself in the offseason, spending 2-3 days a week in Delphi wrestling and competing in AAU tournaments, among other things.

 

"I spent a lot of money and put a lot of effort into offseason wrestling to get better," Petty said. "It's my senior year so I was going to do whatever it took to get me in good position. Our sectional's tough and you can't just be decent. You got to be good."

 

Central competes in the Zionsville Sectional, which features schools like Carmel, Hamilton Southeastern, Westfield and Zionsville.

 

"Josh has come a long way in one year," Faulkner said. "He's pretty determined and focused on what he wants to accomplish."

 

They're not the only two doing great things. Leicht, Jake Evans (152) and Jacquet are all 18-5 and Adam Thomas (112) is 17-6.

 

"I've definitely learned a lot more moves and worked on my technique," Leicht said. "Last year, I just kind of went out there and didn't know many moves and just tried to win."

 

The sophomore is two wins away from reaching the 20-win plateau, one of his goals coming into the season.

 

With such a young squad, Faulkner likes what he sees in the future. There are a handful of eighth-graders who could compete next year and 11 or 12 in the seventh-grade who have potential.

 

"The kids are there, they're just not here yet," Faulkner said.