Kokomo Tribune
By PEDRO VELAZCO
Tribune sportswriter

At some point, Eastern senior wrestler Chad Barrett’s stomach will be in knots. His heart rate will quicken, breaths get shorter and at that point he’ll know, more intensely than before, that he’s alive.

“It’ll probably hit me sometime, the whole nervous thing,” said Barrett, who will participate in his third IHSAA Individual Wrestling State Finals today at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. “It’ll hit me sometime. I don’t know if it’ll be three minutes before my match or when I walk into Conseco, or it might be [Thursday] night. I just know, when it happens, I’ve got to smile. That means I know it’s a big deal, and it’s important, and it gets me excited from here on out.”

Barrett and five other local wrestlers will be on their sport’s biggest stage today. Early this evening, Barrett, Kokomo’s Dylan Green, Tipton’s Colin Warner and Kevin Moats, and Peru’s Dalton Sparks and Shannon Garretson will take the floor at Conseco Fieldhouse, and start to take it all in.

They’ll parade in one by one with their school’s contingents from the concourse to the arena floor. Inside the arena, thousands await and there’s no doubt it can take a toll. Barrett said that looking back to his first trip to state as a sophomore, he was a little scared. Tipton’s Warner felt the same way last year. The experience will make it easier on both this year.

“It’s definitely easier to go be in the atmosphere this time I think,” Warner said. “I won’t be as overwhelmed.

“The atmosphere was definitely awesome. They do a really good job of making an awesome experience for the wrestlers. I think I was a little intimidated last year by the size of the crowd and the size of the guys I was wrestling. I told myself the whole year that I could make it to state but I wasn’t really sure that I could do it.”

Today’s winners will advance to Saturday’s place rounds. Below are previews for the local wrestlers. Three of the six face wrestlers from Castle High School, from just outside Evansville.

Barrett aims high

Eastern senior Barrett (46-2) took sixth at 135 last season and faces another veteran from the 135-pound field today when he and Castle sophomore Chad Welch (40-5) square off at 140 pounds. Barrett was second at the Fort Wayne Semistate last week.

Barrett’s goal is to reach the final and win, and in order to survive Friday’s opener he needs to focus.

“I think it’s just going to take the right attitude going into the match,” he said. “[I’ve] got to be physically prepared, got to get a good warmup and get your body going. Get your warmup and get prepared because you’re about to go to war basically.”

Eastern coach Craig Standish is eager to see how Barrett finishes his career.

“I’m looking forward to seeing him wrestle this weekend because he’s the kind of kid I think will go down there and do some damage,” Standish said. “Who he wrestles isn’t a big factor. We’re not going to be intimidated by a big-name kid or a kid from a big-name school. Chad Barrett is capable of beating any kid down there in that weight class and if he wrestles up to his potential he’ll be wrestling late Saturday night [in the final]. Chad is wrestling that well right now.

“Chad Barrett this year is vastly improved over Chad Barrett last year. Chad Barrett this year would really destroy Chad Barrett last year. He has improved so much and worked so much on his wrestling skills … and we were pretty darn good last year. That’s what makes me excited. I don’t know if the other 15 kids in the bracket have improved as much as Chad Barrett has. That’s why I think he’s going to make a name for himself this weekend.”

Green of the Red and Blue

Kokomo junior Green (43-2) is at state for the first time. He took third at the Fort Wayne Semistate and takes on Castle senior Clay Robison (44-1) at 215 pounds today. Green can hardly wait.

“Man, it [the excitement] is high right now,” Green said. “Everybody’s excited around the school, everybody’s excited around town.”

He anticipates a difficult clash, but also thinks he’s ready.

“I’m just expecting a good match, and I’ve got to go out there and wrestle my best, push the pace and be my best,” Green said.

Green thanked the Kokomo coaching staff for pushing him in practice and getting him as prepared as he can be for the atmosphere, and his opponent. He has excelled at winning close matches this season and hopes his improved technique and stamina will show.

Kokomo coach Ryan Wells is also excited to head to state. “This will be my first time down there without having to buy a ticket,” said Wells, a former KHS wrestler who is taking a Kat to state in his first season as coach. He wants Green to enjoy his matches, but to always focus on the next obstacle.

“We celebrated after that ticket-round match [at the semistate] and right away we said we’re not done yet,” Wells said. “That’s what we’ve been focusing on all week is we’re still not satisfied. It’s neat that we’re going down, and happy he’s made it that far — that being said, we’re still not satisfied. Our goal is to have him standing somewhere on that podium on Saturday.”

Two Bengals

Peru is taking two juniors to Conseco. Both took fourth at the semistate and have big challenges as they face first-place wrestlers from other semistates. Garretson (43-6) meets unbeaten Lake Central freshman Kyle Ayersman (46-0) in the at 103 pounds — the very first match of the evening at Conseco.

Sparks (43-6) meets Castle senior Preston Richard (43-2) at 145 pounds. Richard lost in the first round at 145 last season.

“Everybody’s pretty even steven so it’s always going to come down to hustling and scoring off hustling,” Peru coach Andy Hobbs said. “If you’re always providing a lot of pressure, good things happen. [We need] constant pressure and in-your-face mentality. If you stand around and watch the other guy, that doesn’t work out too good.

“We’ve wrestled guys at this level, even higher during the season. They’ve just got to put the six minutes together and wrestle wide open.”

Garretson was disappointed to finish fourth at Fort Wayne but is excited about heading to state. He acknowledged that Ayersman is the favorite and it’ll take “probably the best match of my life” to beat him.

“He likes to outside single and he just goes hard,” Garretson said. “Lots of people are picking him to win the whole thing. He is a freshman, who knows?”

Sparks has been waiting for this day for a long time.

“I just can’t wait,” he said. State has been his goal “since I went there for the first time, probably when I was like in seventh grade.”

He knows what he has to do to survive his match with Richard.

“Just going all out and keeping the pressure and the intensity up,” Sparks said.

Two Devils

Tipton senior Warner is making a return trip to state after wrestling at state at 215 last season and takes motivation from his first-round loss in 2008. Blue Devil junior Moats is making his first trip. Moats was a runner up at the New Castle Semistate while Warner took third.

Warner (42-4) takes on Lowell junior Nathan Cleveland at 215 today. Moats (43-3) faces Center Grove senior Shelby Mappes (41-3) at 171 pounds.

“Colin, he’s wrestling really well,” said Tipton coach Cal Warner, his father. “The only guys he’s gotten beat by this year are guys who are ranked at least fifth in the state. He’s small for a 215-pounder, he only weighs 190 pounds. He’s small and quick and we try to exploit that to our advantage.

“[Moats] is a very solid wrestler and an extremely well-rounded wrestler. He was just really dialed in at New Castle. He’s really on top of his game and both are in excellent shape. Cardio-wise, I don’t think anybody’s going to be in better shape.”

Colin Warner likes weighing less and having a speed advantage than other 215s, even though guys at state are “better, bigger and stronger” than the people he sees during the regular season.

“Being underweight, that’s just a huge difference than wrestling the regular Tipton High School schedule,” Colin Warner said. “These guys are the best 16 wrestlers in the state. I’m honored to be there and in their presence, but at the same time I’m competing and I want to win. I want to show them that I’m better than just the average guy.

“Being underweight, I want to make a statement this year. I want to prove to everybody that it’s not about cutting weight, it’s about wrestling.”

For Moats, making state was an obligation to his older brother Adam, a 2005 Tipton graduate.

“He’s over in Iraq now, in the Marines. Before he left [earlier this month] he said, ‘You’d better make it to state this year,’” Moats said. “Whenever he’d call me after a wrestling match he said, ‘You’re going to state.’ A lot of this is for him, and my dad probably.”

Moats is excited and nervous to get to his match, which he expects to be a struggle.

“It’s going to take all-out guts,” Moats said. “Shelby Mappes is the guy I’m going to be facing. It’s going to be down to who wants it more.

“If you make a mistake [at this level] you pay for it. If you go in against inexperienced kids, you can try things. Once you get to this level, it’s not the tricky things that work, it’s how hard you work.”



State wrestling:

• What: IHSAA Individual Wrestling State Finals.

• Where: Conseco Fieldhouse.

• When: Today — 6 p.m.; Saturday — Quarterfinals 9:30 a.m., semifinals to follow, finals 7:30 p.m.

• Who: Eastern’s Chad Barrett; Kokomo’s Dylan Green; Peru’s Shannon Garretson and Dalton Sparks; Tipton’s Kevin Moats and Colin Warner.