Kokomo Tribune

By TRIBUNE SPORTS STAFF

INDIANAPOLIS — Eastern senior Chad Barrett’s 177th victory is one that will stand out for a long time.

He finished his high school career on top — not on top of the podium, but on top of his opponent. Barrett pinned Evansville Mater Dei’s John Sims in just 2:11 to win the third-place match at 140 pounds in the IHSAA Individual Wrestling State Finals Saturday afternoon at Conseco Fieldhouse.

In addition, Peru’s Dalton Sparks took sixth at 145 pounds and Kokomo Dylan Green was eighth at 215.

Barrett went 2-1 on the day, scoring a pin over South Bend Riley’s Trace Hall after 3:25 of their quarterfinal match in the morning, then losing 7-3 to Mishawaka’s Steven Sandefer in the semifinals. Sandefer went on to win his second straight 140-pound title.

“I don’t think I could have finished on a better note on my career, besides being on top of the podium,” Barrett said. “I definitely had the best time of my life this whole weekend.”

Barrett said several factors made the weekend his career high point.

“It’s just the atmosphere, and the fun, and the whole small-town school — nobody knows you here so you’ve got to prove yourself here and I think I’ve definitely shocked some fans here who’ve never heard of Eastern,” he said. “It’s just fun to wrestle the best competition.

“If I’m going to get beat, I’d rather get beat by the best and wrestle the best I could. I was pretty spent after the match against Standeford. I left it all on the mat for the last two days.”

He said that all of that added together for “the funnest time I’ve had in my life.”

Barrett’s third-place finish is the highest ever for an Eastern wrestler. To cap it by flattening a wrestler from state superpower Mater Dei made it even better.

“It was just a fantastic ending for him. Mater Dei is a perennial powerhouse. Mater Dei doesn’t give up pins,” said Eastern coach Craig Standish, who said some seasons, Mater Dei suffers only 25 pins for the entire season. “So to pin a kid from Mater Dei is icing on the cake of a fantastic high school career.”

After going 3-1 in two days at Conseco, Barrett ended his career with 177 wins, the top mark in Howard County history. He was 49-3 as a senior.

“I think he turned a lot of heads,” Standish said. “Nobody outside of Howard County or our regional had Chad finishing this high. He put himself on the map and he’s put the school on the map. That’s kind of what he’s been like all four years.”

Standish said Barrett has re-written the Eastern record books from career victories to career pins and even snagged the season pin mark with his two on Saturday.

The Eastern senior also upped the ante on his father Mike, who was sixth in the state at 126 pounds as a senior at Taylor in 1981.

Barrett said it was a boost to see friends, family, and a host of Eastern administrators in the stands on Saturday.

“It really helped out,” he said. “It’s fun to look up in the stands after pinning two kids and seeing all my friends and family cheering. That’s the kind of moments that make this probably the best weekend for me.”

• Barrett was selected as one of two senior 140-pounders to take place in the Indiana-Illinois All-Star Duals to take place on March 15 at Wabash College.

Green takes eighth

Kokomo junior Green had a rough day on the stat sheet — taking three losses — but found himself a lot closer to the competition than that might indicate. He lost his quarterfinal match 3-0 to Mishawaka’s Christian Lentz, the eventual state runner-up, then lost 3-1 to Fort Wayne North’s Aris Allen (who beat him 11-2 last week) and then lost 6-5 to New Palestine’s Antonio Halbert in the seventh-place match.

Since he has a year to go, Saturday’s experience should help a lot next season.

“With our schedule, sometimes he doesn’t get this quality of wrestling all the time, maybe four or five of them,” Kokomo coach Ryan Wells said. “Him seeing these guys, having this experience, knowing what it’s like, having this caliber of wrestler for four matches, that’s really going to help him next year knowing what to expect.

“As close as he wrestled with Lentz and Allen, that shows how close he is from being a state champion wrestler.”

Green finished the season 44-5.

Wells said Green has improved from being a good wrestler at the start of the season to a great one at the end of the campaign. He told Green “‘if you improve half as much next year as you did this year,’ we really anticipate him standing on top of the podium next year with the gold medal around his neck. We really feel that’s an achievable goal.”

Wells is also fired up to see Green set an example for other Wildkats about how much ground they can gain with his work in the weight room and on the mat.

“That’s what I’ve been telling him all weekend, that ‘You have no idea how big this is for our program,’” Wells said.

Sparks takes sixth

Peru junior Sparks also stands to gain a lot from his state experience, taking sixth. He lost his quarterfinal match 7-3 to Merrillville’s Keon Jones, then beat Yorktown’s Jordan Dulaney before losing to Elkhart Memorial’s Zachary Corpe in the fifth-place match.

Sparks finished 2-2 in two days at state and ended the season with a 45-8 record.