Greenfield-Central’s Isaiah Holden battles against Franklin Central’s Kyan Sparks in their 145-pound championship match during the Shelbyville Sectional 22 on Saturday, Jan. 29, 2022.
Rob Baker | For Daily Reporter
HANCOCK COUNTY — If effort is measured in miles, then several Greenfield-Central wrestlers can honestly say they’ve gone the distance to reach their current postseason destination.
With nearly 72 miles traveled daily, round trip, for roughly 360 total miles per week to train at Red Cobra Wrestling in Avon, multiple Cougar regional qualifiers have trekked from Greenfield to the westside of the Circle City with improvement in mind.
Their road-warrior dedication broke the surface last month when the G-C Cougars repeated as team champions — their first back-to-back run since 1998-99 — during the Hoosier Heritage Conference championships at Yorktown High School.
It breached, once more, last weekend during the Shelbyville Sectional, as the Cougars finished second in the team standings with 224.5 points not far behind powerhouse Warren Central (253.0).
With a total of 12 regional qualifiers set for the Perry Meridain Tournament today, the Cougars bring a trio of sectional champions to the event and a firm focus on their final stop — Gainbridge Fieldhouse in downtown Indianpolis for the IHSAA state finals in two weeks.
“I was getting home at nine o’clock, 10 o’clock sometimes, going to Red Cobra, drive there and drive back, then doing school work,” G-C sophomore Clay Guenin remarked on his preparation for the 2021-22 state tournament series. “You need the dedication and put in the work, if you want to be good at wrestling.”
Ranked 15th in the state at 160 pounds, according to Indianamat, Guenin, like his teammates, is proving how good he can be with the top-four finishers at regional today advancing to the New Castle Semistate on Saturday, Feb. 12.
An opening-round win at regional punches a wrestler’s ticket to semistate, while two victories at New Castle means a trip to Indianapolis.
Guenin (31-4) secured his first-career sectional title with three pinfalls in a total of 5 minutes, 20 seconds last weekend and ended his four-match run with a 9-0 major decision in the finals over Warren Central’s Brenton Russel (34-5).
The year prior, he placed sixth at 152, missing the regional cut, while the Cougars’ postseason was unexpectedly halted simultaneously due to COVID-19 protocols.
Now, Guenin and the Cougars are making their opportunities count, and G-C’s winningest head coach, Josh Holden, believes in his wrestlers’ potential.
The proof is in their work ethic.
“Our kids fight hard, and they believe in themselves,” Holden said. “Every freestyle, every Greco tournament, every week going to Avon five days a week. That’s a lot of guys in our room that are doing that. Nine to 15 guys, give or take, every day. The guys who put in the time in the offseason, they’re starting to see dividends because you’re the guy who’s not going to the movies with the girlfriend and not hanging out with the boys or not playing the new video game that just came out. You’re driving to Avon for an hour, wrestling for two and driving back. Their starting to see, this is where it pays off.”
Freshman Lincoln Parsons (21-10) is one of them.
A first-time sectional champion at 113, Parsons secured a coveted top-seed at regional by avenging the past with a pin against New Palestine’s Bryce Doss (25-6) in 3:35 during the sectional finals.
Losing to Doss in the HHC championships, Parsons regrouped at the perfect time to position himself on the opposite side of Roncalli’s 18th-ranked Braden Getz (13-0) in the regional bracket.
“That was really important (winning sectional) because now I get a fourth-seed in the first round, and the first round is what matters. If you win, you go to semistate,” Parsons said.
Sometimes losing is just as motivating.
For Isaiah Holden (21-14), a junior, his first-career sectional championship last weekend at 145, has him in line to potentially qualify for his first semistate.
As a sophomore, Holden placed third at 126 during sectional, but he wasn’t able to compete at regional with the team’s season shut down. At the HHC championships this year, he came up short, losing to Mt. Vernon’s Aiden Kiner in the 145-pound title match by decision 10-5.
He later avenged that loss to Kiner in the team’s regular-season finale, days afterwards, with a clutch 6-4 decision to help the Cougars win their 18th dual, 40-32.
Since the win, Holden has turned the corner, claiming his first-career tournament title.
“I’m just relying on other people, other than myself. It takes a lot to walk out and do something for yourself, but it’s way more motivating when you have other people relying on you,” Isaiah Holden said. “I’ve put in an entire offseason with a couple of the guys on this team, and they expect me to win for them just as much as I expect for them to win for me. It’s a great motivator to go out there and do my best for myself and them.”
To be his sharpest, Isaiah Holden, and some of this teammates, also trained with the Central Indiana Academy of Wrestling, bringing their new skills into the Cougars’ wrestling room.
Often, he spars with senior 138-pounder Matt Wickham (20-15), who took third at sectional; senior 152-pounder Josh VanOsdol (22-12), a sectional runner-up; Guenin; and 20th-ranked senior 170-pounder Chase Gardner (27-7), a sectional runner-up.
“We’re all partners in the wrestling room. There’s a lot of tears, blood, anger towards each other in practice, but at the end of the day, we’re always brothers. Nothing breaks that apart,” Isaiah Holden said. “The focus for now is, there’s always one more match. Just get ready for the next one, keep going.”
Holden’s father and head coach knows how difficult it can be to reach the pinnacle. A state champion at Lawrence Central as a senior 140-pounder with a 43-1 record in 1998-99, Holden is actively watching as his son blazes his own trail.
“He’s always been the kind of kid where losses don’t really bother him. In the moment, sure, but he moves on real fast. He’s so much not like me. Losses just haunt me, but he’s got the perfect attitude because he’s intense, but he lets it go when it’s time,” Josh Holden said.
“All week (before sectional), I watched him wrestle, and I thought, ‘Man, he’s wrestling good. He’s got a shot.’ He went out and took care of business. We’re not done. We have a long way to go. We have a lot good people to go through. The No. 1 kid ranked in his weight class is waiting (at regional).”
Perry Meridian’s Matthew Koontz (32-0) is the favorite at 145, but Isaiah Holden wouldn’t see him until the regional finals, being on the opposite side of the bracket after winning sectional.
For Gardner, two wins at regional could setup a rematch in the finals with Warren Central’s 16th-ranked Anthony Cashman (33-4), who beat him in the sectional championship by decision 3-1.
Guenin likes Gardner’s chances and his own, especially after traveling the long road similar to Parsons and others.
“I didn’t expect this, honestly. Since I was in eighth grade, I’ve wanted to be a state champ, but it never really hit me how it would feel to progress and do better. I don’t necessarily think I’m going to win state this year, but the work and the improvement keeps me going, especially when I can see how well I’m doing,” Guenin said. “It makes me feel confident. It makes me feel strong. It makes me feel good going forward, and it makes me feel good going into regional. It makes me feel good about continuing and keep improving.”
2021-22 Wrestling Regional Qualifiers
Perry Meridian Regional
Greenfield-Central (12)
106: Braedon Ayres (7-13)
113: Lincoln Parsons (21-10)*
120: Nate Miller (14-19)
126: Dakota Herald (24-8)
138: Matt Wickham (20-15)
145: Isaiah Holden (21-14)*
152: Josh VanOsdol (22-12)
160: Clay Guenin (31-4)*
170: Chase Gardner (27-7)
182: Silas Frye (5-8)
195: Isaiah Sitton (2-2)
285: Brayden Flener (22-14)
New Palestine (9)
106: Cole Vandygriff (17-4)*
113: Bryce Doss (25-6)
126: Chris Bullock (20-4)
132: Elijah Alonso (13-11)*
145: Ethan Sleeth (14-20)
182: Porter Keevers (18-1)*
195: Jacob Tweedy (21-8)
220: Porter May (20-10)*
285: Juan Camacho (20-11)
Eastern Hancock (3)
106: Logan Gilman (7-10)
126: Cameron Volz (18-6)
170: Brayden Tincher (21-5)
Pendleton Heights Regional
Mt. Vernon (8)
106: Connor Bayliss (23-9)
132: Zach Haughton (24-7)
138: Carson Johnson (30-1)
145: Aiden Kiner (28-8)
160: Shawn Taylor (6-4)
182: Hunter Austel (13-13)
220: Devin Kendrex (26-4)
285: Riley Anderson (25-7)
* sectional champion
