By: Sam Gobeyn

 

You would be hard pressed to find a better week of wrestling than the week Cooper Noehre had last week. Last week Cooper was ranked #15 at 152 and was slated to wrestle 3 wrestlers ranked in the top 3 of their respective weight classes. Not many people would have expected what happened next. It started off with a weeknight dual against Warren Central where he wrestled the #1 ranked 145 pound wrestler in the state Antuan Graves, who had defeated Cooper 3 times last season. Cooper won that match in impressive fashion with an 11-4 decision. Then on Saturday Cooper wrestled previously 2nd ranked Jake Schoenegge of Columbus East, winning by a score of 5-2. Then, to finish off his incredible week, he defeated previously 3rd ranked Sammy Fair of Perry Meridian on the strength of an overtime takedown. He has now shot up to #3 in our 152 pound rankings. We caught up with Cooper below to talk about his big week. 

Probably not a lot of people expected you to do what you did last week. Talk about what your mindset was going into the week and how you were able to have the confidence to do what you did:

My mindset is that I know that I can hang with anyone in the state. My coaches always tell me before the match to just be myself, so I just try to wrestle free and do what I do.

 

You had a solid season last year, but you have definitely taken it up a notch so far this season. Tell us about what you did this offseason to make these improvements:

I trained with the best guys in the state at CIA. I also went to some of the toughest tournaments in the country and wrestled some really good guys.

Is there any event coming up this season that you are looking forward to in particular:

I am looking forward to the state series to show what I have been working on for the past few years.

 

What are your goals for the rest of the season:

State champ.

 

What do you like to do outside of wrestling:

I like hanging out with my friends, and drinking water.

 

Is there anyone you want to thank:

I want to thank my coaches, parents and training partners.