<p><strong>C</strong>hris Cooper and Clint Palmore still live in Whiteland, each with his own family and set of work responsibilities.</p><p>They don’t talk nearly as often as when they were teenagers, though the former Warrior wrestlers will forever be paired in conversation and in the history books.</p><p>Both concluded their high school careers with state championships in their respective weight classes.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]<p>Cooper won all 47 matches during the 2001-02 season on his way to winning a title in the 160-pound weight class. Palmore finished that winter with a 43-3 record and celebrated being the best 119-pounder inside what was then known as Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.</p><p>“It’s just spectacular how they do the finals,” said Palmore, 37, who had also earned a sixth-place medal at 119 the previous year. “Once you get that experience, you want to go back. If you make a big move and the crowd reacts, you hear it.”</p><p>Whiteland fans had plenty to make noise about that February evening. The culmination of the 2001-02 season is the only time the Warriors produced two state champions the same year.</p><p>Junior Mark Egbert broke ground as champion at 105 pounds in 1974, long before the Warriors’ next state champion, Jason Fryar at 275 pounds in 2000, was even born. The most recent Whiteland wrestler to reign supreme was senior Matthew Fields, the best of 119 pounds in 2007.</p><p>Looking back, Palmore isn’t surprised he and Cooper were as successful as they were.</p><p>“We had been around wrestling for a while, and that year we knew we would be contenders,” said Palmore, whose father, Steve, wrestled at Southport before becoming an All-American at the University of Indianapolis.</p><p>“I started wrestling in first grade, and always had that aggressiveness and the drive not to lose.”</p><p>Oddly, losing is what Palmore did to open the season, dropping a decision to a Martinsville opponent at a six-team invitational at Edgewood.</p><p>It might have been the best thing to happen.</p><p>“Clint walked off the mat and said he didn’t have to worry about being an undefeated wrestler,” said Dave Thompson, the Warriors’ coach for 27 seasons (after 11 as an assistant) before retiring at the end of the 2017-18 season. “I think it relaxed him. There was no pressure then.”</p><p>The postseason brought its own unique pressure, but Cooper and Palmore were up to the challenge.</p><p>Palmore edged Cathedral junior Ted Bugbee, 6-5, in the first round of the state finals, won his quarterfinal match by pin, and again won by a point in the semifinals. In the final, he defeated Evansville Mater Dei freshman Matt Coughlin, 5-2.</p><p>Cooper, who lost in the first round at state at 152 pounds the previous season, dominated his first two matches with tech falls. He then got past Mishawaka junior Alex Dolly in the semifinal, 5-4, and defeated Hammond Noll’s Dan Bedoy, 2-1, in the championship match.</p><p>“I went to state the year before, and the guy I drew into wound up winning state,” said Cooper, 36, referring to Lake Central senior Michael Engberg-Bartley. “It definitely gave me the mindset that I could compete at that level and at least finish high up there my senior year.</p><p>“Going undefeated and winning state surprised me a little bit.”</p><p>Palmore spent four years in the United States Marine Corps and works for Crystal Springs Grain in Franklin. He and his wife, Chandra, are parents to Nathan, 12, and Colton, 9.</p><p>Cooper and his wife, Lauren, have three daughters (Kennedy, 13, Delaney, 12, and Tessa, 8) and a son, Lincoln, 4. Cooper is a CNC programmer at Indiana Precision Grinding in Indianapolis, located a little over three miles west of what’s now known as Bankers Life Fieldhouse.</p><p>It’s a building that immediately jump-starts some special memories for both men.</p><p>“One things I remember the most is that after winning state I wanted to find Clint and I wanted to find my dad (Tim),” Cooper said. “I saw my dad in the hallway. We just hugged and he said he was proud of me.”</p>
