Ninth in State

Although Whitley County finished in the top ten of the state high school wrestling tournament Coach Dusty Brown wasn’t extremely happy with the results.

“The state tournament didn’t go near what we had planned,” said Brown. “The first day went awesome, just like we had planned, but the second day all went down from there. We went into the second day in third place, just a couple of points out of first.”

The Colonels sent 10 wrestlers to state and had a 9-1 record after the first round.

“We had a kid not make weight which is unheard of at a tournament. This kid could have been on a podium Saturday. I had a kid with strep throat, running a temperature. He should have been in the finals, one of the Vanover brothers. The other Vanover brother dislocated his elbow the first match of the second day and that kind of put him out of the tournament. He should have been in the state finals. It just didn’t go well,” said Brown.

“The second day was a real bad day for us,” said Brown. “It seemed like we had a good round then a bad round then two good rounds and a bad round.”

“I felt like we were prepared going into the state tournament and we looked like it opening up,” he said. “We had tons of people commending me about how well these kids were wrestling then it just fell apart. That’s just the way it goes sometimes. But, it was just a bad time for that to happen.”

“I am proud of all my seniors. We did really well and I am happy where they are at,” said Brown. “If they are happy with how well they did. I appreciate all the hard work they have given me over the years and I am proud of them.”
The Colonels finished 14^th last season with two placing in the top eight. Whitley County returned all of their key wrestlers giving the Colonels hopes for much more success this time around.

Senior Jeff Couch, who has been with the program since the eighth grade, was disappointed in his 2011 finish. Couch lost his first match to Jimmy Lacy of Lafayette before beating Brock Moore of Manual. He was ousted by Franklin County’s Rod Agyeman.

“I was wanting to place in the top eight, but I guess that’s part of the sport,” Couch said of his state tournament losses. “That’s why it’s wrestling, you have to be ready every minute you are on that mat.”

“I worked hard and did all that I could do,” said Couch. “I loved every minute of it.”

“When I started wrestling I remember practicing at the college with eight guys,” said Couch. “We were more individuals than a team. Over the years we have become a team and gotten tough. It’s nice to see the teams that used to smoke us, we are beating them and pinning their kids.

We have come a long way and it is nice to have our own wrestling room,” said Couch, who also helped start the soccer program.

Zack Bray won his first match, defeating Jeremiah Kine of Trigg County, 10-6. He lost in overtime to Hudson Heidorf of North Oldham, 9-7 then was pinned by Codey Stephens of McCreary Central.

JT Siler defeated Nick Coffle of Central Hardin before losing to Samarian Kill brew of Christian County and Andrew Segal of Manual.

Senior Duncan Caddell was one win away from the medal round after finishing 3-2. He defeated Louisville Doss wrestler Justin Estes before losing to Cole Proctor of South Oldham. Caddell came back to beat Kenneth Grummet of Union County in a pin and Trinity’s Jacob Smith, 7-2, before losing to Eric Spar of Campbell County.

Stephen Back won his first two matches, beating Brandon Robbins of Scott and Brandon Pledge of St. X before losing to Easter’s Joshes Russo and Meade County’s Garrett Keenly.

Charles Parting was 3-2 and another just one away from the podium. Parting pinned Holy Cross wrestler Robbie Valdez before losing to Caleb Ervin of Union County. He beat Kody DeSpain of St. X and Jared Whitlock of Larue County. He lost to Josh Parker of Ryle.

Senior Corey Newsome finished 3-2 with wins-over Kenny Keller of Moore, Addison Deckard of Oldham County and Jacob Whaley of Newport.

Solomon Vanover was 2-2 in the 189-pound class. He beat Seal Caddell of Cooper and Sam Bryant of Lafayette, but lost to Central Hardin’s Robert Robey, 6-4 and CiVaughn Green of Jeffersontown.

In the 215-pound class Samuel Vanover beat Western Hills’ Ken Holbrook, but lost to Kyle Durbin of Eastern and Jordan Jones of Wayne County.

Team: Union Co. 202, Trinity 175.5, Ryle 152, Larue County 140, St. Xavier 126, Campbell Co. 118, Johnson Central 109.50, Woodford Co. 76.50, Whitley Co. 74, Simon Kenton 72. Other region 8 teams: 16. Wayne Co. 61.50, 29. McCreary Central 35, 30. Perry Central 33, 38. Ashland 25, 51. Letcher Central 12, 59. Sheldon Clark 10, 60. Montgomery Co. 9, 66. East Ridge 3.