COLONELS FINISH 14TH

 Good things keep happening to the Whitley County wrestling team and Coach Dusty Brown. The Colonels scored their highest finish ever last week in Kentucky High School State Wrestling Tournament at the Frankfort Convention Center.

Thanks to a third place finish by junior Aaron Back and a fourth place finish by Solomon Vanover, a freshman, the Colonels ended the tournament with 70.50 in 14^th place. That’s quite an achievement considering Whitley County didn’t send its first state qualifiers to the state tournament until 2005. In five years they have gone from the bottom of the ladder to the top 15.

“The kids have put a lot of time in the program,” said Brown, a former University of Cumberlands wrestler. “They go to a lot of camps and the experience is starting to pay off.”

Aaron Back was a highlight for the Colonels. He went into the tournament undefeated 37-0 and battled his way to the semifinals before losing to top seeded Conner Coyle of Ryle. Back had beaten Coyle during the regular season and gone to the state virtually still an unknown, but ranked fourth.

“Third place was not our goal for Aaron,” Brown said. “We wanted a state champion out of him. He went into the state tournament undefeated. He lost only one match this year and that was in the semifinals.”

Back pinned Colton Boesch of Bishop Brossart in the first-round in 43 seconds. He took down North Hardin’s Russell Rowlett in the second match, also in a fall in 4:52. Back then took on Hardy Hendren of Kentucky Country Day and won a 16-3 decision from the Louisville wrestler.  In the semifinals, it was one of the best matches of the tournament as Coyle held off Back to win 3-2.

Back regrouped and defeated Lexington Tates Creek wrestler Andrew Wright in 30 seconds to reach the third place contest. He took care of Louisville Valley’s Michael Clark, ranked sixth in state, with a 4-1 decision. Back finished the season with a 36-1 record.

Freshman Solomon (171) won his first match of the tournament but lost to Covington Scott’s Zach Sowder in the second-round in a fall in 5:30. Vanover then fought his way back to the finals of the consolation bracket to the third-pace match. He won five straight contests, defeating Nick White, (Christian Co.), James Shinault (Central Hardin), Gavin Agnew (Caldwell County), Antawan Fields (Shawnee) and got revenge on Sowder with a pin in 4:54 before losing to South Oldham’s Spencer Warren in a close battle, 7-5.

Freshman Samuel Vanover was just one match away from the medal round when he lost to Ashland’s Trent Hardy. Hardy went on to take fourth place.

Vanover lost a 9-1 decision to North Hardin’s Stephen House then rallied through the consolation bracket to win three matches before falling to Hardy. He beat out Brandon Todd of Louisville Central, Cody Jaggers of PRP and Morgan Bryant of Henderson County.

“Solomon had a heck of a tournament,” said Brown. “He lost that first match then it was like a light came on and he started wrestling the way we knew he could. I think wrestling under the lights made him skiddish at first.”

“Samuel does a fantastic job as well,” Brown said. “He is 195 and is thrown into the 215-pound class, but does a great job. It is just a matter of time that they will be state champions.”

Two wrestlers, Zack Bray (103) and Duncan Caddell (140) finished 2-2 while J.T. Siler (112), Jeff Couch (125), Stephen Back (135) and Charles Partin (145) were all 1-2 during the tournament.