AT THE TOP

With nine wrestlers returning ranked in the state’s top 20 and five of those ranked in the top sixth, the Whitley County Colonels are ranked seventh in the first Kentucky High School Wrestling Coaches poll.

The Colonels started the season with an 82-0 shutout over Letcher County Central and a 59-18 win over McCreary Central.

“We expect to have a pretty tough team,” said Coach Dusty Brown, a former wrestler at the University of the Cumberlands. “We have a seasoned squad coming back with four seniors than have been with me since the seventh grade.”

“I expect us to be real tough this year,” said Brown.

The four seniors, Jeff Couch, Aaron Back, Duncan Caddell and Corey Newsome should provide plenty of leadership after the Colonels finished 14^th in the Kentucky High School State Wrestling Finals in Frankfort last year.

“Couch will probably end up wrestling in the 125-pound class,” said Brown. “I expect him to do well this year, he’s been around for while and has been a state qualifier several times now. He understands how everything is now and should do well.”  Couch is ranked sixth in his class.”

“Duncan Caddell is returning after placing last year,” said Brown. “He is probably going to wrestle in the 145 or 140 class. I expect him to do well.”  Caddell is ranked fourth statewide.

“We have Aaron Back returning,” said Brown. “He took third last year and he should be a state champ if everything goes right this year, but you never know how things are going to fall.”

“Corey Newsome has been on the verge of making it to state every year,” said Brown. “He has been a state alternate for two years in a row. I expect big things from him as well.”

Some of the other top wrestlers include Solomon Vanover who finished fourth in the state tournament last year. “He is just a sophomore and he is ranked third in the state,” said Brown. “His twin brother, Samuel, should have placed in the state last year as well. Samuel won three of his five matches before losing to Ashland’s Trent Hardy. Samuel Vanover is ranked fifth in the current poll.

“We have Zach Bray back in the 103-class. He has always done very well for me,” said Brown. “I expect JT Siler to place in the state this year if he can get back down to the 112-class. He is wrestling in the 119-class right now and that is pretty tough for him.”

“We have several other guys that can fill in for us,” said Brown. “We are pretty solid barring any injuries and we have already had one in practice Friday. My 119-pounder (Cody Swafford) broke his elbow and he is out for the season.”

Brown beefed up his schedule because he knew he had a talented team returning. “We go to Pigeon Forge and will be represented by seven different states. There will be multiple state championship teams there,” said Brown. “We also go to Tates Creek in Lexington. They will have one of the harder tournaments in Kentucky. We go to Science Hill, Tenn., which is near Bristol and they will bring in some of those North Carolina teams that are real tough.”

“It is going to be a tough schedule and we are going to do regional duals,” said Brown. “This is the first time we have done regional duals. If we place in the top two we get to go to the state duals, which is the best 16 teams in the state.”

“I have never felt like we could go compete in the regional duals before,” said Brown. “We always went to a younger tournament instead of going up there and getting whipped.”

“This year I feel like we can compete, so we are entering regional duals,” said Brown.