STATE DUALS

 The Whitley County Colonels Wrestling team just keeps on winning. The Colonels took first place in the Coeburn (Va.) Duals Tournament last weekend.

“This will hopefully prepare us for the state duals this weekend in Lexington,” said Whitley County Coach Dusty Brown. The Colonels lost to Johnson Central in the Region 8 Duals Tournament and will be opposite the Golden Eagles in the state tournament.

“The top four teams will be seeded,” according to Brown. Brown projected that Louisville Trinity, Union County, LaRue County and Johnson Central will take the top four slots. There will be a blind draw held later this week to see which teams will be paired with another top seed. Whitley County will wrestle in a pool with either Union County or LaRue County.

“Each team in the pool will go head to head with the number one team going to the finals, the number two teams will wrestle for fifth through eighth,” said Brown.

“We haven’t went against many of the Kentucky teams,” said Brown. “We have been out-of-state most of the year. It’s just a lot quicker for me to go to Knoxville than Lexington. It’s going to be a rough day. We will do the best that we can.”

Brown said his team would have to start each match down six points. “We have to forfeit in the 119 because I had a kid that broke his arm and is still out. Hopefully, he will be cleared next week and he will be ready for the regional.”

“I think we should do well,” said Brown. “We have to have a big day out of Duncan Caddell, Aaron Back, Steven Back, the twins Solomon and Samuel Vanover. If we have a big day out of all those guys, we’re in the mix and we will do well as a team.

“We have to get our 112-pounder back too, he had six stitches in his eye today,” said Brown. “He (J.T. Siler) fell on ice while running Sunday. He might have to wrestle with a mask on.”

The Colonels, ranked as high as fifth during the season dropped two places in the January poll of coaches. “It’s not that we have done bad, they just don’t have anything on us wrestling Kentucky teams,” said Brown.

“We are still doing good,” he added.

“I’m ecstatic with the way we have wrestled this year,” said Brown. “Especially with the injuries we’ve had. “I’ve never really had an injury problem in the past. I don’t know if it is because I have stepped up the level of competition or what, but we have had several kids get hurt this season.”

“Aaron Back has been out since Christmas, he popped his elbow wrestling in a match and I had a kid break his elbow during practice, just weird things have happened,” Brown said. “But, outside of that we have wrestled really good.”

The Colonels have four seniors who Brown said will be “severely missed”. “Aaron Back (160) is ranked third in the state and hasn’t lost yet, Duncan Caddell (145) ranked number one in the state, Jeff Couch (125) is number six in the state. Corey Newsome (171) is not ranked in the state, only because I have not pushed it,” said Brown. “I am hoping to catch some people by surprise with him.”

After the state duals, the season will begin to wind down and the Colonels will prepare for the Kentucky High School Region 8 Tournament. The Colonels will host Lexington Henry Clay and McCreary Central Wednesday.

Three Whitley County Middle School wrestlers qualified for the state tournament. “We had five to qualify for regions and once you make it to region, you have to place in the top four to make it to the state,” said Brown.

Jordan Brooks took second after getting beat in the regional finals. He wrestles in the 89-pound class. Anthony Kurzeika took fourth in the 140-pound class and Luke Bray was third in the 165-pound.