wristandahalf

Recap of what I remember 70 - Vega too much on his feet for Wise of East Oldham. Let him up and took him down easily. 75 - Bindner beat Barton as he usually does. On his feet. Looked like he got in every time he shot. Got the takedowns when he needed them and rode tough. Going to be tough to beat at state. 82 - Thompson and Emerson in their usual battle. Both kids go full speed start to finish. Forget the final score but every time I looked over one kid had the other kid on his back. A good battle with Thompson coming out on top. Thompson looked good on his feet. 89 - Elkins too strong for TenHarmsel. Tenharmsel was the more technical of the two but was no match for Elkins strength. 96 - Shirkey was on top of his game. Only gave up 2 points in the final match and won his closest match by 8 points. This was probably the most balanced weight class of the day. A lot of close matches and any of the 8 kids could have qualified for state. 103 - The biggest surprise of the day. Thought either kid could have won but Justin Lampe was on fire. Caught Kahl at the start of the second period - put him on his back for the pin. Another day could go another way. If they are on opposite ends of the bracket look for this to be the state final. If Lampe goes into state the way he was Saturday he will have another title. 110 - Best match of the finals. Frankrone over Rusch in overtime. Rusch looked a little off his game and Frankrone looked tremendous. Good things in this young mans future. 117 -Didn't see it but ended as expected with a Fahy win. 124 - Didn't see it 131 - Hennings pulled one out against Anderson kid. Both kids wrestled back and forth with Hennings coming out on top. Last week it was the Anderson kids day. 2 weeks from now who knows. 140 - Ball too much for the kid from Crosby. Crosby kids first year and put up a good match but Balls experience was too much. It the kid from Crosby keeps at it should have a bright future in the sport. Didn't see the last 4 weight classes. Overall should have a lot of state placers from this region. All the kids wrestled well and showed a lot of heart. Good luck guys for the whole region!!

1 more reason to avoid going 103 - This weight class looks to be as tough as last years 103.

70 - Hard to tell - Probably someone from Northern KY - there are some tough kids up there 75 - Bindner followed by Skaggs and Barton 82 - No one has beaten Erdman yet this year gotta go with him for the top spot 89 - A lot of parity in this weight class - so far haven't seen anyone jump to the top 96 - Brown and Blackwell - Shirkey the sleeper 103 - Ervin on top, J. Lampe and Kahl a tossup for 2 and 3. If I were in this weight class I would do all I could to up or down. 110 - Fausz - Rusch is tough but may go down to a stacked 103 weight class 117 - Fahy Haven't seen or heard of anyone from Eastern or Southern areas. Johnson Central and Wayne always bring quality kids as do others. Just haven't heard anything on them yet.

Fahy (Trinity) over Gahafer I think (Union) at 117 110 Rusch (North Oldham) over Frankrone (River City) 140 Ball (East Oldham) over Fern Creek kid 185 Connor kid over Trinity Kid Hvy Crosby (Anderson) over Trinity kid Sorry can't remember the others They usually post the results at the middle school site KYSWA.ORG when they get a chance Fern Creek also ran an elementary tourney today (Sunday) with over 200 kids. Completely done and out by 2:15 - nice!!!!

Kahl beat J. Lampe in the finals 4-2 in o/t. Great match that went back and forth with Kahl getting the takedown to win. Jackson Oxford from Union pinned Shirkey to take third. Oxford had J. Lampe on his back in the semis when Lampe made a bad move and just about got stuck. Many at mat side thought he was stuck. He tied it up 5 to5 but Lampe came storming back to take a comfortable win. 96 - Connor Wilkerson from East rolled through the bracket. No one gave him much of a match the whole day. He beat Keegan Duncan from North Oldham. Keegan got the first takedown and then Connor rolled from there. Colton Elkins won at 89 - can't remember who he beat and Max Korfhage took third. Notable match Wiley from Connor beat Sheehan 6 to 3 in a close match. Bindner beat Barton from Trinity 4-2. Kahl got MOW for his win over Lampe.

After day 1 Ryle in 7th overall Campbell County in 10th Looks like Ryle has 6 in winners bracket 4 in consolations Campbell has 4 in winners and 3 in consolations The guys from KY are giving a good showing of themselves in a very tough tournament

If everyone comes 103 will be the toughest weight class. Ervin - Union D. Lampe - River City Kahl - Trinity Rusch - N. Oldham Shirkey - E. Oldham All state champs and state placers Plus the kids from Indiana Fausz from Campbell is wrestilng in Ohio the next 2 days so he probably won't come but if he does he should take 110. If Lampe goes 103 Frankrone will have to go 110. We'll have to wait and see. This is going to be a very competitive tournament.

1. Twenhoefel 2. Elkhorn 3. East Oldham Red 4. River City 5. Fern Creek 6. Oldham County 7. Trinity 8. South Oldham 9. North Oldham 10. East Oldham Blue 11. Fairdale 12. Moore A. J. Bindner bumped up to 82 to win tough matches over Sheehan from East and Ben Barton Trinity Had an injury before he could face Emerson from Oldham County Ian Kahl looked tough for Trinity at 103 Justin Lampe bumped up to 117 and looked tough winning all his matches (weighed in close to 103) Connor Wilkerson looked tough at 96 winning a tough match 7 - 1 over Hudson Heidorf of River City Gavin Smith looked very good for Twenhoefel at 103 (most of their guys looked good but Smith stood out). Elkhorns 70 pounder looked real good. Brady Emerson from Oldham County looked good at 82

Unless someone else moves up or down my moneys on Trae Blackwell

East Oldham Oldham County South Oldham North Oldham Shamrock Wrestling Club River City Elkhorn Twenhoefel Moore Fairdale Fern Creek

70 - 89 area all returning Binder, Wiley, Ervin, Lampe Binder probably will stay at 70 Wiley - haven't heard Ervin - 96 or 103 Lampe - 96 From 70 - 89 most of the placers are all returning

Went there last week and there was some really good middle school competition in the 80 - 95 lb range. Shirkey, Korfhage, Hall and Bryant were banging around. If you're in this range come out Monday and Wednesday there all supposed to be there. These 4 were working at a high intensity. There were a couple of middle school heavies and 3 - 4 from the high school team working out. Nice workout facility with a good atmosphere for wrestling.

In the afternoon session on Mat 10 in the big gym which was 11/12 year olds 80 and 85 lbs. there was some of the most intense competition of the day. These kids were bangin heads and going full bore with some great wrestling the entire day. The best part though was to look over where at the staging area where they were sitting and see them laughing, goofing around and having a great time. And then about 15 minutes before a match there attitude changed to one of preparing for competition and all seriousness. After there match was done and they had come down it was back to laughing and goofing around. At first kids were in there groups that they knew, Louisville, Northern KY, Southern KY but as the day progressed the groups broke down and the kids were all mixed in together. It did my heart good to see one a kid from Louisville with his arm around a kid from Northern KY trying to console him after a loss. It's hard for me to remember at times but these kids had it right for this weekend with the attitude of hey were here to win but were here to have fun too. It bodes well for the future of wrestling in Kentucky.

70 - Not as strong as in the past - AJ all the hard work paid off. Scaggs put up a good fight in the finals but AJ was in control in every match in the tourney. 75 - I didn't think he had it in him but Wiley brought his A game this weekend. Dominated every match start to finish. No one was close to him. Outstanding job. 82 - Ervin - what more can you say - one of the best in Kentucky 89 - Lampe - pound for pound one of the strongest wrestlers in Middle School. Looked great all day. 96 - Fahy - business as usual - looked very good all day 103 - Weddding - best wrestler of the day in the weight class with 3 of best wrestlers. Too bad there could only be 1 champ. 110 - Perez put up a good fight but Holtsclaw was too much. 117 - Cox from Fern Creek - where did this kid come from - a great weekend for him 124 - Carr - good match with Lopez from Elkhorn 131 - Cooper - dominate all weekend 140 - Bryant - looked great - took it to everyone all weekend 150 - Brummett - dominate - what more can you say but dominate 165 - Preston - another one - dominate 185 and Heavy - Vanover brothers - first time I saw them this year and it was a pleasure. True gentlemen on the mat and off from what I saw. Respectful to opponents and coaches. Coaches - There are some of us that need to dial it down a notch and remember the example we are trying to set for the kids. Parents - Same as above. Refs - Some good some bad. Some very bad. Fortunately none of my guys lost a match on a bad call but I saw others that did. Throughout a long day a ref is not going to right all the time but for the most part they called it right. There was 1 who did not do a very good job and I think most coaches know who it was. 5 match rule - don't have an exact answer but something needs to be done to avoid a coin toss to decide 3rd or 4th or th or 6th. Everybody agrees but no one can agree on an answer. A 2 day tournament would solve the problem but logistics probably prevent it. Possibly a set criteria to go by (common opponents, number of pins, total points, etc.). Don't have the answer but I'm sure there are more ideas. Overall the tournament itself seemed to run smooth with no long waits on matches. It was a long day and the longest wait was if you kept winning. The bout board was kept up to date and the matches just kept being churned out. Any other thoughts?

Twenhoefel - 8th to 3rd River City - 17th to 11th but the most improved team we went against this year was Elkhorn 08 32nd / 09 - 4th Their middle of their lineup improved so much in one year that it really propelled their team forward.

I read on here somewhere that Wedding goes to a private school in Evansville. Assuming this is correct should a wrestler (him or anyone else) be allowed to compete in the Kentucky Middle School Tournament that doesn't go to school in Kentucky? I know he wrestles for a club team vs a school team but shouldn't someone at least have to attend a school in Kentucky or is it enough to live in Kentucky to compete in the tournament?

This year you could make a good argument for whoever wins the 75 lb weight class could be the mow. This is probably the most balanced class in the tournament with 4 to 8 guys being able to win. However I do agree with Turk as to the youth of the class preventing that wrestler from winning. Heavyweight is pretty balanced with the top 5 to 6 guys and if any one guy runs through the tournament pinning all the way they would have to get consideration. Before seeing the matches my vote would have to go to whoever wins the 103 lb class. With Wedding, Canter and Willen in that class this is probably the toughest weight to win. Fahy will put on a great showing at 96 but the competition level is not up to the 103 lb class.

It all depends on how the brackets fall. Anyone can be beat on any day but I would say Ervin at 82 and Fahy at 96 are locks. 70, 75, 89 and 103 will be battles and the bracketing will determine who gets bumped out. With 1 region having in my opinion the top 3 guys at 103 (wedding, canter and willing) that will be a bad weight class to be in. That weight class final may be one of the best matches of the day

Any updates on James??

I didn't see the match but didn't Wurth from Union pin Frankrone at Fern Creek??

He is an eighth grader. State champ last year at 110. I think he is currently ranked #5 at 119 in the high school rankings for this year.

Hunter was having a great season before the injury and he is a good wrestler. I don't think he has any chance at all against Cooper at 124. If Cooper goes 124 he will run thru the weight class. Nothing against anyone else in the weight class but Cooper is just that much better than everyone else. I haven't seen everyone in the state wrestle but of those I have seen it is Cooper on top and everyone else on the next tier. But then again that's why we wrestle the matches.

Good showing. Did Gilkey from North Hardin wrestle 75 or 82??

Did they bump AJ up to 75 at state duals. If they did how did he do at the higher weight class.

Binder and Burroughs - I don't think anyone else is even close to those 2.