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Best Kentucky Wrestler Ever?

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Just to throw another name out there, Willie Ennels was a 3x champ & wrestled for a 4th title w/a torn ACL & finished 2nd. I would say that resume deserves to be in the conversation, just my opinion.

Willie was runner up his sophomore yr(1990)to Miggliaccio of Tates Creek. If I remember correctly his knee was hurt that yr

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I've been around KY wrestling since 1996...Brock and Isaac Knable have got to be top of the list. Joe Carr jr. as well.

 

If we are going for who has gone on and done big things, Kyle Ruschell easily. Kyle went into the TOUGHEST NCAA D1 conference for wrestling bar non, and was constantly in the discussion on ESPN when NCAAs came around as a medalist. His senior year, I remember the commentators saying that he was a legit threat to WIN IT ALL.

 

There have been several Kentucky wrestlers who could lay claim to this title, but without a real criterion for ranking them...we could debate all day. :)

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If your knowledge of KY wrestling only goes back 3-4 yrs you might wanna sit this one out.

 

I didn't think we were including college accomplishments. If so then yeah, Kyle Ruschell is probably near the top.

 

Yes, Livingston Merrit absolutely should be in discussion.  Dude was scary good.

 

ATM is gonna be one of the greatest this state has ever seen and I just can't wait to watch him go against big time D-1 kids in a couple yrs (hopefully).

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I've been doing some research and I put together, in my opinion, the best seasons any KY wrestler has had in the last ten years.

 

*Disclaimer- Some records and placements might be incorrect. Please correct me if need be. 

 

1. Brock Ervin Sr. 46-1; 2nd @ Iron-man, 1st @ NHSCA Junior Nationals, Undefeated against KY wrestlers, National Duels MOW, MOW KY State Tournament

Brock is the highest finisher ever at Iron-man for a KY wrestler. His Jr. Nationals Championship was the first by any KY wrestler. Enough said

 

2. Kyle Ruschell Sr. 46-3; 7th @ Beast of the East, 3rd @ NHSCA Senior Nationals, Undefeated against KY wrestlers, MOW @ GMVCA, MOW KY State Tournament

Not much explaining to do here. Without Kyle finishing 3rd @ Senior Nationals I would probably drop him down to fifth on my list. Kyle really blossomed between his sophomore and junior year then picked it up another notch his senior year. 

 

3. Jacob Murton Sr. 42-2; 4th @ Beast of the East, match away from placing at both NHSCA Senior Nationals and Fargo, Undefeated against KY wrestlers, MOW KY State Tournament

Jacob was hands down the must brutal wrestling force our state has ever seen until Austin Meyers came into the picture. I'm giving Jacob the upper hand because of how close he was at being a Fargo AA and a Senior Nationals AA. Also he gets the trump card over Fahy because if Murton and Fahy would have wrestled against each other I give the edge to Murton 9 out of 10 times. 

 

4. Austin Meyers Jr. 46-0; 1st @ NHSCA Sophomore Nationals, Undefeated against KY wrestlers, only 3 matches all year lasted 4:30 minutes

Austin is by far the most DOMINATE wrestler I've ever seen in our state. I believe Austin would dominate equally in Ohio if he lived there. The only reason Austin isn't higher is because NHSCA Freshman and Sophomore Nationals are not to the quality of Junior or Senior Nationals, more on that later.

 

5. John Fahy Sr. 46-1; 3rd @ Beast of the East, Undefeated against KY competition, MOW KY State tournament

John had an incredible career and this was probably his best year wrestling. Finishing top 3 @ Beast is a HUGE accomplishment and the best by any KY wrestler. I can not remember how John did at Senior Nationals or Fargo so I have nothing else to go on when ranking him in this order. 

 

*NHSCA Freshman, Sophomore, and Middle School Championship dilemma-  The sole reason I can not give these tournaments any credibly hinges solely on three things; lack of nationally ranked wrestlers, lack of competitors, overall lack of interest by wrestling community. Another problem I have with the tournament is based on past results. I will leave the name out of the story but those who have been around long enough can probably figure it out-- There was a KY wrestler who finished his sophomore season as a state runner losing to a pretty good wrestler. Both kids had loses to unranked national kids, as well as to instate competition that season. The runner up went to NHSCA and finished second @ Sophomore Nationals. The highest placer ever until Ervin entered the picture. While that was outstanding for the kid it took a lot of credibility away from that tournament. The next year the young man won state, losing several matches along the way to more unranked national kids, then went to Junior Nationals and finished 0-2. That reason alone is why I put NHSCA Jr and Sr Championships way ahead of So and Fr, and put So. and Fr. champions behind Beast and Iron-man placers. 

 

So as you can see, accolades were more important than the eye test. I didn't care about weight just about what you did in the season and off season. 

 

I will put together a career list for the last ten years because going back any further would be a nightmare.

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Tarzan:

"---------- is probably one of the only people in the sport in ky who is even remotely able to gauge just who is who and what they have done against top kids"

Don't get ahead of yourself. You might be surprised what knowledge of wrestling there is in Ky.

Off of the top of my head Collica-a 2X SC from Solon Oh.(coached by CSU AA Tony Digiovanni),2X Junior National FS champ, starts as a true freshman for OSU. Dance- 4x SC,from Christiansburg,Va(Coached by Iowa NCAA Champ Daryl Weber),2012 Super 32, Beast, and Ironman champ.Starts for Va.Tech.

Tuma is a stud in Greco.2X Junior greco champ,8th in Junior greco Worlds last summer from Centennial,Idaho, committed to Nebraska, going for his 4th state title this year.

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I believe that mitch Ervin and Derek scott should be in the conversation. mitch was the champ in john wolsifers weight 160 there senior years. a great match that never happened.  but both mitch and Derek were so dominate there last couple years.

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Hey do me a favor, read the article on Jimmy Carr, are you kidding me! Winning Midlands in high school, wrestled in the Olympics in high school, NCAA champions, NCAA All-Americans not to mention what they did/doing as a coaching staff. Sorry but their accomplishments far surpass x amount of state championships or pin for time lol The Carr family is known nationally, NATIONALLY!!!!!!!! not just in the state. Quality of opponents matter greatly!!  

 

We'll see how these state champions excel at the college level or not!

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Being around KY the last 3 or 4 yrs has nothing to do with knowing the sport , I know there has never been a fresh from ky place at Iron Man or Powerade or All American or double all American as a Soph or be a jr and Sr AA , I think Stephen is top 5 as well , he accomplished far more than Fahy in HS .

I would say Nathan Brock And Austin are top dogs , looking at Joe Jr who I think was an AA I would put him up there , placing at beast of east is good but a pre season tournament duiring football season is not on the level of iron man Powerade and none can match Fargo where there is Only one kid to ever step on the Matt in Ky to leave with three plaques and two in one yr

 

Tarzan: Frankly, I think your logic here is correct. I agree that Nathan, Brock and Austin are absolutely top dogs. Joe Jr. had an incredible record and I don't believe he lost a match his last 3 years of high school until the Dapper Dan Classic after the season had ended. I agree those 4 are probably without peers in Kentucky.

 

Really, folks, I can't remember a crop of wrestlers - very highly nationally ranked - like we have had this year. If you throw in Trae and Sean, along with current wrestlers including Nathan, Brock and Austin...an incredible year for Kentucky wrestling, and a higher national quality than we have ever seen before in one year.

 

Tarzan, your list is spot on correct.

 

The best ever in Kentucky? Tarzan, when ATM graduates I have no doubt he will have a very good case for that accolade.

 

And, I agree with Tarzan that this debate so soon is tending to take away from the almost unbelievable accomplishments of the Top Dogs he mentions. Let's enjoy the moment - which is that we were just able to witness, without question, the greatest single crop of Kentucky wrestlers this state has ever seen at one state tournament.

 

And ATM should keep that going...

 

I have only one point of disagreement, Tarzan...I think the Macho Man may have grabbed one of the chairs from the scoring table and made it an interesting match with ATM...LOL!

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A chair would not get the job done , trust me I have hit ATM with a couple . Hes Scared of clowns .

Have to say I like Brock he and Nathan are great wrestlers . Brock flows like water and Nathan knows where people are at in any position he looks as if he is watching the match from all angles outside of his body and knows where to automatically reach grab and go , years of drilling and wrestling . Awesome stuff .

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So a 5x placer, 3x finalist, 2x champ, NHSCA soph natls runner up, fila-cadet natls 3rd, nhsca junior natls 5th, fila-cadet natl champion/usa world team member, fargo junior all american that never cut weight except for natls doesn't get any mention, tough crowd!  How many have been on world teams?  Not the best ever but at least deserves mentioning over some that have been listed. jmo and of course I'm biased.

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Must not be to get no mention at all.  He needs to hold them for the 5 count before he pins and smile at the camera.  That should give them time to get in position!  Yes we're going to the beach, his college coaches want him there.

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I saw a lot of union pics in the brochure , you think they were thinking ahead ???

Next yr don't want a single pic except on the podium , like the man said keep your cameras movin I'm kinda fast :)

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Man am I mad no pics of ATM wrestling on Fri , they had 26 seconds , plenty of time to get some pics :)

Nice credentials CCMS that's a stud .Will we see a sr NHSCA run ?

One of the funniest posts ive ever seen on here.

I wouldnt know how to even rank the top 5. A lot of deserving kids to consider. In no order my guess would be Brock, atm, joe carr Jr, Caleb ervin, boston.

For what it is worth, I still haven't seen atm wrestle since he was a freshman...but one of my brothers told me they thought he could be this state's first d1 ncaa champ. Maybe even an Olympic champ. They seen the merits and a lot of other top big boys and they believed without question atm at least majors them, most likely pins them. So settle down Tarzan, there is plenty of love for atm in this state. I think he will have a huge bluegrass fan base when he is a multi time d1 ncaa AA.

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why aren't any of the coopers in this conversation ?

Just goes to show just how selective "the list" is. I put up a list that included caleb ervin but not john Fahy. That was a close call to me, but the impression caleb had on me was huge. He was amazing. Nothing against some of these lists but i think people underestimate him. Id put him ahead of brad or Kevin cooper. Not a knock on them, just think he was that good.

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Man am I mad no pics of ATM wrestling on Fri , they had 26 seconds , plenty of time to get some pics :)

Nice credentials CCMS that's a stud .Will we see a sr NHSCA run ?

Heck, Tarzan, I'm surprised, since the freaking refs took forever to get down to slap the mat...should have been plenty of time for pics!

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For what it's worth, Jacob Murton did happen to beat a pretty good wrestler his senior year at the Beast.   This wrestler went on to win Senior Nationals that year, then two NCAA Div I Championships in college, followed  by a World title, and an Olympic Gold medal in his international career. This wrestler that Murton beat was none other than Jordan Burroughs.   Talk about a quality win.  I don't think any other wrestler mentioned has a win on their resume that compares to that.

 

With that being said, this win doesn't define his career, but it just adds to the argument that he is one of the best wrestlers in recent times.  All of the other wrestlers mentioned definitely deserve to be on the list as well.

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Burroughs admittadly was not a High School star , and I'm sure when it's said and done no disrespect to any other wrestlers but Boston and Stephen will have. Eaten some

Pretty big name kids when you place I'm multiple tulsas as a kid - Fargo iron man Powerade Disney and. NHSCA and win titles in multiple states there will be a lot if tip. Ame

Kids you win and lose against , that's a nice win to have against Boroughs though , Stephen beat some good college kids this yr not a great record but ups and downs it happens ,

Austin is quiet in his approach and explosive when he gets the chance I'm sure everyone awaits his downfall , I hope he wins NHSCAs again this yr and ends all the controversy , regardless he will be a different creature next yr , probably best for everyone to forfeit no one will stand a chance against him from 195 - hvy , he gets stronger day by day I'm sure he will make some coach and team happy shortly in college , and again it's not that he's beaten every KY opponent but every single sucker who stepped across the mat from him in HS .

 

Burroughs won NHSCA senior nationals. That is a high school star.

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Yes it is but Murton did not , was Buroughs a four x state champ ?? I don't know just going by what I have read he said he was not the best HS wrestler ??

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Why do we argue this every year, this is one hard argument from Dave Richey, to Dominic Black to Joe JR, to   this years senior class, to ATM. A lot of things can be used, Kids now days go to these National Tourneys as a young wrestlers that were not around even when I wrestled back in the 80's. There has been a lot of great champs both KY raised and move ins. This is just too hard to compare, I mean even Jerrod Trice, if he doesn't get shot and falls off the map where do you put him?

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