Team KY Middle School

[Ranger123 43]

We are coming up to our first event of the post season. Following are the lineups for National Duals on March 28-30:

Team KY Blue

75 - Gavin Brown

80 - Tom Ketchen-Carter

85 - Tylan Tucker

90 - Blake Roth

95 - Adam Bender

102 - Ryan Moore

110 - Zane Brown

117 - Mason Smith

125 - Trent Johnson

132 - Seth Ritchie

140 - Derrick Smallwood

150 - Diion Leavell

160 - Jacob Bratcher

175 - Kadin Kulmer

195 - Tanner Moser

220 - need someone (Nicholas Canaday for second event)

275 - need someone (supposed to be Airin Spell)

Team KY Red

75 - Zeke Escalera

80 - Trevor Frietsch

85 - Tristan Ballinger

90 - Nate Wheeler

95 - Jake Insko

102 - Chase Yost

110 - Braden Mulcahy

117 - Jakob McClintic

125 - Cameron Ward

132 - Tyler Storck

140 - Lucas Carrillo

150 - need

160 - need

175 - need

195 - Logan Deasel

220 - need

275 - need

As you can see there are a few holes as well as potential for an alternate spot or two. Please contact Jason Moore at Jason.moore@anthem.com ASAP if interested.

[dutch 178]

Still looking for some bigger kids. This is a great event and a opportunity to wrestle some of the toughest kids in the country.

[Thewrestlingkid 1]

I wrestle in kentucky at 190 and i havent herd of any of those kids! i should be there!

[Ranger123 43]

I wrestle in kentucky at 190 and i havent herd of any of those kids! i should be there!

Moser and Canaday were state runner ups from River City. Hard to miss those guys. Deasel was a region champ who missed state for minor medical issue.

If you want to jump on board contact me.

[Thewrestlingkid 1]

Moser and Canaday were state runner ups from River City. Hard to miss those guys. Deasel was a region champ who missed state for minor medical issue.

If you want to jump on board contact me.

sorry i didnt mean to sound rude. but yes i rember the river city kid i wrestled him at WCI and won but i broke my leg couple weeks ago so i cant but thanks for the offer but i couldnt wrestle at state btu placed 2nd in region 

[plantmanky1 58]

Good luck to all the team KY kids and coaches.  Lots of hard work the last month plus. 

[Ranger123 43]

Should be able to follow us on trackwrestling! Start at 8:45 am tomorrow (central time). Just weighed in and about to feed a very hungry boy. Will post the pools and schedule in a bit.

[Ranger123 43]

Look up USAW National Middle School Duals.

Round 1 - KY Blue v. Texas Blue, KY Red v. Illinois Bronze

Round 2 - KY Blue v. Illinois Gold (year in year out the best team in the field), KY Red v. Iowa

Round 3 - KY Blue v. Ohio Titans, KY Red v. Bye

Round 4 - KY Blue v. bye, KY Red v. Texas Red

Round 5 - KY Blue v. Ohio Stallions Red, KY Red v. Indiana Gold

Extra dual (doesn't count for placement) - KY Blue v. Nebraska Red

[gameface 253]

Good Luck Team Kentucky!! Looking forward to some success in Danville!!

[Tapout 12]

Any updates would be greatly appreciated!

[Ranger123 43]

You can get full results on trackwrestling. Summary: Team KY Blue went 2-2 in our pool and finished 3rd beating Texas Blue and Ohio Titans. We lost to Illinois Gold and Ohio Stallions Red after having a lead midway through both duals. Gavin Brown (75), Tylan Tucker (85), Adam Bender (95), and Ryan Moore (102) all went 5-0 on the day and Mason Smith (117) went 4-1. We lost so many tight matches against IL and OH red. Team KY Red had some tough matchups and also lost a lot of close matches.

[Wky 25]

You can get full results on trackwrestling. Summary: Team KY Blue went 2-2 in our pool and finished 3rd beating Texas Blue and Ohio Titans. We lost to Illinois Gold and Ohio Stallions Red after having a lead midway through both duals. Gavin Brown (75), Tylan Tucker (85), Adam Bender (95), and Ryan Moore (102) all went 5-0 on the day and Mason Smith (117) went 4-1. We lost so many tight matches against IL and OH red. Team KY Red had some tough matchups and also lost a lot of close matches.

Impressive Gavin Brown going 5-0 as a 5th grader , good job to all !

[Bluesdad 73]

Great job to all the kids on the team Ky teams.

[chadmack282 1]

Great job guys!

[zaniac 11]

Congrats to Adam Bender the only Team Ky wrestler to go undefeated last weekend. Very impressive!

[dutch 178]

I agree Adam was unstoppable!!!  I am very proud of Adam as well of the rest of the kids that wrestled their tails off.  Great group of kids, coaches, and parents.  

[rjs4470 103]

I agree, it was a great weekend.  Our Blue team did very well and was competitive, and while the Red team didn't get the wins, they were very competitive in most matches.  Even our 5 alternates competed well, and Bradley and Brandon Miller both got wins on Sunday, and a couple of others just falling a point or two short of wins.  Bender was a beast and is unbelievable at working the tilt series, even pinning a kid with a tilt in the final match.  Kentucky wrestling is definitely moving in the right direction.

[pmiller13 14]

I heard great things about the team from Va Beach! Brandon and Bradley had a blast and want to follow in their brothers foot steps! Congrats all the wrestlers that represented Ky!

[rjs4470 103]

I heard great things about the team from Va Beach! Brandon and Bradley had a blast and want to follow in their brothers foot steps! Congrats all the wrestlers that represented Ky!

I enjoyed being in their corner all weekend.  You have two great kids!!

[pmiller13 14]

Thanks for your help

[Ranger123 43]

I will admit, as Team KY prepared to make the annual trek to Danville, IL for the USA Middle School National Duals I hyped this group as possibly the best team we have ever put together.  We had pretty good participation and put 10 state champs, 4 runner-ups, and a third place finisher in the lineup.  We were set to have the heavyweight state champ and runner-up fill the 220 and 275 slots, but those fell through.  We had a couple of great weekends of workouts; huge thanks to Coach Lee Miracle from Campbellsville University, Coach Knable/Quirino from St. Xavier, and Coach Carr(s) from Woodford County/Carr Wrestling Academy.  While the overall result did not show how good a collection of talent we had, when you consider that we had 8 kids on Kentucky Blue (9 overall) walk out with a winning record I was very impressed with this team.  Also, quite exciting to look up at the scoreboard and see that we have a lead on IL Gold after 8 matches; can’t recall that happening before, EVER.  You knew something was up when the IKWF leader left the head table to come watch their dual with a KY team. 

 

Team Kentucky Blue

KY Blue 75, TX Blue 6

IKWF Gold 56, KY Blue 18

KY Blue 48, OH Titans 27

OH Stallions Red 54, KY Blue 24

NE Go Big Red 45, KY Blue 37

KY Blue 35, IKWF Bronze 32

TX Red 40, KY Blue 27

IKWF Silver 41, KY Blue 35

 

75 Gavin Brown (5-3) – beat NE 75 state champ, IL 4^th, OH 4^th/Kickoff Classic 2^nd; losses to IL 3^rd, TX state champ/Tulsa Champ/USA National Champ in OT on horrible takedown call.  A fifth grader going 5-3 in Danville tells me we have a very good foundation to build on for future teams.

80 Tom Ketchen-Carter (5-3) – 2 pins, 1 major for 25 team points; majored NE Runner-up; another fifth grader that will be strong for Team KY the next few years.  One of the most aggressive wrestlers we have who still has a ton of room to grow and improve as he continues to put in the time.

85 Tylan Tucker (6-2) – 2 pins and 24 team points; pinned NE Runner-up, beat IL State Champ/USA Nationals 6^th, TX State Champ/Tulsa 6^th; 2 losses were to IL Runner-up/USA Nationals 8^th/Tulsa 6^th and to IL 3^rd/Tulsa Champ.  He actually beat the best IL kid and lost a couple subpar matches to inferior (IMO) IL kids.  Ty followed up his 6-1 first trip to Danville last year with a 6-2.  So two years and 12-3 which is pretty impressive.

90 Blake Roth (4-4) – 1 pin, 1 major; majored IL 3^rd, beat TX 6^th; this is a testament to just how far our state has come over the last decade.  We used to go to Danville hoping kids would bring home a .500 record and now when one of our best kids (4-time state finalist, 2-time champ) comes out 4-4 it goes unnoticed.  That is good and bad.  Unfortunate that there is such a sense of disappointment in that result, but great in the expectations we now have.

95 Adam Bender (8-0) – very impressive performance scoring lots of bonus points for the team with a pin and 3 techs scoring a team leading 36 team points; pinned IL 5^th, teched NE State champ, teched TX Runner-up, teched TX 4^th, beat IL 5^th x2.

102 Ryan Moore (7-1) – 2 pins, 3 majors scoring 30 team points; pinned NE 102 state champ, majored IL 95 state champ, majored IL 3^rd, majored TX runner-up, beat IL State Champ/Tulsa Champ, OH 4^th, lone loss was 3-2 on a last second reversal to TX state champ/Tulsa champ/USA National champ Ferrari.  We have been dominant in this weight the last couple years with both Mason Smith and Bryce Sheffer going undefeated at this weight last year.

110 Zane Brown (3-5) – beat TX 5^th; lost to some studs particularly from IL.  Next year will be Zane’s third trip to Danville, he will be an anchor in the middle of the lineup.

117 Mason Smith (7-1) – 1 pin, 1 tech, 2 majors scoring 28 team points; pinned TX 5^th; majored NE Runner-up, majored TX State Champ/Tulsa 6^th; beat IL 115 State Champ, IL 3^rd; only loss was a tough overtime battle with OH 120 Runner-up.  The last two years in Danville Mason has a combined record of 15-1.  I haven’t been to every Team KY event, but I do not think anyone has seen that level of success.  Given this and what we saw from him at Alltech in February, it is safe to assume Mason will be battling for high podium spots for the next 4 years.

125 Trent Johnson (6-2) – 2 pins, 1 major for 25 team points; pinned NE State Champ, beat TX State champ, beat IL State Champ/USA Nationals 3^rd, beat IL Runner-up/USA Nationals 2^nd; his two losses were tight battle with OH 3^rd and OH 5^th.  Another high school state placer, and personally one of my favorite wrestlers to watch this season, I expect big things from Trent over the next 4 years.

132 Seth Ritchie (2-6) – beat NE Runner-up; a bit undersized at this weight, but wrestled hard and never just tried to survive.  This resulted in some pins, but he left it all on the mat.

140 Derrick Smallwood (3-5) – beat IL 5^th, beat IL 7^th; lost tough ones to IL State Champ/Tulsa 3^rd and OH 3^rd and OH 8^th; what a battler, it seemed like every single match was a nail-biter for Derrick; has a lot of potential, hopefully he keeps putting in the time and effort and we see where he can take it.

150 Dii’on Leavell (3-5) – one of, if not THE, match of the weekend for me was Dii’on pinning OH 3^rd Blake Wilson, also beat IL 4^th; lost a battle to TX 4^th where the kid couldn’t walk off the mat; tons and tons and tons of potential in this kid

160 Jacob Bratcher (2-6) – beat IL 3^rd; showed some nerves on day 1 and started to open up the second day.  Needs more experience on this level to really see how he stacks up with these boys

175 Kadin Kulmer (5-3) – 2 pins and 24 team points; pinned TX Runner-up, beat IL 3^rd, beat IL 6^th; we generally don’t get many returning big guys, so with Kadin coming back next year I expect to see big things from him in Danville to lead this team.

195 Tanner Moser (3-5) – a strange number of holes in this weight class, Tanner received 3 forfeits; wrestled hard getting injured at the end of day 1, but battled through day 2 for the team.

220 & 275 FF – forfeited both of these weights all weekend; giving up 12 made it tough to pull out those close duals (we lost one dual by 6, one by 8, and one by 13).

 

Team Kentucky Red

IKWF Bronze 84, KY Red 0

Iowa 92, KY Red 0

TX Red 66, KY Red 6

IN Gold 82, KY Red 3

KY Red 36, TX Blue 13

KY Red 27, Team USA 23

75 Zeke Escalera (4-2) – 1 pin and team leading 18 team points; pinned TX state champ/Tulsa Champ/USA National Champ, beat IN Runner-up; losses were to IA 3^rd and IL 3^rd; see Gavin Brown/Tom KC comments above, another young kid who will help elevate our results big time.

85 Tristan Ballinger (1-5) – 1 pin

90 Nate Wheeler (2-4) – beat TX 6^th; see Smallwood comments above, close battles all weekend; next year will be trip #3 for Nate, he will be a rock in the middle of the lineup.

95 Jake Insko (1-5) – beat TX 4^th; very much improved wrestler over the last year, expect him to keep getting better and better.

102 Chase Yost (0-6) – tough weekend as a young guy giving up age and size, but tune in for the Heartland Elementary Duals update, the experience was worth it.

110 Braden Mulcahy (1-5) – 1 pin

117 Jakob McClintic (2-4) – beat TX 5^th

125 Cameron Ward (1-5) – dropped some weight for the team to help fill out the lineup; great kid.

132 Tyler Storck (2-4) – wrestled up all weekend and held his own

140 Lucas Carrillo (1-6) – different kid, same story, the red team battled all weekend and deserved to have a couple more wins, but just came up short

195 Logan Deasel (1-4) – young guy, especially at this weight; will only get better

 

I did not get to see much of the red team, but what I did they battled and battled and everything I heard was of them losing a lot of really tight matches.  They ended up in a hammer pool that included the 2^nd and 5^th place teams in both the Gold and Silver brackets.  I keep telling coaches and parents and kids that this is what these kids need.  The reason we bring a red team is to get more and more of our kids this experience and build the team comraderie and pride in our state.  As these boys come back the prior experience will be invaluable to them.  I won’t soon forget my first trip to Danville, coaching the red team and for those of you who watched some high school wrestling this year check out this lineup for the red team (Blake Roth, Ryan Moore, Clint Chaffee, Mason Smith, Trent Johnson, Harry Jenkins, Brady Emerson, Bryan Spahr, Angel Vasquez, Dylan West, Collin Coy, Trey Downton, Max Emerson, Seamus Sallee, Cole Sherman, Conner Sherman).

Thanks so much to the coaches who helped out this year.  First, to Coach Seeney for covering Team USA (killer, thankless job).  Important job to get those alternates who make the trip quality mat time.  Second, thanks to the all of the guys who helped out.  Coach Roth, Coach Cornett, Coach Tucker, Coach Brown, Coach Leavell, Coach Wheeler, and Coach Mulcahy.  It is hard to describe how difficult this it is to coach KY Red.  The Red team always gets a draw of death and this year was no exception.  So you face a killer pool and hope to survive to the second day.  It is so hard to keep the kids positive and confident and focused on the experience they are gaining.  Thanks to all of you guys for coaching these kids and helping to organize the teams.

I have to give a huge thank you to the guys who have been a big part of this with me over the last 3 years.  John Roth and Brandon Cornett have enjoyed coaching this group of 8^th graders in Danville since 2012.  I’ll never forget sitting on the bench with those guys and the look on our faces when Indiana Gold pounded us (KY Red) like 83-3.  We didn’t know what hit us and wondered if our kids should be there.  But we learned from the experience and watching our kids battle through those tough, tough matches we quickly realized how valuable that mat time would be.  It’s been a blast.

I’m going to go ahead and put some pressure on the up and comers.  I predict that the 2017 and/or 2018 teams will not just break through to the Gold bracket, but will finish top 4.  Yes, we are getting that much better.