Frankfort State Journal newspaper recap of Western Hills Duals

[Nathaniel Bryan 6]

http://www.state-journal.com/news/printer_friendly/2901692

State-Journal.com

Flyers finish in top five

By Chase Sewell

14 hours ago

Twelve wrestling teams converged on Western Hills' Lapsley Cardwell Gym Saturday for the second installment of the Wolverines' tournament. This year there were a few changes " going from a round-robin individual tournament to a pool-style dual meet tournament " and it turned out well for one local team.

Neither Franklin County nor Western Hills fielded a full 14-person team in the Wolverine Wrestle-Offs. But the Flyers still managed to pull off a top five finish.

In the Gold Division, Campbell County came out on top with North Hardin finishing second. North Oldham took home first in the Silver Division with Louisville Eastern getting second place. Campbell County B rounded things out in Bronze Division with a first-place finish and Holmes was second.

Other teams participating in the tournament were Montgomery County, McCreary Central, Moore and Holmes.

Franklin County, 2-3

Though a little short-handed, the Flyers performed well Saturday against some very stiff competition including No. 7 Campbell County, No. 10 North Hardin, No. 18 Eastern and No. 19 Lafayette. (All rankings are from the Kentucky Wrestling Coaches Association preseason poll.)

"Overall we did pretty well," FCHS assistant coach Matt Johnson said. "We were forfeiting six weight classes in each dual and still made it into the championship pod. We did pretty good in the first two rounds beating those two teams (Louisville Eastern and Holmes). We wrestled four teams that were ranked in the top 25 today and went 2-3 on the day. As a team we did really well."

Franklin County began its day with a 36-18 win over Eastern and then a 54-18 victory over Holmes. Winning their pool qualified the Flyers for the Gold Division tournament.

The Flyers faced perennial powers North Hardin, Lafayette and Campbell County. They lost " largely due to not having a complete team " 54-24, 42-30 and 52-24, respectively.

"We need to get everybody out. Instead of forfeiting those six weight classes, we should at worst forfeit one," Johnson said. "We probably would have been maybe the third-best team here instead of the fourth. It's hard to say but if we had a full lineup we would have done a lot better. We wrestled pretty well on our feet. We need to work more on our back though."

Ethan Whitt in the 152-pound weight class was the best local performer on the day with a 5-0 record including four pins and a 10-8 decision over Tobi Hang from Campbell County.

Flyer Bryan Thompson, 135-pound class, was wrestling above his usual 130 pounds Saturday and still managed a 4-1 record with four pins. His only loss came against Talon Demlein, 15-4, from Campbell County who is ranked No. 7 in the 125-pound weight class by the KWCA.

Ryan Tingle, who wrestled last season at 145, jumped two classes to 160 pounds and did well with a 4-1 mark. Tingle is still ranked fifth in the 145-pound weight class.

"Ryan Tingle had a pretty tough weight class with a lot of ranked kids," Johnson said. "Last year he was cutting weight and was wrestling a little under his (natural) weight. This year he is closer to his natural body weight."

Jeremy Gardner also did well Saturday posting a 4-1 record in the 189-pound weight class. He had three pins and a forfeit on the day.

Also wrestling for the Flyers were Wood Smith (140) and Adam Jones (145) who both finished 3-2. Tyler Wright and Cody Collins split time in the 215-pound class and both went 2-1. Collins also wrestled some in the heavyweight class and finished 1-1.

Western Hills 0-5

The Wolverines struggled Saturday fielding only six wrestlers.

"I don't think we did too great," WHHS coach Garrett Pikul said. "Our inexperience showed a lot today. This was a good preview for where they need to be, what they need to work on and where they are at."

Josh Bell qualified for the state tournament last year at 160 pounds, but looked to be still recovering from football season Saturday, managing a 2-3 record in the 171-pound weight class, with both wins coming by forfeit. Ryan Gipson (160) did a little better going 3-2 with two pins and a forfeit.

"(Bell) and Ryan Gipson (160) need to be drilling a little bit harder at practice and need to be focused," Pikul said. "Once (Bell) gets his head squared away because he's got all the talent in the world, he just needs to work on his conditioning and stamina."

Also wrestling for the Wolverines Saturday were Jacob Rowels at heavyweight who went 3-2. Kenny Dang (112) was 2-2, Matt Cole (119) went 1-3, Joe Shultz (119) was 0-1, and Christina Taylor (125) finished 0-5.

Pikul was disappointed in the turnout for his team this season but wasn't necessarily surprised.

"We have talked about and looked back at Western Hills over the years and what the team has been like," he said. "It's never been a North Hardin or Campbell County just because for some reason there isn't interest on the west side of Frankfort."

Pikul said he would like to build a successful program at WHHS, but it will take time.

"What I would like to do is look at what I have versus what I don't have and work with the guys that I have to get them to where they need to be at," he added. "I have a couple of kids that are in middle school that will be starting in the seventh and eighth grade that I want to work with so that they develop when they're upperclassmen."

[Nathaniel Bryan 6]

Taken From North Hardin results, North Oldham results and State Journal recap:

Campbell County 52, Franklin County 24

Campbell County 34, North Hardin 24

Franklin County 36, Eastern 18

Franklin County 54, Holmes 18

Lafayette 42, Franklin County 30

North Hardin 54, Franklin County 20 (or 54-24?)

North Hardin 53, Lafayette 18

North Hardin 66, Montgomery County 12

North Hardin 63, Moore 9

North Oldham 18, Campbell County 46

North Oldham 52, Eastern 24

North Oldham 51, McCreary 21

North Oldham 60, Montgomery County 18

North Oldham 72, Western Hills 6