Best athletes in state

[nonstop521 0]

All right instead of talking who the best wrestlers are who do you think some of the best athletes are ? And are there wrestlers who contend at the state level in other sports?

[Just Wrestle 0]

Not at Woodford. They just wrestle......

[Happy Pappy 0]

That would be a nice luxury to have. LaRue has a few of their wrestlers who are three sport athletes: Joe Embree (starting o and d lines in football, will probably start on varsity baseball team this year), Evan Smith (projected 135 lb starter this year is a starter on at least offense in football and has a really good chance to start in baseball), Bryant Barnhill (regular o and d guy in football along with track) and Pat Banks (will probably start o and d in football and be on all special teams, starting catcher in baseball this year). We just don't have the numbers here so good athletes play more than one sport and our coaches have always been willing to share them. I have always said that a big part of Woodford's success is the fact that they have always been able to fill the large majority of their weight classes with really good athletes while the rest of us have to take what comes out and make good wrestlers out of them. No one (and I repeat no one) in the state does a better job of that than Gary Canter IMHO. Just look at some of our guys recently...Willian, Yount, Carman brothers. Of course this sport rewards hard work just as much if not more than athleticism, but I will take a good hard working athletic kid any day of the week.

[naplesme 58]

Cory Armstrong at Christian County: plays soccer, is the place kicker for the football team and wrestles.

If you want previous athletes AJ Green played football, wrestled, and ran track from 2001 to 2004.

Earlier than that Anthony Smith of Christian County started at cornerback, finished 2nd at 119, set a state dead lift record of 500 lbs in weight-lifting, and ran track his senior year -2000.

[FalconMatt 0]

Nate Johnson of Ft. Campbell is a starter on the #1 rank football team in the state and also starter on the soccer team and baseball team; sad note I understand he may not be wrestling this year.

[LOWsingle140 0]

dale stone. hes incredible at football, middle linebacker? if im not mistaking..

[6THPL 0]

Jason Hardin is the starting catcher at PRP, was all district football, sophmore and junior year, runs track, and ofcourse wrestles!

[Guest Anonymous]

just wrestle....come down to woodford county and see how many athletes we have...you dont know crap about woodford...why dont you quit talkin crap about woodford....u just suck at sports period thats why keep talkin trash about us...just cuz u can't wrestle shut your mouth....

[grapplinfan 0]

Murner from South Oldham won state in Cross Country and took 8th at 119. I'd say thats noteworthy !

[grapplinfan 0]

You know what buddy, i don't think JustWrestle's remark was intended to insult you. Unless you guys know and hate one another or something, if thats the case, he should avoid your bad azz.

[Zeus 117]

Happy Pappy,

You can't be serious with that comment about Woodford can you? It seems to me that LaRue has the better athletes, how many Woodford wrestlers have been mentioned on here about the other sports they played and their success in that other sport? Unless I missed some I don't think there's any. In your post alone you mentioned four (Embree, Smith, Barnhill, and Banks).

While I will agree that athleticism helps a lot in wrestling, especially with scrambling (look at Teyon Ware, he's amazing), it's not the only thing. Woodford's strategy has always been to dominate their opponents. When I say dominate I mean to break the person mentally while kicking their butt at the same time. We emphasize two things at Woodford, technique and conditioning.

One more thing, your comment about Gary Canter and that he does a better job of making good wrestlers out of just whatever comes out the pipeline? What were you thinking? Look at some of our guys recently. Lewis, Smith, Parks, Courtney, Will Starks, Neesen, Richard Starks, Matt Byrd, Chad Scott, Steven Butler, Kyle Goodrich. Why do you think all of these kids are as good as they are? Because they are athletic? Give me a break, most of them might be some of the most unathletic people I know. You know Coach Carr does the best job at making good wrestlers out whatever comes along, just admit it and move on with your life.

I'm getting tired of defending attacks on Woodford when they are unwarranted. If you hate us so much then do something about it, WORK HARDER. If you are a parent or just a fan then get involved with your local program. If you don't have the time, donate some money; if you don't have the money, donate some time. All the energy you'll are using up on this site complaining and arguing could be put to better use, unless you don't really care and are on here just to argue. If you're on here just to argue then GET A LIFE!

[penguinskillkids 0]

AllAmricn157, if you don't feel like argueing with people on the subject, then just stop.. If you don't argue back the attacks may still come, but so what? People are always going to dog the people on top, if Fern Creek or Larue or Ryle or Conner was number 1 in the state, they would all get the same stuff thrown at them as you all do, but the fact is people are always going to say stuff about the number 1 team because they arn't the number 1 team right now, it's just life so just deal with it dude.

[Happy Pappy 0]

I was merely trying to compare having wrestlers who do nothing but wrestle as compared to wrestlers who devote time to other sports. It would be pretty obvious to me that spending time on the mat has to make you a better wrestler rather than spending time say on the baseball diamond. As far as comparing athleticism, I would not think there was any comparison between Starks and Willian and Byrd and Yount...would you? And yes I am VERY involved with our team both time wise and financially..So get the chip off your shoulder, nobody is trying to cut your team down, I do not like WC but I do have all the resect in the world for them as do our wrestlers. coaches and parents and I would like to think that just maybe, WC feels the same.

[pioneer_pride 1]

AllAmricn157....just because someone gives their team some props, doesn't mean it's an insult to Woodford. Most people look for something to be proud about their team. Everytime someone says "we do this the best" or something like that, Woodford guys get all upset. It's not a slam on you guys, it's just a pat on the back of their team.

Also, Happy Pappy has a point. Not taking ANYTHING away from Coach Carr & Coach Parks, but I don't recall EVER seeing a woodford team that did not have all weight classes filled in probably 20 years. This would be a great thing for teams outside of woodford. Because they have such a strong program, I'd say kids flock to their program. People i know that have wrestled there say they have a pretty good feeder program. Maybe not all of them can run a 4.5 40, but they're pretty good athletes. Another thing, now I KNOW i'll be slammed by woodford nation for this, but in the past their regional has not been all that tough, especially compared to N. Ky....so it has traditionally been easier to qualify more guys from their regional to state. Maybe not every year, but it helps when you can qualify a couple of extra guys that would not have made it out of some regionals. Alright, I am now deleting this account cuz i know i'm getting ready to be swarmed by some yellow jackets!

[Just Wrestle 0]

OK, got another fealing that idiot up top is not from Woodford. The guys I know from there don't talk like that. But it was a compliment, you ass. My point was, most of the guys on the team wrestle only. Through the years Woodford wrestlers do one thing. Wrestle. How many of them play another sport? Maybe two? That's a good thing if you ask me.

And AllAmerican, settle down alittle. I know your proud of that great program, we all are. It's ok the state is against your program, Woodford has been use to that for almost 20 years now. Isn't that cool? Like you said, "It's lonely at the top"

[Guest Anonymous]

allamerican157....im a woodfordian, but i know starks, parks, lewis and neessen are athletes although neessen and starks decided not to play on woodfords crappy football team....when you look at WC's football team it is discouraging and makes a lot of people quit the team or not even go out because the coaching staff is ridicoulously terrible...matt byrd is probably one the best players on the team...that kid can play, but he's still a soft kid....starks and neesen decided to not play football and concentrate in wrestling....i know for a fact that when neessen played football he was an azz kicker...starting cornerback every game, hell of a defensive player/tackler...starks was good himself...both of them or hard nosed players but have decided to concentrate on wrestling since it is our beset program we have at woodford