The 2021 KHSAA State Wrestling Championships conclude Saturday in Winchester as the event makes its inaugural appearance at George Rogers Clark High School for the final round.
Due to COVID-19 attendance restrictions, Saturday’s event is already sold out, but each match will be broadcast live by Trackwrestling and available at KHSAA.tv for subscribers to the NFHS Network.
Gates open for fans at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday with championship bracket matches (bouts 1-56) starting at 9 a.m. across four mats. Championship and consolation bracket action will continue (bouts 57-112 and 113-140) until the meet reaches the consolation bracket finals, at which point the event will go down to three mats for the seventh, fifth and third place matches (bouts 141-182). Once the competition reaches the championship bracket finals, the final competitors will be introduced and the championship matches will be contested one at a time (bouts 183-196).
Action from each mat will be webcast live at KHSAA.tv through the NFHS Network, which is a subscription-based service. Subscription plans for the NFHS Network are available for $10.99 a month. A monthly subscription, priced less than the cost of admission to a state championship event, entitles users to every broadcast by the KHSAA and the more than 45 participating state associations. Subscribe to the NFHS Network.
The format for the tournament will be the same as last weekend’s semi-state meets, with eight-man full consolation brackets. All eight competitors in each weight class have already won state medals.
Ryle is contention for the team state championship, which would be its first. The Raiders have been state runner-up twice, in 2008 and 2010, and have 18 individual state champions.
Union County has won the team title for five consecutive seasons and seven of the past eight, and has been ranked first in the state all of this season. The last local team to win a state title was Campbell County in 2012.
Ryle is currently second in team scoring with 94 points, six behind leader Trinity. Team scores from last week’s semi-state meet are carried over to the final round. Ryle scored 87 in that meet and has already picked up seven because of a first-round bye for junior Noah Duke at 170 pounds.
Ryle has nine competitors in the championship tournament. Five of them are seeded in the top three, including junior Cole Thomas and junior Noah Duke. Thomas, a two-time state champion, is 35-0 and seeded first at 126, and also ranked first by KentuckyWrestling.com. Duke, 36-0 is seeded first at 170.
Trinity has eight qualifiers, one seeded first, one third and one fourth. The rest are sixth or lower.
Union County is third with 93.5 points. The Braves have eight qualifiers, three wrestlers seeded first and three seeded second.
Johnson Central, fourth with 91.5 points, has 10 competitors. One is seeded first, one second and two third.
Fifth-place St. Xavier has 76.5 points and six competitors, and sixth place Paducah Tilghman has 73.5 points and seven competitors.
Northern Kentucky has 22 competitors in the meet. The Ryle duo are the only ones seeded first. Five locals are undefeated heading into the championship meet.
Northern Kentucky has had multiple state champions in 14 straight tournaments.
Current team scores (top four and locals): 1. Trinity 100, 2. Ryle 94, 3. Union County 93.5, 4. Johnson Central 91.5, 7. Campbell County 64, 12. Simon Kenton 41, 19. Conner 36.5, 22. Walton-Verona 33.5.
Seeds for local wrestlers.
106: 3. TJ Meyer (Walton-Verona) 19-0.
113: 4. Mason Orth (Campbell) 38-4, 6. Rider Trumble (Ryle) 16-6.
120: 2. Spencer Moore (Walton-Verona) 24-0, 3. Joseph Sander (Ryle) 26-9.
126: 1. Cole Thomas (Ryle) 35-0, 5. Jason Holden (Campbell) 34-7.
132: 2. Isaac Thornton (Walton-Verona) 14-0, 5. Jonah Bowers (Campbell) 32-3.
138: 3. Jameson Smith (Ryle) 17-5.
145: 6. Samuel Grandstaff (Conner) 35-6, 8. Rusty Craddock (Ryle) 27-9.
152: 5. Carter Messerly (Ryle) 34-1, 6. Brennan Conrad (Simon Kenton) 24-7.
160: 3. Thomas Ketchen-Carter (Campbell) 40-1.
170: 1. Noah Duke (Ryle) 36-0.
182: 8. Ryley Woosley (Simon Kenton) 16-8.
195: 8. Conner Jones (Simon Kenton) 11-4.
220: 2. Gabe Savage (Ryle) 31-6, 5. Dakota Brooksbank (Simon Kenton) 22-4.
285: 3. Ian Hughes (Simon Kenton) 27-1, 7. Tayshaun Marshall (Ryle) 26-11.
Source link
