2021 KHSAA high school wrestling semi-state results from Ryle

The Ryle wrestling team has had to make adjustments as the team chases a team state championship.

Competing in a new format for this season because of the pandemic, the Raiders defended their home floor in one of the semi-state wrestling meets Saturday at Ryle.

Ryle won the tournament with 87 points, sending nine wrestlers to next weekend’s state championship meet March 27 at George Rogers Clark. The 87 points carry over to that meet. The nine Raiders win state medals and have a chance to score more points and win state championships next weekend.

MORE: Ryle wins regional championship. 

Ryle is ranked second in the state by KentuckyWrestling.com to reigning state champion Union County, who scored 92.5 points in its semi-state meet today but only advanced eight to next weekend. Trinity scored 102.5 points to win its tournament and Johnson Central scored 91.5 to win its meet.

The revamped format had the 56 state qualifiers from Region 6 competing against the same number from Region 5, which covers a wide swath of central Kentucky. Each weight class had an eight-man bracket with full consolation matches.

The state meet will have the same format and the two finalists from each weight class at Ryle advance to GRC.

“We had a lot of guys come back and get third, and those points carry over,” Ryle head coach Tim Ruschell said. “I was hoping for 10 (to advance), but we had a good day overall.”

Ruschell preferred that the tournament had included an extra consolation match to determine the second-place finisher in each weight class, a format that some tourneys use. But, he was happy with how his team performed.

“We had to win. We couldn’t afford to lose,” he said. “In a normal state tournament, if that kid would lose in the first round, he has a shot to come all the way back and finish third. That’s a big deal for some of these kids.”

Traditional power Woodford County led Region 5, but Northern Kentucky wrestlers won 22 of the 28 berths to the championship meet.

“We beat up on each other,” Ruschell said. “It shows the quality of kids that we have. We wrestled really well and we have one more week to go.”

Ryle had nine of the 22 qualifiers, with four first-place finishes. Those were Cole Thomas (126, 35-0 record), Carter Messerly (152, 34-1), Noah Duke (170, 36-0) and Gabe Savage (220, 31-6). Thomas is a reigning state champion. Ruschell also credited Colin Ross with finishing sixth at 132 despite a sprained ankle.

Walton-Verona sends three wrestlers to state, all first-place winners, in TJ Meyer (106, 19-0), Spencer Moore (120, 24-0) and Isaac Thornton (132, 14-0). Moore, who will wrestle for North Carolina next season, is a two-time reigning state champion, Thornton is a two-time state runner-up.

Campbell County sends four to state with one first-place finisher, sophomore Mason Orth at 113 (38-4 overall).

Conner sends one in senior Samuel Grandstaff, who won at 145 and is 35-6.

Simon Kenton sends five to state, including one first-place winner, senior Ian Hughes at 285 (27-1 overall). Senior Ryley Woosley was the seventh seed at 182 but defeated two higher-seeded wrestlers to finish second and advance.

Team scores: 1. Ryle 87, 2. Campbell County 64, 3. Woodford County 44, 4. Simon Kenton 41, 5. Conner 36.5, 6. Walton-Verona 33.5, 7. Anderson Co. 32.5, 8. Great Crossing 28.5, 9. Oldham County 25, 10. South Oldham 12, 11. Frankfort Western Hills 8, 12. Holmes 7, 13. Grant County 6.5, 14. Covington Catholic and North Oldham 5, 16. Spencer County 4, 17. Cooper and Dixie Heights 2.

Individual standings (only matches involving local wrestlers listed).

106: First place – TJ Meyer (WV) d. Miller Brown (Oldham Co.) 12-1; Third place – Jonny Nance (Ryle) d. Jeremiah Wilbers (Campbell) 6-2; Fifth place – Ethan Davis (Grant) over Sebastian Vega (Conner) 10-7.

113: First place – Mason Orth (Campbell) d. Rider Trumble (Ryle) 7-1; Third place – Cole Harrod (Anderson) d. Timothy Sulfsted (WV) 6-2; Fifth place – Aiden Marquis (Conner) d. Addai Dunn (Oldham) 8-3.

120: First place – Spencer Moore (WV) d. Joseph Sander (Ryle) fall 1:02, Third place – Rowdy Benner (GC) d. Brayden Wells (Campbell) 13-2, Fifth place – Noah Stanley (Holmes) d. Noah Toomey (Grant) fall 2:15.

126: First place – Cole Thomas (Ryle) d. Jason Holden (Campbell) fall 0:45, Fifth place – Ethan Caldwell (Anderson) d. Frank Armstrong (SK) fall 2:01, Seventh place – Blake Demoss (Holmes) d. Braydon Kessinger (Spencer) forfeit.

132: First place – Isaac Thornton (WV) d. Jonah Bowers (Campbell) 5-3, Fifth place – Jeremiah Thomas (Conner) d. Colin Ross (Ryle) 6-2.

138: First place – Gavin Andreoni (Woodford) d. Jameson Smith (Ryle) 7-0, Third place – Mason Schweitzer (WV) d. Clayton Shaddix (GC) 4-1, Fifth place – Eric Johnson (SK) d. Luke Oliveros (South Oldham) injury, Seventh place – Hunter Sproles (Cooper) d. Gabe Gonzales (Anderson) forfeit.

145: First place – Samuel Grandstaff (Conner) d. Rusty Craddock (Ryle) 8-5, Third place – Hunter Creech (SK) d. Micah Bowers (Campbell) 8-7.

152: First place – Carter Messerly (Ryle) d. Brennan Conrad (SK) 12-3, Third place – Jacob Grandstaff (Conner) d. Andrew Kartner (WC) 13-5, Fifth place – Christian Sanders (Campbell) d. Jeffery Parker (WH) forfeit.

160: First place – Cole Nance (Anderson) d. Thomas Ketchen-Carter (Campbell) 7-4, Third place – Dylan Preston (WC) d. Donovan Taylor (Conner) 9-1, Fifth place – Elijah Baysinger (Scott Co.) d. Vincent Stefani (Cooper) 9-3.

170: First place – Noah Duke (Ryle) d. Jack McCubbin (S. Oldham) fall 1:24, Third place – Kyle Richmond (Campbell) d. Joey McCarthy (WC) fall 3:32, Fifth place – Wesley Rios-Lara (Oldham) d. Anthony Kopp (Dixie) forfeit; Seventh place – Zane Drury (Anderson) d. Aiden Gill (SK) fall 1:32.

182: First place – Jackson Geilear (WC) d. Ryley Woosley (SK) 8-2, Third place – Trey Fleek (Ryle) d. Jack Hamburg (Conner) 10-9, Fifth place – Willie Rodriguez (CovCath) d. Devon Rahrig (Spencer) forfeit.

195: First place - Dyllan Davis (Anderson) d. Conner Jones (SK) 12-0, Third place – Caleb Duke (Ryle) Ashton Littrell (WC) 1-0, Fifth place – Brandon Richmond (Campbell) d. Colin O’Brien (WH) forfeit, Seventh place – James Arnold (Scott Co.) d. Brandon Gibson (WV) forfeit.