This past Saturday, the Corbin High School gymnasium hosted a wrestling competition for the very first time. Not just any competition, but this year’s 2A Section 5 duals.
“The Kentucky Wrestling Coaches Association puts it on,” CHS Head Coach Chuck Davis said of the duals, which included the Redhounds, Boyle County, Pulaski County, Wayne County, Madison Southern and the Whitley County Colonels.
When asked about his feelings on CHS finally getting the opportunity to host a wrestling event, Davis said, “We usually wrestle at the middle school, so this is the first time that anyone has set foot in here to wrestle. I love it. It is a good chance to get the fans in here, and there is a lot going on for them to sit up there and watch. I’m excited about it, because I think that wrestling is just going to continue to grow.”
Davis commented that he feels the Corbin wrestling program has come a long way in a relatively short amount of time, adding that with the development of a youth feeder program, he expects to become a regular contender at the state level.
“I love where we’re at,” Davis said about this year’s team. “We are way ahead of where were last year. We’ve wrestled in a bunch of team tournaments, getting first place and runner-up in tournaments that we didn’t even place in a few years ago. The kids are putting in the work. We still have young kids, but they’re just going to get better. I’m excited.”
Also on the young side this year, but exceeding expectations, are the Whitley County Colonels.
“We’re doing really well,” said Whitley Head Coach Ralph Carte during a brief break in the action at Saturday’s sectional duals. “We’re a young bunch, mainly wrestling freshmen and sophomores. We do have two seniors and a couple of juniors, but we’re a young team.”
“We have won a couple of tournaments, and placed in the top three in a couple more, so it’s been really good for a young team,” Carte added.
Carte said that a lot of emphasis is being placed on the Colonels’ JV team this year, which sent a large group of competitors to a recent JV state championship event. He said that efforts to develop younger talent is “really paying off.”
As for regional and KHSAA state competition next month, Carte said that he feels confident Whitley will be well represented.
Speaking about Saturday’s sectional duals, Carte said, “We’ll win some and we’ll lose some, but I think we’ll wrestle well.”
As it turns out, the Colonels wrestled well enough to find themselves in a three-way tie for second place with Corbin and Wayne County at the end of the event. Whitley came out on top of the tiebreaker with the most overall points, meaning they will move on to compete in this year’s state duals along with sectional champions Boyle County.
The state duals are scheduled to take place on Saturday, Jan. 31, at the Corbin Arena.
Corbin just missed out on qualifying for this year’s state duals, finishing in third place overall at sectionals.
Competing Saturday for Corbin were the following wrestlers:
• Asa Greiwe (7th grade, 106 lbs)
• Jaxon Parmon (8th grade, 113 lbs)
• Hagan Anders (8th grade, 120 lbs)
• Noah Simpson (junior, 126 lbs)
• Mason Dean (freshman, 132 lbs)
• BJ Jackson (senior, 138 lbs)
• Titus Greiwe (sophomore, 144 lbs)
• Trent Jenkins (senior, 150 lbs)
• Jackson Patrick (sophomore, 157 lbs)
• Hunter Pittman (junior, 157 lbs)
• Haven Parker (junior, 165 lbs)
• Curtis Walters (freshman, 165 lbs)
• Cyrus Greiwe (junior, 175 lbs)
• Coleman Ball (junior, 175 lbs)
• Bryton Tye (junior, 190 lbs)
• Seth Jones (senior, 215 lbs)
• Calvin Ellis (sophomore, 215 lbs)
• Josh Goins (sophomore, 285 lbs)
The following wrestlers represented Whitley County at Saturday’s sectional competition:
• Xzander Holt (freshman, 106 lbs)
• Nicolas Dotson (sophomore 113 lbs)
• Larriuce Felipe (freshman, 120 lbs)
• Gabe Woods (sophomore, 126 lbs)
• Landon Creech (sophomore, 126 lbs)
• Kaden Davis (freshman, 132 lbs)
• Logan Mason (sophomore, 132 lbs)
• Brayden Stephens (freshman, 138 lbs)
• Blake Smith (freshman, 138 lbs)
• Channing Carte (freshman, 144 lbs)
• Dalton Turner (sophomore, 144 lbs)
• Kevin Brown (junior, 150 lbs)
• Trent Askins (freshman, 150 lbs)
• Isac Perez (junior, 157 lbs)
• Justin Hill (sophomore, 165 lbs)
• Justin Brown (senior, 165 lbs)
• Wyatt Probus (junior, 175 lbs)
• Isac Brown (junior, 175 lbs)
• Zach Smith (senior, 215 lbs)
• Elijah Bryant (junior, 215 lbs)
• Landon Bryant (sophomore, 285 lbs)
