January 4, 2013 – Troy
The Covington High School wrestling team put in a solid team performance at the Troy Invitational – taking home the 3rd place team trophy at the 18-team tournament. Cincinnati St. Xavier won the event, while Mt. Vernon placed second. Individually, the Buccs also brought home a lot of hardware as twelve of their fourteen competing wrestlers placed in the top seven at the event.

Wrestlers competed in pools of four with the winners going to a four-man bracket for 1st through 4th places and the runners-up going to a bracket for 5th through 8th places. Eight Covington wrestlers won their pools, while another four finished as runners-up.

The Buccs were led by Ryan Ford who brought home the championship at 126 lbs with a 5-3 decision over Ryan Gordon of St. Xavier. He advanced to the finals by pinning state alternate Josh Booher of Milton-Union after winning three matches during pool wrestling – two by pin.

Jake Sowers (152) and Ben Miller (170) both finished in second place for the team. Sowers dropped a 7-4 decision to state qualifier Lucas Staten of Mt. Vernon after winning by default in the semifinals over teammate Cole Smith who was wrestling as an extra. Sowers went 3-0 in his pool with 3 pins.

Miller dropped an 11-0 decision to district placer Derek Collett of Coldwater in the finals, after getting a nice pin in the semifinals over district qualifier Jase Farlow of Thurgood Marshall. Miller went 3-0 in his pool with 2 pins.

Three Buccaneers finished 3rd overall with 4-1 records – Daniel Jennings (145), Cole Smith (152) and Kyler Deeter (160). In their finals matches, Jennings (4 pins overall) earned a pin over Mack Rose of Miami East, Smith (2 pins) won a 4-2 overtime decision over Joe Wendt of St. Xavier, and Deeter (3 pins) picked up a 15-2 major decision victory over district qualifier Austin Robbins of Tipp City.

Brock Smith (138) and A.J. Ouellette (182, 1 pin) both won their pools and finished in 4th place for the Buccs, while Brian Olson (195, 3 pins) took runner-up in his pool, then won his next two matches to take fifth place.

Taking runner-up in their pools and winning their final matches to finish 3-2 and place seventh overall were Connor Ryan (106, 1 pin), Justin Daniel (220, 1 pin) and Jordan Wolfe (285, 2 pins). Michael Cox (113) and Dustin Freeman (132) also competed well for the team.

Covington competes next on Thursday, Jan. 10, at 6 pm in a meet with the Trojans along with Miami East and Tipp City.