Covington is looking forward to putting an outstanding team on the mats this season. Despite having no seniors on last year’s squad, the Buccs finished 21-6 in dual meets – their fourth straight season of 20 or more victories – and claimed their tenth straight unofficial Cross County Conference title. Along the way, the team picked up solid victories over Springfield, Tipp City and Troy, while defeating Tri-County North for the CCC crown. They performed very well at the prestigious GMVWA and LCC tournaments and finished third out of 15 teams at a very tough Sectionals, and tenth out of 49 teams at Districts. The team returns seven district qualifiers, including two state placers and a state alternate, along with several other talented athletes. The Buccs will be led by seniors Kyler Deeter, Gage Looker, Brian Olson, Brock Smith and Jake Sowers. Deeter placed fourth at State and is a two-time state qualifier, while Olson placed sixth at State last season. Sowers just missed the state tournament, finishing as an alternate, while Smith is a two-time district qualifier, and Looker, a returning letterman.

The junior class includes Justin Daniel, Dustin Freeman, Alex Fries, Daniel Jennings, A.J. Ouellette, Noah Weer and Jordan Wolfe. Daniel is a returning district qualifier, while Freeman, Fries, Jennings, Ouellette and Wolfe are returning lettermen and Weer is new to the team. Sophomores include returning district qualifiers Ben Miller and Cole Smith. Rounding out the roster are freshmen Michael Cox, Ryan Ford, Ian Fries, Brandon Magee and Connor Ryan.

Covington looks forward to competing with the mix of Division 1, 2 and 3 teams that are on their schedule. The Buccs return to two prestigious mega-tournaments: the 53-team GMVWA Holiday tournament and the 37-team Lima Central Catholic (LCC) Invitational. They will also compete in the Northeastern, Versailles and Troy Invitationals. Covington will once again square off with some of the top dual-meet teams in the western part of the state, including Mechanicsburg, Brookville, Northwestern, Coldwater, Troy and Versailles. Additionally, the JV team will travel to some very competitive reserve meets including Greenville, Versailles, Ben Logan, Sidney and Vandalia-Butler.

New to wrestling this season is the OHSAA team dual meet championship which will be set up in a tournament format similar to football or basketball. Covington has home meets with Coldwater, Lehman, Northridge and Versailles and will once again host the Covington Duals tournament – which includes their Cross County Conference rivals, along with Lehman. The Buccs will again travel to Lehman high school for the Division 3 sectional tournament – whose participants have proven to be among the most successful among all divisions in Ohio at the state tournament over the past several years.