SEASON PREVIEW:

Covington is coming off its fantastic 50th season of wrestling, where the team finished with an overall record of 189-20, which included the 4th best tournament record in Covington history. The Buccs won the Bellefontaine Invitational, the Troy Invitational and the inaugural Three Rivers Conference (TRC) championship. The team also battled to a 10-3 dual meet record, but was unfortunately without 3-4 starters in each loss. Covington earned solid wins over Allen East, Milton-Union, Coldwater and Ben Logan, and put together a great performance in front of 100+ alumni in our victory over Piqua during our celebration of 50 seasons of Covington Wrestling.

The Buccs placed 1st out of 14 teams at Sectionals, with 9 district qualifiers – Carson Taylor, Jericho Quinter, Michael Hagan, Chase Vanderhorst, Jackson Shiverdecker, Aveyen Meek, Connor Sindelir, Jensen Wagoner and Scott Blumenstock, plus district alternate Caleb Miller; then took 6th place out of 48 teams at Districts where the team tied a school record by qualifying 5 wrestlers to State for only the second time in school history – Carson Taylor, Jericho Quinter, Michael Hagan, Chase Vanderhorst and Scott Blumenstock. Michael Hagan became just the fourth Covington wrestler to qualify for state as a freshman and a sophomore.

At State, Covington finished with two state placers for only the eighth time in school history. After missing the opportunity to compete in the post-season last year as freshmen due to football and weight-lifting injuries, Chase Vanderhorst placed 5th and Jericho Quinter placed 6th, becoming just the fifth and sixth Covington wrestlers to place as sophomores. The Buccs currently have a streak of state placers at 14 consecutive state tournaments – every tournament since 2008.

The Buccs lost five strong wrestlers to graduation – state qualifier Scott Blumenstock, district qualifiers Connor Sindelir, Ricky Stephan and Jensen Wagoner, and district alternate Caleb Miller, but return a number of talented wrestlers.

Covington will be led by senior Brian Morrison and juniors Luke Brown, Michael Hagan, Jericho Quinter, Carson Taylor, Chase Vanderhorst and honorary member Kamden Hughes. Hagan, Quinter and Vanderhorst are returning state placers, Taylor is a returning state qualifier and Morrison is a returning district alternate.

The sophomore class includes Jack Blumenstock, Colt Basye, Ashtin Gardner, A.J. Garman, Aveyen Meek, Izaiah Sherman, Kaden Thompson and Zeb Woodward-Roeth. Meek is a returning district qualifier. Rounding out the roster are freshmen Andrew Basye, Aubrey Bishop, Elijah Carnes, Christian Clark, Aiden Collins, Carter Dupuis, Mason Epperson, Zane Lemp, A.J. Reyes and Caleb Ryman.

Covington looks forward to competing with a mix of Division 1, 2 and 3 teams. The Buccs return to two prestigious mega-tournaments: the 52-team GMVWA Holiday tournament and the 43-team Lima Central Catholic (LCC) Invitational, as well as the Dayton Christian, Mechanicsburg, Versailles and Troy Invitationals. Additionally, the JV team will travel to some competitive reserve tournaments at Versailles, Greenville and Vandalia-Butler.

The Buccs will host the Division 3 sectional tournament – whose participants have proven to be among the most successful among all divisions in Ohio at the state tournament.

SEASON IN REVIEW:

The Buccs fielded a relatively large team this season with a core group of very experienced wrestlers leading a team comprised primarily of underclassmen, many of whom were in just their first or second season of wrestling. Our veteran wrestlers helped the team score a lot of points at tournaments, while the younger wrestlers helped fill out the weight classes to give the team a winning dual meet record. Overall, Covington finished with the 11th best winning percentage in the program’s 51 year history.

Our team earned an 11-4 dual meet record, with three of our four losses coming to teams who advanced to the dual meet state tournament. The Buccs earned a lot of hard-fought victories due to our willingness to move to different weight classes to give our team the best chance at victory. The team battled to exciting victories over Reading, Milton-Union, Coldwater, Sidney and Piqua. Along the way, longtime teammate Kamden Hughes, unable to compete with us, was often encouraging us on the sidelines.

Covington finished with a great 170-50 tournament record this season, despite not having our full lineup compete together until the post-season. The Buccs put in a strong performance at the LCC Invitational with placers Carson Taylor, Michael Hagan, Jericho Quinter, Chase Vanderhorst and Caleb Ryman, while Taylor, Hagan, Quinter and Vanderhorst also placed at the very challenging GMVWA Holiday tournament. The Buccs then placed second at the Three Rivers Conference, one win from repeating as conference team champions, with individual champions Hagan, Vanderhorst, Ryman and Zeb Woodward-Roeth.

Additionally, the Jr. Varsity wrestlers combined to earn 16 individual placements overall, competing at the Versailles, Greenville and Butler JV invitationals, as well as the Vandalia-Butler Pools.

Covington placed 4th out of 14 teams at a very strong Sectional tournament that included five teams that finished high at the state tournament. Six wrestlers qualified for Districts – Carson Taylor, Christian Clark, Michael Hagan, Jericho Quinter, Chase Vanderhorst and Caleb Ryman – while Aveyen Meek and Jack Blumenstock were district alternates.

The Buccs then finished in 6th place out of 57 teams at Districts where the team qualified 3 wrestlers to State – Michael Hagan, Chase Vanderhorst and Caleb Ryman – plus state alternate Jericho Quinter, while Carson Taylor placed sixth. Michael Hagan became just the sixth 3-time state qualifier in school history At State, Chase Vanderhorst returned to the podium with a 5th place finish to become Covington’s 10th two-time state placer. The Buccs currently have a streak of state placers at 15 consecutive state tournaments – every tournament since 2008.

Additionally, four wrestlers made top 10 in the record books this year. Michael Hagan and Chase Vanderhorst both tied for 2nd in Single Season Pins (34), while Hagan also finished 7th in Career Pins (85). Jericho Quinter finished 8th in Career Near Falls (132), while Caleb Ryman tied for 10th in Single Season Near Falls (53).

Congratulations to everyone on the team for your hard work and success! Thanks to our statisticians, Nadia Ramirez and Ramsé Vanderhorst, and the coaches at all levels of our program.