SEASON PREVIEW:
Covington is coming off an excellent season where they finished with the 11th best winning percentage in the program’s 51-year history. The Buccs earned an 11-4 dual meet record, battling to exciting victories over Reading, Milton-Union, Coldwater, Sidney and Piqua, with three losses coming to teams who advanced to the dual meet state championships. The team earned a 170-50 tournament record, including a 2nd place finish at the Three Rivers Conference (one individual victory from repeating as conference team champions), and an outstanding 11th place finish out of 65 teams at the prestigious Greater Miami Valley Wrestling Association (GMVWA) Holiday Invitational.

The Buccs placed 4th out of 14 teams at Sectionals, with 6 district qualifiers – Carson Taylor, Christian Clark, Michael Hagan, Jericho Quinter, Chase Vanderhorst and Caleb Ryman, plus district alternates Aveyen Meek and Jack Blumenstock, then took 6th place out of 57 teams at Districts, qualifying three wrestlers to State – Michael Hagan, Chase Vanderhorst and Caleb Ryman, while Jericho Quinter finished as a state alternate and Carson Taylor a district placer. Michael Hagan became just the 6th Covington wrestler to qualify for state three times.

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. The Buccs lost district alternate Brian Morrison to graduation but return a number of talented wrestlers.

Covington will be led by seniors Michael Hagan, Jericho Quinter, Carson Taylor, Chase Vanderhorst and honorary teammate Kamden Hughes. Hagan, Quinter and Vanderhorst are returning state placers, while Taylor is a returning state qualifier.

The junior class includes Colt Basye, Jack Blumenstock, A.J. Garman, Aveyen Meek and Kaden Thompson. Meek is a returning district qualifier, while Blumenstock is a returning district alternate.

The sophomore class includes Andrew Basye, Hayden Brown, Elijah Carnes, Christian Clark, Carter Dupuis, Mason Epperson, A.J. Reyes and Caleb Ryman. Ryman is a returning state qualifier, while Clark is a returning district qualifier. Rounding out the roster are freshmen Landon Beeman, Eddie Deaton, Liam Geeding, Lucas Lester, Diego Lopez, Jonny Miller and Henry Skaggs.

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 Mechanicsburg, Coldwater, Versailles and Troy Invitationals. Covington will dual Sidney, Springfield, Versailles, Piqua, Greenville, Troy, Milton-Union and Coldwater and compete in the invitation-only Ohio High School Wrestling Coaches Association (OHSWCA) Duals. Additionally, the JV team will travel to some competitive reserve tournaments at Versailles, Greenville and Vandalia-Butler.

The Buccs host two home duals against Versailles and Piqua, then 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.