SEASON PREVIEW:
Covington is coming off an outstanding season where they finished with the 9th best winning percentage in the program’s 52-year history. The Buccs earned a 12-4 dual meet record, battling to exciting victories over Alter, Tippecanoe, Troy, Coldwater, Brookville, Milton-Union and Preble-Shawnee, with three of their four losses coming to teams who advanced to the dual meet state championships. The team earned a 200-31 tournament record, including 2nd place finishes at the Mechanicsburg and Versailles Invitationals, runners-up in the Three Rivers Conference, plus a top-5 finish at the 36-team Lima Central Catholic Invitational.

The Buccs placed 2nd out of 14 teams at Sectionals, with 8 district qualifiers – Eddie Deaton, Carson Taylor, Jericho Quinter, Michael Hagan, Chase Vanderhorst, Caleb Ryman, Aveyen Meek and Mason Epperson, plus district alternate Diego Lopez, then took 4th place out of 55 teams at Districts, where the team qualified five wrestlers to State for only the third time in school history – Carson Taylor, Jericho Quinter, Michael Hagan, Chase Vanderhorst and Caleb Ryman. Michael became Covington’s fourth four-time state qualifier, while Chase became Covington’s seventh three-time state qualifier.

At State, Covington finished with four state placers for just the second time in school history, taking 11th place overall out of 100 teams. Chase Vanderhorst placed 4th, becoming Covington’s fourth three-time state placer, while Jericho Quinter and Michael Hagan both placed 7th to become Covington’s eleventh and twelfth two-time state placers, and Carson Taylor placed 8th. The Buccs currently have a streak of state placers at 16 consecutive state tournaments – every tournament since 2008. The Buccs lost the most successful class in Covington wrestling history to graduation – state placers Chase Vanderhorst, Michael Hagan, Jericho Quinter and Carson Taylor, plus honorary member Kamdon Hughes, but the team returns a number of talented wrestlers.

Covington will be led by seniors Jack Blumenstock, Aveyen Meek and Kaden Thompson. Meek is a returning district qualifier, Blumenstock is a returning district alternate, and Thompson a returning sectional placer. The junior class includes Christian Clark, Mason Epperson, A.J. Reyes and Caleb Ryman. Ryman is a returning state qualifier, while Clark and Epperson are returning district qualifiers.

The sophomore class includes Landon Beeman, Eddie Deaton, Liam Geeding, Trenton Havenar, Lucas Lester, Diego Lopez, Jonny Miller and Henry Skaggs. Deaton is a returning district qualifier, while Lopez is a returning district alternate. Rounding out the roster are freshmen Gibson Leach, Isaiah Mumford, Matt Schneider and Brody Taylor.

Covington looks forward to competing with a mix of Division 1, 2 and 3 teams. The Buccs return to two prestigious mega-tournaments: the 67-team GMVWA Holiday tournament and the 43-team Lima Central Catholic (LCC) Invitational, as well as the Mechanicsburg, Coldwater, Troy, Urbana and TRC Invitationals. Covington will dual Versailles, Piqua, Sidney and Springfield, along with a number of other teams at the Versailles Dual Meet tournament. Additionally, the JV team will travel to some competitive reserve tournaments at Vandalia-Butler, Versailles and Greenville.

The Buccs host a home dual against Versailles but will not be hosting the Division 3 sectional tournament this season due to the increased number of teams. Please come out and support the Buccs as we look forward to another successful season!