When the Region 2 Wrestling Tournament started Friday evening at Apollo, 41 local wrestlers hit the mat. When the dust settled Saturday afternoon, Apollo’s Cameron Baker and Owensboro’s Nick Avery walked off the mat as region champions.
LaRue County finished first in the team standings with 256 points while Meade County was the runner-up with 223. Apollo led the local squads with their seventh-place finished as the Eagles just edged Daviess County’s eighth-place finish. Owensboro took 10th and the Owensboro Catholic Aces grabbed 11th place in their first year of competition.
Baker’s victory in the 170-pound final was enough to propel the Eagles into seventh-place over the Panthers.
He said it’s been a long but rewarding weekend.
“It’s been stressful,” he said. “Going into that match, the nerves were high but you just got to learn how to control yourself when you’re nervous and it’ll help you.”
Avery took home the 152-pound title for the Red Devils and said he only had one thing on his mind.
“My mindset coming in was just to win,” he said. “We’ve been working all season. It’s been a good journey and we’re getting the job done. Now we’ve got to work on semi-state.”
For Baker, having his final regional tournament at his school was something he’ll always remember.
“It feels amazing to not have to ride a bus for two hours stay in a hotel,” he said. “Get to sleep in my own bed and we’re not used to this. While I’ve been here, we’ve never had a home meet like this. It just feels great to be home.”
When he looks back on what his accomplished Saturday, Baker admitted he’s had struggles but added that’s what’s helped him get to where he is.
“It’s taken seven years and I’ve been in the region finals three years in a row,” he said. “Third times the charm, I guess. The seven years of hard work and all the coaching I’ve received over those seven years have helped me a ton.”
After walking off the mat and getting his medal, Baker ran toward his parents.
He said doing it in front of his family made is that much more sweet.
“We lost my grandma this past Christmas, due to Covid, and granddad was here,” he said. “I know it helped him get his mind off of things and help everything.”
Avery dominated his final opponent Saturday, which was even more impressive given his return to the sport this season.
He said he wrestled when he was younger but quit to focus on football.
“I decided to come back out this year and I’m having a blast,” he said.
Given what Covid has done to their season, Avery said being able to go home with a championship let’s him know all the work was worth it.
“It’s actually really hard, definitely, with the wrestling situation,” he said. “We had Covid, plus we had those snow days. We had a lot of time off where we had to really be disciplined and just focus on ourselves, just work ourselves out. It’s definitely been a struggle but we made it happen.”
Daviess County had two wrestlers in the championship with Conner Tolson (182) and Say Moe (285) but both were defeated and finished runner-up.
Panther coach Curtis Martinson said he was proud of his team.
“I think we should have won both matches to be honest but kids will be kids and sometimes they do it their way instead of the way they’re taught,” he said. “They got here, they did great … but that made mistakes … I’m very proud of both of them, I’m very proud of all the kids. We’ve had a lot of problems this year with Covid, quarantines, concussions and broken arms. We fought through a lot of adversity and to have two kids in the finals, I’m good. We’re taking three to state. I’m very proud of the guys. They wrestled really well.”
With three going to next week’s semi-state from DC, Martinson know it’s going to be an uphill battle next week.
“It’s going to be really hard to get through the finals this year,” he said. “They’ve taken almost the entire state tournament and put it into one little window. They took two of the biggest regions in the state and put them against each other and only two kids get to go so it’s really hard.”
In their first year with a program, Catholic coach Chip Pride was happy with his team finished, despite not having a wrestler advance to semi-state.
But with only one senior and most of its roster being freshman, Pride said they showed him a lot this weekend.
“I was proud of our kids because we really wrestled today than we did yesterday,” he said. “Disappointed we didn’t get anybody to qualify for state but we’re a first-year program. We had a kid come in fifth with (Cameron) Devine and then Hunter (Monroe), unfortunately pinned himself in that 5-6 match. Two freshmen in the top half of the region, I think that’s good for a first-year program.”
The area wrestlers that qualified for semi-state will be back at Apollo next weekend with a trip to the state championship at George Rogers Clark on the line.
Team Scores
| 1 | LaRue County | 256.0 |
| 2 | Meade County | 223.0 |
| 3 | Central Hardin | 198.5 |
| 4 | Taylor County | 151.5 |
| 5 | John Hardin | 125.0 |
| 6 | North Hardin | 122.0 |
| 7 | Apollo | 104.5 |
| 8 | Daviess County | 85.0 |
| 9 | Bardstown | 66.0 |
| 10 | Owensboro | 55.0 |
| 11 | Owensboro Catholic | 20.0 |
| 12 | Green County | 18.0 |
| 13 | Thomas Nelson | 16.0 |
| 14 | Greenwood | 10.0 |
| 15 | Trinity (Whitesville) | 9.0 |
| 16 | Nelson County | 7.0 |
| 17 | Warren Central HIgh School | 4.0 |
Individual Results (Top 4 advance to semi-state)
106
1st Place – Breyden Whorton of LaRue County
2nd Place – Amari Hardin of John Hardin
3rd Place – Jacob McDonald of Taylor County
4th Place – Payton Durbin of Meade County
5th Place – William Lyons of Greenwood
6th Place – Jake Ramsey of Apollo
113
1st Place – Leland Reeves of Taylor County
2nd Place – David Griffith of Meade County
3rd Place – Maximus Beltran of Central Hardin
4th Place – Brock Gross of LaRue County
5th Place – Aiden McLaughlin of Owensboro
6th Place – Brendan Nagle of John Hardin
120
1st Place – Ryan Portwood of North Hardin
2nd Place – Tyler Lattin of Meade County
3rd Place – Connor Metcalf of LaRue County
4th Place – Derrick Beckley of Taylor County
5th Place – Cameron Devine of Owensboro Catholic
6th Place – Alex Bowlds of Apollo
126
1st Place – Braedon Herron of North Hardin
2nd Place – Charlie Tucker of John Hardin
3rd Place – David Gerkin of Apollo
4th Place – Devavion Armstard of Central Hardin
5th Place – Dylan Rodriguez of Meade County
6th Place – Charlee Reed Greenwell of LaRue County
132
1st Place – Thomas Hoppes of LaRue County
2nd Place – Jacob Fulkerson of Central Hardin
3rd Place – Mason Raines of Meade County
4th Place – Caleb Tolson of Daviess County
5th Place – Theron Freeman of Bardstown
6th Place – Connor Madison of North Hardin
138
1st Place – Devon Herron of North Hardin
2nd Place – Levi Stull of Meade County
3rd Place – Mason Polston of Central Hardin
4th Place – Westin Brown of LaRue County
5th Place – Owen Lamer of Taylor County
6th Place – Lucas Lindblom of Daviess County
145
1st Place – Gabe Fortier of LaRue County
2nd Place – JT King of Bardstown
3rd Place – Trayton Stargill of Taylor County
4th Place – Caden Rodriguez of Meade County
5th Place – Jared Britain of Central Hardin
6th Place – Mason Mattingly of Trinity (Whitesville)
152
1st Place – Nick Avery of Owensboro
2nd Place – Caleb Baumgardner of Central Hardin
3rd Place – Matthew Ball of LaRue County
4th Place – Austin Head of Bardstown
5th Place – Alexander Elmore of Daviess County
6th Place – Dana Bishop of Apollo
160
1st Place – Austin Shaffer of LaRue County
2nd Place – Jybari Springs of John Hardin
3rd Place – Conner Geise of Meade County
4th Place – John Jarvis of Central Hardin
5th Place – Dylan Norton of Thomas Nelson
6th Place – Hunter Monroe of Owensboro Catholic
170
1st Place – Cameron Baker of Apollo
2nd Place – Benicio Mariscal Carter of John Hardin
3rd Place – Caileb Hills of Meade County
4th Place – Landon Barnes of Central Hardin
5th Place – Dylan Lambert of LaRue County
6th Place – Cole Staley of Nelson County
182
1st Place – DJ Riggins of Taylor County
2nd Place – Conner Tolson of Daviess County
3rd Place – Tony Logalbo of John Hardin
4th Place – Gabriel Ramirez of Central Hardin
5th Place – Tavis Walker of Apollo
6th Place – Levi Harned of LaRue County
195
1st Place – Conner Lambert of LaRue County
2nd Place – Austin Ellis of Meade County
3rd Place – Seth Serra of Central Hardin
4th Place – Marcus James of Taylor County
5th Place – Jaden Pierce of Green County
6th Place – Ethan Berry of Apollo
220
1st Place – Thomas Boone of LaRue County
2nd Place – Austin Silva of John Hardin
3rd Place – Clayton Hockman of Central Hardin
4th Place – Zach Leonard of Meade County
5th Place – Logan Palmer of Owensboro
6th Place – Samuel Hatcher of Taylor County
285
1st Place – Che Smith of Meade County
2nd Place – Say Moe of Daviess County
3rd Place – Blaize Cart of Apollo
4th Place – Levi Talbert of North Hardin
5th Place – Xavier Lewis of LaRue County
6th Place – Zack Humphrey of Owensboro
