Wrestling at 145 pounds, Daviess County’s Kali Nichols advanced to the state tournament finals before falling in overtime to Lafayette’s Amy Velasco 10-3. The Lady Panthers Kaylee Klee also advanced to the state tournament and finished 0-2.
“I thought we wrestled hard,” Daviess County head coach Colton Gonzalez said. “We just got unlucky in the state finals, and that hurt us. We will bounce back and learn a lot from that match.”
The girls’ tournament was held Thursday, while the boys wrestled on Friday and Saturday. The Panthers Jackson Stoner, Kaden Nichols, and Jah Patterson each advanced to the state tournament and finished 1-2.
“We grew a tremendous amount this season, but also still have an enormous amount more to go,” Gonzalez said. “I’m excited for the off-season and how much better we’re about to get for next year. But also super excited for the team we’ll have for next season. We’re about to become a big-time force next season and off-season will only enhance that over the next six plus months. I’m happy with what we achieved, but smart enough to recognize we’ve got so much more potential for the future.”
The E-Gals Josie Ellis wrestled at 165 and finished 1-2. For the Eagles, Kevin Lopez wrestled at 106 and finished 2-2.
“We are only losing two wrestlers on both the girls’ and boys’ side, so we will have a solid core of kids returning next year,” Apollo head coach Courtney Johns said. “We have several kids from our middle school program that will be high schoolers next year, so with a good offseason, I think we should be very competitive next year. The goal is to get back to team state and qualify several kids, both boys and girls in the state and bring back some medals.”
