I was having a discussion today with Ranger about team Ky wrestlers.  The discussion is what teams did the best.  What kids that participated on the teams continued to have a success as they transitioned into high school.  What does the future look like for team KY.

We have had team KY since the first team in 2004.  There have been many tough teams that have been put together over the years.  

I believe the best placement was 2012 with Binder,Sheffer, Erdman, Belk, Rich, Frankone, Garaziani, Mueller, Young and a few others I cant think of.  They placed 3rd in the Silver Division.  Just look at the names on that team.  Most of all those kids are still winning.

Last year we thought as coaches we had the best team yet.  We had some kids run through the tournament with 1 loss and even Bender going undefeated.  I remember after 8 matches with Illinois Gold we were winning.  The problem with last year was we were forfeiting 2 weight classes.  So to give up 12 is tough.  We did take that same team to Iowa to compete and gave up 4 forfeits and made the gold pool.

Team Ky also took the first Elementary team to Iowa to compete.

Looking forward I think the future looks bright for Team Ky.  It also look bright for all the participants on those teams.  I see many kids that have been on those teams that have continued to have success at the high school level.

This has to been due to dedicated coaches, parents, and wrestlers.  Hopefully this continues and the state keeps growing.  Imagine what the teams will look like 3yrs from now.

What are everyones thoughts on this? 

The season is here.  Should be exciting to see all those kids continued success.  I'm also thinking the 2017 will be tough.  Lots of young studs coming up.

Just so everyone is on the same page Dutch is referring to MS team Ky. The 2012 lineup for Ky Blue was: Yenter, Wells, Sheffer, Cook, Miles, Bindner, Erdman, Heidorf, Duncan, Oxford, Rich, Frankrone, Meiman, McIntosh, Graziani, Mueller, Young.

We came back in 2013 with: Tucker, Roth, Yenter, Wells, Moore, Sheffer, Johnson, Miles, Holden, Branch, Andreoni, Cornett, Hille, Lawrence, Orr, Fooks, Kearns

Then 2014 we had: Brown, Ketchen-Carter, Tucker, Roth, Bender, Moore, Brown, Smith, Johnson, Ritchie, Smallwood, Leavell, Bratcher, Kulmer, Moser, FF, FF

You are correct Ranger. 

In 2008 Team KY took 1st place in the Silver division. Some of the members of the team were John Fahy, Brock Ervin, Brent Hitchings, Kevin Cooper, and JJ Jude. So....that was the best team ever to represent KY at MS National Duals. Can anyone help with the other members of that team?

That was a little before my time.  Just from the names listed that team was loaded.  I would say that Efren and Hitchings would have the names of kids on that team.  I believe they have been apart of that team for a long time.

Momentum seems to continue to grow. It begins at the youth level. As dutch noted this is due to the dedication of coaches, parents, and wrestlers. I would bet that KY wrestling has grown at a faster rate than most states over the past 10 yrs or so.

In 2008 Team KY took 1st place in the Silver division. Some of the members of the team were John Fahy, Brock Ervin, Brent Hitchings, Kevin Cooper, and JJ Jude. So....that was the best team ever to represent KY at MS National Duals. Can anyone help with the other members of that team?

Good one RYP. That is an all star lineup.

Not that the early teams you took out there didn't have some great talent, but as a state we were not prepared to compete at that level. Agree? By the time you get to that 2008 team you have a bunch of kids who competed outside our borders regularly.

I agree the MS division could have done much better if they had all the weights. Getting kids on board now is key, after spring time most on to the next sport.

In 2008 Team KY took 1st place in the Silver division. Some of the members of the team were John Fahy, Brock Ervin, Brent Hitchings, Kevin Cooper, and JJ Jude. So....that was the best team ever to represent KY at MS National Duals. Can anyone help with the other members of that team?

Just checked and Sean Fausz has that medal.

It seems to that we have become more competitive due to kids traveling more at a younger age.  The experience they gain from hitting out of state tournaments is huge.

 Also we take two teams each year.  The first experience for most is brutal. They are usually the 5th and 6th graders wrestling top level kids.  I think it is more about the experience than the wins at that point.  I was honored to coach for 3 years.  It was amazing to watch that group we took 3 yrs ago perform this year.  Most of those kids did not win a match that year.

Hopefully we can get some more names of earlier teams to see how they finished in high school.  I would imagine many of the high school state champs were part of team KY in middle school.

I remember the first team I took to Danville. Probably about 2003. The team was heavy with Fern Creek kids and a few others from around the state. Our first dual, I believe was against Illinois Gold. We sent three kids to the hospital and didn't win a match. For the weekend, we won a total of about 5 individual matches and had 6 or 7 kids in the emergency room. I thought the parents were going to kill me. Funny thing, they all returned again and again with more wins and less time in the ER.

CCMS_SC, can you remember who else was on that 2008 team? I think Drew Newbury and Nick Paden were with us that year.

Rough to remember...getting old.  I think they may have been.  I also think Garth Yenter and Wade Holsclaw(spelling) were too...maybe Jayce Carr and Justin Lampe?.  The KSWA.org site is gone and the new one doesn't have any past results so it's hard to find.  TrackWrestling doesn't have the results from that far back either.

I believe Zach Salyers, & Luke Troxell were on that team. I think Luke might have been undefeated?? 

Wow....i think we need to do a better job of archiving our history.

I know easy to say while I sit back and let someone else take care of it right:) let me know if I can help in some way.

RYP, that first team in Danville took a brutal beat down but I believe had quite a few tough kids.

My memory is not the best but I think it had Coty Lewis, Matt Byrd, Harrison Courtney, Johnny Wolsifier, Jarron Singley, Brad Hitchings, Caleb Wood.... I can't recall if Travis Sullivan and Joey Sanders were on that team or not.

Any more you can think of?

Going strictly off of memory, these are the kids I remember. Been at this a long time, so the years kind of blend together.

Brock Ervin, Sean Fausz, Garth Yenter, Logan Wedding, Nick Paden, John Fahy, Jayce Carr, Brent Hitchings, Luke Troxell, Kevin Cooper, Zach Salyers, JJ Jude, Bernard Ray and Drew Newberry. I know I missed some and apologize. If someone knows what happened to the info that was on the kyswa site, I could probably come up with more. It was one heck of a group and I remember Troxell going undefeated. Including a pin against a monster from I believe Indiana.

I may have this information at home still. Have been getting rid of stuff the past few years that I felt was no longer relevant. I will check tonight.

Now hopefully I don't offend too many people, but here is my take on this tournament and any other off-season tournament. I have not been involved in this team for a couple years, so not sure how we are doing it now. We do not use the same weights as USA wrestling. So the weights of our state champs did not always match up. We always tried to put the best team together. So this meant that a lot of times, we had kids wrestling up and sometimes kids wrestling down. I would assume this is still being done. Anyone that has been to these tournaments, knows that other states suck a lot of weight for these. Even at the youth and middle school level. So if you look back over the years, you will find examples of our state champs getting pounded wrestling up and our 2nd or 3rd place kids doing very well at the original weight. So as far as future success it is all relative. I have traveled the country with my boys and I can tell you that there are kids they hammered as youth, lost to as middle schoolers and hammered them again in high school or college. The list of losses that Garth had to kids at national tournaments is long. There are some that are still ahead of him, but the list of kids that he has passed is much longer. A lot if those early hammers are not even involved in the sport anymore.

So my advice to any parents or coaches. Enjoy every minute of it. Take joy in every accomplishment and learn from every defeat. But don't make any more out of it, than it really is. Talk to your kids about their goals and do everything you can to help them achieve them. If they want to continue wrestling in college. You need to make sure they truly live the sport. Not that they win everything, but that the love the sport. It is too damn tough of a sport to continue with if you don't love it.

I found the roster for the 08 team.  We were really good in the lower and middle weights as you can see.  I have a vague memory of JJ Jude in a match that was unbelievable to watch.  Two 8th graders that looked like men that were throwing each other all over the mat for 3 periods.  I believe JJ won with a last second score.

75 Brock Ervin, Union 75 Sean Fausz, Campbell-Alt 80 Garth Yenter, Campbell 85 Logan Wedding, Union 90 Caleb Canter, Larue 90 Matt Fahy, YKC-Alt 95 Brent Hitchings, Trinity 102 John Fahy, YKC 110 Luke Troxell, Wayne 117 Alex Murphy, John Hardin 125 Shawn Hull, Larue County 132 Larry Sammons, McCreary 140 JJ Jude, Johnson Central 150 Kenneth Brummett, Union 160 Bernard Ray, Larue 175 Samuel Vanover, N. Hardin 175 Soloman Vanover, N. Hardin-Alt 195 Jordan Jones, Spartan 220 Cody Hollon, Perry Central 275 OPEN

Thanks. I am embarrassed by the kids I missed. What a group.

Paden, Newberry, Ray, and Shaquille Cox all went with the 2007 team RYP. Paden and Newberry both wanted to go in 08, but Newberry had shoulder surgery like the week after Middle School State and Paden had so much fluid on his knees from his state finals match with Fahy where he tried to hit a standing roll and John kept his leg, nearly tearing his ACL that he couldn't move too well after HS state. 

I have to say being around this state's wrestling since 1996, Middle School wrestling has come a LOOOONG way! I remember in 2002 having an OPEN state tournament in Campbell County (boy was that a haul) where LaRue, Fern Creek, and Woodford battled it out all day long. Now we have Districts, Regions, then State. Glad to see KY is competing with some of the best now. Hopefully that trend doesn't take a dive.

I remember a few things about that 2002 MS State Tourney.  I remember a kid(won't mention names) who intentially blew blood from his mouth all over a referee(Hardy??).  His face was covered with the kids blood.  Also remember that Fern Creek was winning going in to the Hvy finals.  Matt Byrd from Woodford pinned and they won by 1/2 pt.

See my kids are right, I am getting old. Years are starting to blend together.

2003 was nothing short of a blood bath.

Kentucky Blue

70 Shane Parks

75 Tommy Warren

80 Josh Burkett

85 Tyler Voth

90 Kyle Ashworth

95 Caleb Wood

100 Coty Lewis

105 Brian Peace

112 Harrison Courtney

119 John Wolsifer

125 Ben Case

130 Zach Bryne

135 Kevin Stewart

140 Will Starks

145 Ben Rupp

152 Cody Lasseigne

160 Josh Young

171 Justin Johnson

189 Jeff Faulkner

215 Matt Byrd

275 Matt Sullivan

Our first match was against Indiana Gold and it got progressively worse from there.