Great Crossing dominates its wrestling regional with eight individual champions
Great Crossing brought home the school’s first region wrestling team championship with a dominating performance Saturday in its home gym.
The Warhawks won eight of a possible 14 individual titles at the Region 6 wrestling championships, had two runners-up and will send 13 wrestlers in all to next week’s first round of the state meet.
“The postseason is only three weeks long and you prepare 11 months and one week for the last three weeks. It takes a lot of luck and commitment from the kids,” said Great Crossing Coach Sam Murdock, who was named region coach of the year for a second year in a row by his peers. “I’m proud of them. They’ve worked hard and bought into the process.”
Great Crossing was Murdock’s first high school head coaching job and he has built the Warhawks into a wrestling powerhouse in just four short years. Last year, the team finished region runner-up by a half of a point to Harrison County. This year, they won it 324.5-206 over the second-place Thorobreds.
Rowdy Benner, Great Crossing’s first region champion back in 2020, capped his senior year with his fourth region title, this one at 126 pounds. Augustus Roberts (132 pounds), Nicholas Armentano (138) and Aiden Butler (157) all defended their own respective region championships while Malachi Young (165) and Joshua Strayer (175) improved on runner-up finishes from a year ago. Rounding out Great Crossing’s champs were Ren Birk at 113 pounds and Clayton Shaddix at 144.
Shaddix had perhaps the most thrilling finals match of the day, rallying from a point down in the final seconds to claim a 12-9 victory over Frederick Douglass’ Jacob Wolfe. Wolfe had taken the lead with a two-point takedown with 29 seconds left, but a stalemate halted the action and Shaddix had the opportunity to restart in bottom position with 17 seconds left. Shaddix escaped Wolfe’s grasp and gained a reversal to win the match just before time ran out.
“I had to do something to win. … I just took off with it,” Shaddix said. “I was able to stop him and drive him back over onto his back. I knew if I could try and keep pushing through it might happen.”
Harrison County, whose George Dennis won at 106 pounds, will send eight wrestlers to next week’s first round of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association State Wrestling Championships.
Since the pandemic, the KHSAA has divided the state event in two. The top four finishers in each class from Regions 5-8 will compete Saturday at Ryle High School in Union, while Regions 1-4 will compete at Atherton High School in Louisville in order to narrow the field for the KHSAA’s final round at George Rogers Clark High School in Winchester on Feb. 24-25.
Top honor for Douglass
Frederick Douglass’ Anthony Condi narrowly defeated Grant County’s Ethan Davis in an 8-6 decision in the 120 finals. Condi was recognized by the coaches as the tournament’s most outstanding wrestler this weekend.
Condi, a sophomore, finished third at last year’s regional at 113 pounds and went on to a sixth-place finish at state. Condi anticipates winning this year’s regional will help him in next week’s seeding.
“I think I was mentally ready and physically prepared and just all there ready to go out and execute,” Condi said.
The Broncos finished third in the team standings and had four runner-up finishers — Kapela Joseph (113), Jacob Wolfe (144), Landon Worley (165) and Caleb Mpungu (215) — to go with three thirds and a fourth place.
“I’ve seen a lot of improvement from everybody this season,” Condi said. “We’ve done a lot better than I thought we would.”
Five Lexington champions
In addition to Condi, Lexington wrestlers Jasitin Kubwimana of Lafayette (150), Jadan Hackney of Henry Clay (190) and Bryan Station’s Jahvon Frazier (215) and Gary McCauley (285) all won their respective classes.
Kubwimana won last year’s regional at 144 pounds and went on to finish third at state. He credited his mindset for his success. He won 11-8 over Great Crossing’s Ethan Sentelle in the finals and will join three other Lafayette wrestlers at state.
“Anybody can get beat. You have to keep the mindset that ‘I’ve got to survive. I’ve got to defend myself,’” he said. “If you go with the mindset of ‘Oh, I’m just going to win, I’m not going to defend anything,’ you can get too cocky and get caught.”
Hackney, one of three Henry Clay wrestlers to make state, finished third last year at 190, but he claimed this year’s title with a 14-5 major decision over Great Crossing’s Justin Shaddix.
Bryan Station’s Frazier defended his region title at 215 pounds. His football teammate, Gary McCauley, won his first region title in the heavyweight class at 285. He finished third in the event last year.
“My motivation this year was to just wrestle every match the same — violently, aggressive,” McCauley said. “What changed was really that I got technically better and got better in the weight room and the wrestling room.”
Fourth place for Tates Creek
Although Tates Creek didn’t have a region champ, it took fourth place in the team standings and will send six wrestlers to state, including the city’s first ever female qualifier, Trinity Gottler, who finished third in the 165-pound class.
The Commodores also had runner-up finishes with Jefferson Crump at 132 and Ishmael Simmons at 285 to go with three fourth-place finishes.
Paul Laurence Dunbar had one state qualifier, Karson Shott, who finished third in the 144-pound class.
Region 6 wrestling championships
At Great Crossing High School, Georgetown
Individual state qualifiers listed. Complete results online at KHSAA.org.
Most outstanding male wrestler: Anthony Condi, Frederick Douglass.
Most outstanding female wrestler: Trinity Gottler, Tates Creek.
Coach of the year: Sam Murdock, Great Crossing.
Top 10 teams — 1. Great Crossing, 324.5; 2. Harrison County, 206; 3. Frederick Douglass, 180; 4. Tates Creek, 168; 5. Henry Clay, 111; 6. Lafayette, 103.5; 7. Bryan Station, 100; 8. Scott County, 88; 9. George Rogers Clark, 61; 10. Grant County, 54.5.
106 — 1. George Dennis, Harrison County; 2. Trae White, Henry Clay; 3. Miguel Francisco, Great Crossing; 4. Axel Camacho, Lafayette.
113 — 1. Ren Birk, Great Crossing; 2. Kapela Joseph, Frederick Douglass; 3. Nathan White, Henry Clay; 4. Mat Wasson, Harrison County.
120 — 1. Anthony Condi, Frederick Douglass; 2. Ethan Davis, Grant County; 3. Trent Cano, Great Crossing; 4. Osvaldo Menchacha, Harrison County.
126 — 1. Rowdy Benner, Great Crossing; 2. Leydon Nelson, Harrison County; 3. Liam Gutierrez, Frederick Douglass; 4. Talal Musa, Tates Creek.
132 — 1. Augustus Roberts, Great Crossing; 2. Jefferson Crump, Tates Creek; 3. Triton Moncrief, Frederick Douglass; 4. Jaxon Franks, Grant County.
138 — 1. Nicholas Armentano, Great Crossing; 2. Jonah Baysinger, Scott County; 3. Elliot Pope, West Jessamine; 4. Moncrief Maximus, Frederick Douglass.
144 — 1. Clayton Shaddix, Great Crossing; 2. Jacob Wolfe, Frederick Douglass; 3. Karson Shott, Paul Laurence Dunbar; 4. Calvin Burns, Lafayette.
150 — 1. Jasitin Kubwimana, Lafayette; 2. Ethan Sentelle, Great Crossing; 3. Kayne Garrett, Scott County; 4. Jayden Channer, Henry Clay.
157 — 1. Aiden Butler, Great Crossing; 2. Micheal Watts, Harrison County; 3. Jayden Moody, Bourbon County; 4. Naser Eqal, Tates Creek.
165 — 1. Malakhi Young, Great Crossing; 2. Landon Worley, Frederick Douglass; 3. Trinity Gottler, Tates Creek; 4. Zech Rainey, East Jessamine.
175 — 1. Joshua Strayer, Great Crossing; 2. Jacobie White, Harrison County; 3. Vaglo Ololo, Frederick Douglass; 4. McCaden Skeens, George Rogers Clark.
190 — 1. Jadan Hackney, Henry Clay; 2. Jesse Shaddix, Great Crossing; 3. Cael Green, Lafayette; 4. Brock Sexton, Harrison County.
215 — 1. Jahvon Frazier, Bryan Station; 2. Caleb Mpungu, Frederick Douglass; 3. Joaquin Solis, Great Crossing; 4. Gavin Belcher, Tates Creek.
285 — 1. Gary McCauley, Bryan Station; 2. Ishmael Simmons, Tates Creek; 3. Christian Rodriguez, Scott County; 4. Paul Robert Copes, Harrison County.
This story was originally published February 12, 2023 at 12:40 PM.
