By Terry Boehmker
NKy Tribune sports reporter
Placing second in the Region 6 wrestling tournament last weekend was a big accomplishment for one of the smallest schools in the competition. Walton-Verona made a serious run at the team title, but the Bearcats finished 17 points behind perennial power Campbell County in the final standings.
This is the fifth consecutive year that Campbell County has carried off the regional championship trophy. Walton-Verona had never placed higher than fifth since starting its wrestling program in 2010.
“We have probably the toughest region in the state,” said Walton-Verona coach John Roth, “so for us to chase Campbell County and have a shot at winning speaks volumes for the work our kids have put in.”
With enrollments of less than 500 students, Walton-Verona, Newport and Covington Catholic are the smallest of the 12 high schools that compete in Region 6 wrestling. Most of the other high schools have enrollments of 1,000 or more.
That’s why the Bearcats took pride in bringing home their first regional runner-up trophy. They also had nine wrestlers qualify to compete in the state tournament on Friday and Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park’s AllTech Arena near Lexington.
The top four finishers in each weight class at the regional tournament earned berths in the season finale. Walton-Verona’s state qualifiers include four regional finalists and five others who came through the consolation bracket to place third or fourth.
“We were thinking maybe we could get six or maybe seven kids to state and we qualified nine,” coach Roth said. “There were several kids who really stepped up and took advantage of opportunities.”
Walton-Verona’s regional champions were Blake Roth, the coach’s son, at 106 pounds, Ryan Moore at 120 and Mason Smith at 145. All three of them are sophomores who came up through the team’s middle school feeder program.
John Roth coached middle school wrestlers before he took charge of the Walton-Verona high school program two years ago. He knew he had a “special team” when this season started, but he didn’t want to put any added pressure on his charges.
“The entire season we never talked about (the team) winning anything,” the coach said. “I just told them all I wanted was effort. If you come to practice and come to matches and give it your best effort, everything will take care of itself. And that really showed last weekend.”
Roth said several of his team members were not ranked among the top wrestlers in their weight class going into the regional tournament and they still made it to the final four to qualify for state.
One of the surprising success stories was sophomore Isiah Macaraniag, who was moved up to the 113-pound weight class after teammate Blake Roth dropped down to compete at 106. The coach’s son felt bad about taking his friend’s spot in the lineup and helped Macaraniag get ready for the regional tournament.
“It was kind of cool watching them communicate with each other,” the coach said. “After Isiah won (a state qualifying match) he came off the mat crying.”
Here is a complete listing of the Northern Kentucky wrestlers who qualified for the state tournament in each of the 14 weight classes:
106 – Blake Roth (Walton-Verona), Thomas Ketchen-Carter (Campbell), Aaron Brossart (Ryle), Brendan Pye (Scott).
113 – Tanner Yenter (Campbell), Shay Norton (Ryle), Seth Lutes (Scott), Isiah Macaraniag (Walton-Verona).
120 – Ryan Moore (Walton-Verona), Brady Wells (Campbell), Clayton Boyd (Conner), Layne Seibert (Scott).
126 – Dante Castellano (Simon Kenton), Dakota Lillie (Campbell), Jake Peace (Walton-Verona), Chris Vaske (Boone).
132 – Jordan Monroe (Cooper), Cody Shultz (Scott), Collin Barrett (Campbell), Salim Mardis (Simon Kenton).
138 – Bryan Spahr (Campbell), Logan Erdman (Ryle), Jared Kelsay (Scott), Sha’mon Moore (Conner).
145 – Mason Smith (Walton-Verona), Cody Huston (Cooper), Spencer Carpenter (Simon Kenton), James Barrie (Dixie Heights).
152 – Tristin Badida (Conner), Kyrie Glover (Holmes), Jordan Kidwell (Cooper), Braden Mulcahy (Walton-Verona).
160 – Matthew Munoz (Dixie Heights), Cody Roland (Scott), Jared Stadtmiller (Campbell), Aaron Teipe (Walton-Verona).
170 – Casey Cornett (Simon Kenton), Seth Hille (Holmes), Jake Vollbrecht (Ryle), Hunter Parnell (Campbell).
182 – Roy Bowers (Dixie Heights), Daylan Bailey (Cooper), Elijah Jackson (Simon Kenton), Garrett McElroy (Walton-Verona).
195 – Brett Graziani (Campbell), Alex Olvera-Vancini (Holmes), Seth Keller (Cooper), Cody Lonkard (Ryle).
220 – Kairus Washington (Dixie Heights), Josh Van Strein (Conner), Jacob Schoulties (Conner), Omar Hameidan (Boone).
285 – Ahmad Hameidan (Boone), Hunter Ruber (Walton-Verona), Blake Powell (Simon Kenton), Jacob Peters (Dixie Heights).