Christian County has seven wrestlers that can still reach the awards podium after the first day of the KHSAA State Wrestling Tournament in Lexington.
Diion Leavell, the third-ranked wrestler in the 182-pound class, moved into the semifinals by knocking off the top-ranked wrestler in the class. Leavell opened with a win over Benjamin Rush of Boyle County and a second round win over No. 7 Jackson Deckard of Oldham County. In the quarters, Leavell posted an impressive 15-5 major decision over Braden Mulcahy, who was the top-ranked wrestler in the class by KentuckyWrestling.com. Leavell will face No. 9 Zach Chandler of Male in the semifinals.
No. 5 Jakerion Merritt cruised into the semifinals with pins in two of his three matches in the 132-pound class. The sophomore opened with a pin of Zach Pigg of East Jessamine and was able to edge No. 8 Salim Mardis of Simon Kenton with a 3-2 decision in the second round. In the quarterfinals, Merritt pinned No. 24 Trent Jackson of Moore to move into the semifinals, where he will face fourth-ranked Thomas Ketchen-Carter of Campbell County.
In the 106-pound class, freshman Gage Fowler, the seventh-ranked wrestler in the class, won his first two matches – a pin of Henry Clay’s Matthew Embrey in the opener and a 5-4 decision over No. 8 Donovan Evans of PRP in the second round. In his quarterfinal match, Fowler dropped a 2-1 decision to No. 4 Cole Thomas of Ryle in a match decided in the final 30 seconds.
At 113, Austin Gibson, who entered the state tournament ranked No. 13 by KentuckyWrestling.com, opened with a pin of Eh Keh John of Iroquois and beat No. 8 Morgan Sallee of Danville 8-4 in the second round. Gibson dropped a 13-2 major decision to No. 2 Brandon Miller of Taylor County in the quarterfinals. On Saturday, Gibson could face No. 6 Joseph Morgan of Apollo in his first match.
No. 3 Niko Bussell will wrestle Saturday in the consolation bracket of the 195-pound class. He won his first two matches over No. 20 William Long of Perry County Central and No. 10 Zade Hawkins of Madison Central before dropping a 3-2 decision to No. 5 Benjamin Deprest of St. Xavier in the quarterfinals. Bussell will wrestle either No. 8 Keegan Cundiff of Dixie Heights or No. 9 Cody Lonkard of Ryle in his first match Saturday.
At 145, No. 13 Neal Aldridge opened with a pin of Jackson Holland of Pikeville in less than a minute. He dropped his second round match to No. 6 Alex Rivera of Moore in the second round. Aldridge fought back through the wrestle-backs with a win over No. 20 Marshall Royce of North Oldham. He will face No. 17 Zach Higdon of Fairdale in his elimination match Saturday.
At 160, No. 18 Cameron Coleman opened with a pin of No. 21 Graham Davis of PRP. After losing to No 5 Clayton Boyd of Conner in the second round by a 15-6 major decision, he rebounded to pin No. 14 Myles Harris of Tates Creek in the wrestle-backs. He will face No. 11 Daulton Mayer of Walton-Verona Saturday with the winner to face No. 6 Tristan Garcia of Male.
At 120, No. 7 Ethan Wells opened with an 8-2 decision over Michael Watts of Harlan County Central but lost to No. 8 Carlson Deckard of Oldham County in the second round. He was eliminated by No. 19 Cayden Graham of Scott County in a 4-2 decision in the wrestle-backs.
At 138, seventh-ranked Ismael Griffie opened with a loss to No. 11 Mannie Murrer of Covington Catholic by technical fall. He battled back to beat No. 25 Ross Chapman of Anderson County in the wrestle-backs but was eliminated by No. 14 Will Kenney of Madison Central.
In the heavyweight class, Michael Elkins of Christian County lost his opener to No. 19 Noah Hunter of Scott. He won his next match over George McDowell of North Hardin by pin. He lost his third match to No. 8 Alex Roberts of Oldham County.
St. Xavier and defending state champion Union County are tied for first place with 108 points. Christian County is seventh with 64.5 points. Caldwell County is 26th with 27 points, followed by Hopkinsville in 45th place (13); Trigg County in 48th place (11); and Fort Campbell in 56th place (8).
