Caldwell County qualified three wrestlers for the state tournament while two others are alternates after action Saturday in the Region 1 Tournament at Paducah Tilghman.
Justin Klidzejs and Logan Brown each claimed second-place finishes while Bradley Asher took fourth in his weight class to earn trips to Lexington this week for the state tourney.
Two other Tigers earned fifth-place finishes — Donovan Rogers and Dawson Harris — and are alternates.
Klidzejs went 3-1 while earning region runner-up honors at 126 pounds. He won his first match by technical fall, then pinned his next two opponents to reach the championship match. However, he was pinned by Brennen Clifford of Union County in 1:41 in the title match.
Brown, a senior, was 3-1 at 138 pounds while finishing second. He pinned his first opponent in 20 seconds, then won by technical fall to reach the semifinals. Brown then captured a physical match with Paducah Tilghman’s Jaylin Bellamy 14-7.
However, the outcome of that match was not decided until late. The match took a toll on Brown, who was already battling a knee injury. That resulted in Brown defaulting the championship match to Union County’s Jordyn Raney.
Eighth grader Bradley Asher earned his first trip to state with a fourth-place showing at 157. Asher dropped his first match of the day, but came back to win three straight to get to the third-place match. He was pinned by McCracken County’s Cade Turner in 2:18 in that round.
Donovan Rogers was 3-2 at 144 while placing fifth. He decisioned Apollo’s Brayden Mattingly 5-4 in the fifth-place match.
Dawson Harris went 2-2 while finishing fifth at 285. Harris pinned Apollo’s Anthony Hester in 2:21 in the fifth-place match.
Caldwell had two other wrestlers earn regional medals with sixth-place showings. Ethan Klidzejs was sixth at 106 and Cale Goodwin was sixth at 190.
Caldwell’s young squad placed sixth out of 15 schools in the team standings.
Union County captured the team championship for the 22nd straight year but set a school mark for most points in a regional tourney with 339. Paducah Tilghman was runner-up with 254.5 points.
Christian County placed third with 151 points. Henderson County took fourth with 135 while Fort Campbell was fifth with 112.5.
Caldwell had 95 points while placing sixth, just ahead of Apollo, which his 90.5.
The KHSAA State Wrestling Championships will be held this week at Alltech Arena at the Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.
The girls state wrestling tournament will be Thursday while the boys state tourney is set for Friday and Saturday.
