Logan Brown’s wrestling career came to a frustrating end on Saturday as a lingering knee issue caused him to forfeit his final match in the consolation round of the KHSAA State Tournament.
The Tiger senior finished in seventh place as a sophomore and was primed to return to the medal podium last year, but a knee injury at the region tournament prevented him from wrestling at state.
He got off to another strong start this year but reaggravated the knee injury in the region semifinals that caused him to forfeit the championship match.
Favoring the knee in Friday’s first round, Brown opened with wins over Henry Clay’s Elliot Ortinski (fall) and No. 22 Brandon Jordan of Spencer County (12-1).
However, Ryle’s Landon Evans, who finished as the state runner-up in the 138-pound class, defeated Brown in the first round of the quarterfinals.
Brown attempted to wrestle in Saturday’s consolation round but went down in the opening minutes of his match with Madison Central’s Emory Dix and couldn’t continue. Brown posted a 39-3 record this season.
Justin Klidzejs came up one match short of the medal round on Saturday.
In his opener on Friday, the Tiger junior pulled off an improbable win over Boyd County’s Kaiden Nottingham, the No. 7 wrestler in the state.
Klidzejs trailed 14-1 in the third period but got a reversal and then a pin with less than a minute left.
In the second round, Klidzejs fell behind 12-0 and could not replicate his first-round success and fell to No. 11 Blaine Kimery of South Oldham, who would go on to finish in sixth place.
Klidzejs won his next two matches – 10-5 over Miguel Francisco of Great Crossing and by pin over St. Xavier’s Henry Bueter, but his tourney ended with a loss to Ryle’s Cornwell, who would go on to place seventh.
Donovan Rogers had a couple of tough matchups in the 144-pound class. He lost to No. 3 Kaygen Roberts of Boyle County by technical fall (17-2) in his opener and was eliminated by No. 11 Liam Gutierrez of Federick Douglass by the same score in the consolation round.
Eighth grader Bradley Asher’s first state tournament also consisted of two matches. He lost to No. 14 Max Baxter of Bullitt East by technical fall (19-4) in the 157-pound opener and was eliminated by No. 12 Corey Freihofer of Cooper by a first-round pin in the consolation round.
Caldwell County finished in 52nd place with 15 points.
