Christian County’s Dane Miller brought home a sixth-place finish on Saturday at the KHSAA State Wrestling Tournament in Lexington.
Miller, the Region 1 champion, just missed the medal podium last year at 132 but came into the weekend ranked No. 6 in the state at 144.
He opened with a victory over No. 30 Malachi Shannon of Spencer County in Friday’s opener.
Miller was primed to advance into the quarterfinals against No. 14 Xavier Montanez, taking a 6-5 lead into the final period. Miller took a 9-6 lead with a takedown with 20 seconds left but couldn’t hold it as Montanez scored four points in the final eight seconds to steal the win.
Miller bounced back with a 10-2 major decision over No. 26 Trae White in the consolation round.
On Saturday, Miller scored a 15-2 major decision over Meade County’s Payton Conner and a second-round pin of Corbin’s B.J. Jackson.
After a 5-2 consolation win over Campbell County’s Deacon Heisler, Miller got a rematch with Montanez in the consolation semifinal. Just like in their first matchup, Montanez took the lead in the third period, this time with 38 seconds remaining, to score a 4-2 win.
In the fifth-place match, Miller lost to Anderson County’s Carson Nance, ranked No. 4 in the state, in the third round by pin.
Miller’s season ends with a 38-8 record and a two-year record of 58-14.
Two other Colonel wrestlers just missed the medal round with Saturday losses in the consolation round.
Anthony Velasco went 3-2 at the state tourney. He opened with a loss to eventual state champion Jackson Wells in the opener of the 113-pound class.
He came back with a pin of Johnson Central’s Hunter Fields and Boone County’s Cole Young. He added a third win on Saturday against Western’s Daniel Sabato but dropped an 8-1 decision to Ryle’s Aiden Brinkman in the consolation bracket. Brinkman would finish in seventh place.
Velasco finished the season with a 29-9 record.
Tay Martinez also came up one round short of medal contention. The senior was set to take the long road back after losing to South Oldham’s Gavin Becker 16-5 in the opener.
He came back to defeat Pike County Central’s Caden Ratliff (11-3) and No. 25 Landon Worley of Frederick Douglass by pin to end his day Friday.
On Saturday, Martinez got up 11-1 on Corbin’s Cyrus Greiwe but appeared to tire and lost position as the match became tied in the third period. Greiwe was able to score the pin and end the tourney for Martinez.
Kevondre Young, the No. 20 wrestler in the 126-pound class, got a pair of tough draws, losing to No. 12 Zac Scott of Johnson Central in the opening round and No. 10 Caleb Rogers of Woodford County in the consolation round – both by pins. Scott would go on to finish in third place.
Deacon Harrison lost his opener in the 150-pound class to eventual fourth-place finisher Judah Carey of Boyle County but grabbed a second-round win over Bardstown’s Lucas Wilcher. He jumped out to an 11-0 lead and finished with a pin.
Harrison faced No. 14 Ethan Kessinger of Nelson County next and led 6-2 after two periods. In the third period, Kessinger came back with four takedowns and claimed a 15-9 victory, ending Harrison’s season with a 23-15 record.
DeAsian Harris came into the weekend ranked No. 26 in the 190-pound class. He lost a pair of matches to ranked wrestlers – No. 25 Branden McGee of Ashland Blazer by a 4-3 decision and No. 13 Collin Williams of Moore by a 6-2 decision.
Treshawn Crenshaw, ranked No. 16 in the state at 285, lost his opener to eventual state champion Paul McClure of Boyle County in 17 seconds of the first round.
He came back to score an unusual 29-18 win over Trinity’s Ronan Byrne in the consolation round – a rare high-scoring match in the heavyweight division.
Crenshaw got a rematch against Paaducah Tilghman’s Prosper Livingston-Holmes in the next round. The Tilghman wrestler defeated Crenshaw 15-1 in the region’s third-place match last week. However, the two went toe-to-toe on Saturday, with Prosper-Holmes eeking out a 2-0 win.
Christian County scored 33.5 points to finish in 29th place.
