Ryle High School unveils the latest version of its highly successful wrestling team Dec. 14 in Union. That’s the day of the annual Raider Rumble, a get-together of some of the top wrestling teams in Kentucky and Ohio. The JV Rumble is one day earlier to kick off the two-day event.
The Raiders hope to flex their muscles early and set the tone for another productive season. They have that chance with a solid performance at the home event. They are the top-ranked northern Kentucky team in the kentuckywrestling.com preseason rankings. The Raiders are No. 5 behind top-ranked Union County, No. 2 Johnson Central, No. 3. Paducah Tilghman and No. 4. Boyle County.
“We’re returning six state placers. I hope we get away to a nice start,” said Raiders coach Tim Ruschell, now in his 21st season. “The Rumble has a lot of really good teams and wrestlers and if you do well, that’s a good sign.”
Local wrestling teams joining Ryle in the Kentucky preseason top 20 include No. 10 Simon Kenton. There’s also No. 14 Conner and No. 16 Walton-Verona. Campbell County at No. 29 makes the top 30.
Cooper at No. 32 and No. 39 Covington Catholic begin the season ranked in the top 40. Next are No. 48 Highlands and No. 54 Scott. With nine teams, that gives the area one for every six in the top 54 of the state rankings.
They are all in Region 5 where Ryle has won the last four regional championships. The Raiders led the local state tournament contingent with a seventh-place finish. Walton-Verona was 12th, Simon Kenton 16th and Conner 19th.
All of these local teams except for Simon Kenton and Cooper will be at the Raider Rumble.
Local wrestling teams aren’t the only entities earning state recognition. There are, of course, the wrestlers, and northern Kentucky once again boasts its fair share of top grapplers.
There are a dozen area wrestlers appearing in the top five of their respective weight classes. Four more are in the top six of their divisions. An additional eight wrestlers appear in the top 10 for a total of 24 area wrestlers who are top-10 worthy.
Leading the local pack are four wrestlers ranked among the top two in their weight divisions. They include a pair of Ryle grapplers: Landon Evans at 126 pounds and Rider Trumble at 165. Also entering the season No. 2 statewide are Simon Kenton’s Jonah McCloskey (132) and Walton-Verona’s TJ Meyer (138).
Other top-ranked area wrestlers include No. 3 Clayton Badida from Conner at 113 pounds, No. 3 Travis Steiber from Ryle at 190 pounds and Walton-Verona’s No. 3 Luke Hyden at 215.
There were four area girls winning state wrestling titles last year including Walton-Verona’s Emma Moore and Sophie Anderson, Simon Kenton’s Gabby Ocasio and Ryle’s Viktoriya Emelianova. Moore and Anderson are back to defend.
Ryle will put on the mat seven state-ranked wrestlers at the Raider Rumble. Other top-ranked Raiders include No. 5 Luke Cornwell at 120 pounds, No. 4 Seth Page at 132 and No. 7 Jagger Irwin at 144.
They already have a big meet in the rear-view mirror.
“We had five duals at a preseason meet at Indianapolis Cathedral,” Ruschell said. “We had some guys do pretty well, other guys not so well and we had a guy fail to make weight. Even though that level of competition is better than what we’ll see in a while, it was a wake up all for everybody. Obviously, we have a long way to go, and we’ll find out more at the Rumble.”
Other teams competing at the Raider Rumble include Boone County, East Central (IN) and Cincinnati powers Elder, Moeller, Oak Hills and St. Xavier. Kentucky teams making the trip include state No. 1 Union County and No. 9 Taylor County.
Other Raiders to watch this season include Bryant Brinkman at 106 pounds, twin brother Aiden Brinkman at 113 pounds, Noah Crisp at 150 and Keigan Reisenbeck, who won all five of his matches at Indianapolis Cathedral at 175 pounds. The Raiders are waiting on football players to fill out the 215-pound and heavyweight spots.