For the Brinkman family in Union, the holidays are a special time of celebration, gift-giving and shared traditions, filling their home with warmth and laughter. Their home is also filled with wrestlers.
That’s because one of the newer traditions for the Brinkmans is getting on the floor at Ryle High School and taking wrestling opponents down with them in a flurry of moves. The Brinkmans hit the mat again Saturday at the Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference wrestling championships at Boone County.
The Raiders repeated as conference champions, with a twist. Of their seven individual champs at the boys and girls meets, five come from two families, three from the Brinkmans.
“I would say the Brinkmans did alright. All three of them won, both brothers and their sister,” Ryle coach Tim Ruschell said. “The Stieber girl and the Stieber boy both won.”
Freshman Bryant Brinkman won the 106-pound championship. His twin, Aiden, won at 113 pounds. Sister Peyton, a seventh grader, won the 107-pound title at the NKAC girls event.
“The Brinkman boys have helped us out a lot and their sister is pretty tough,” Ruschell said. “Travis Stieber is one of the best in the state in his division, and his sister is really coming along.”
Bryant Brinkman is ranked No. 18 in his weight class by kentuckywrestling.com. Aiden Brinkman is unranked statewide, and that could change. Peyton Brinkman learned the sport from both of them.
“My brothers got me into it,” she said. “I won my first title. I was proud of myself.”
Travis Stieber won the 190-pound championship for the Ryle boys and sister Preslee Stieber won the 152-pound crown for the Lady Raiders, beating teammate Brilynn Gemmer in the final. Travis is ranked No. 3 statewide at 190 pounds.
With additional weight-class tiles won by Luke Cornwell at 126 pounds and Rider Trumble at 157, the Raiders cruised to the conference title with a near-60-point cushion over runner-up Conner. Ryle finished with 212.5 points. Conner totaled 154.5 for a 10-point margin over third-place Covington Catholic (144.5). Highlands (115) came in fourth.
“I think it’s about the sixth or seventh year in a row we’ve won it,” Ruschell said. “There were a lot of wrestlers missing. We were missing five starters. Simon Kenton didn’t have a full team. Some of their guys were at the GMVWA meet up in Ohio. Some kids are on vacation. Kids are sick. One of my girls was sick so I only had four wrestlers at the girls meet. If I had five, we would have won.”
Campbell County and Holmes tied for first at the second-ever NKAC girls meet, each with 47.5 points. Ryle came in third, just a half-point behind with 47. That was good for a 10-point margin over fourth-place Conner (37).
Other boys weight-class champions include three from Conner. They are Clayton Badida at 120 pounds, Bryce Blaisdell (132) and Chase Bailey (215). Covington Catholic had a pair of champs, Luke Peace at 150 pounds and Keegan Bishop at 165. Campbell County’s Deacon Heisler won at 138 pounds. Highlands’ Kayson White won at 144. Ben Turner from Cooper won the 175-pound title and Boone County’s Jayden Pointer won the heavyweight crown.
The rest of the girls conference champions include KenYanna Johnson of Holmes at 120 pounds. Conner’s Rose Thomas repeated as champion, winning at 138 pounds. She won at 132 last season. Abigail Berling of Highlands won the 185-pound title.
But the day belonged to Ryle and its family of champions.
“It was a pretty cool experience being part of that,” said Bruce Brinkman, father of four wrestlers. His youngest, Chloe, is a middle school wrestler.
Bruce Brinkman wrestled in high school and college in northern Ohio. He is an assistant coach at Ryle. But he and his wife didn’t prioritize wrestling while exposing their children to sports. In fact, wrestling was one of the last sports they talked about. His sons have been wrestling for years. His daughters started last year.
“Since moving to Union about four years ago and joining the Ryle team, it’s been such a blessing for our kids,” coach Brinkman said. “They wouldn’t be where they are without great coaches and teammates to push them every day. They truly care about the development of our kids and the community.”
Coach Ruschell is well aware of the hold that wrestling can have on a family. His family is loaded with former Ryle wrestlers, college wresters and wrestling coaches. Some are still around. They and the Brinkmans and Stiebers have created a one-of -a-kind family atmosphere at Ryle this season replete with girls.
“I like it,” Ruschell said. “If you work hard, you can wrestle.”