Eighteen weight class winners from the local regions and several highly ranked wrestlers head to Lexington beginning Thursday for the three-day KHSAA State Wrestling Championships at Alltech Arena. The girls meet, with four local champions, begins Thursday. The boys meet, with 14 local champs, is Friday and Saturday.
One northern Kentucky wrestler making the trip yet again is Simon Kenton senior Jonah McCloskey. He is one of two area boys wrestlers heading back to state after coming up just short in championship matches last year.
“I’m extremely excited,” McCloskey said. “I love the arena. I love the atmosphere. It’s one last ride and I’m going to lay it out there.”
The area did not crown a boys individual state wrestling champion in 2024. McCloskey at 126 pounds and Walton-Verona’s TJ Meyer at 138 were two who came closest to reaching the pinnacle, each falling in the finals, Meyer for the third straight year.
Both wresters are back in a last attempt to assert their dominance. Both rank second statewide in their respective weight classes. McCloskey is ranked No. 2 at 132 pounds, according to Kentuckywrestling.com. Meyer is No. 2 at 144. Both have more than 200 career wins.
They are two of eight local wrestlers carrying No. 1 or No. 2 statewide rankings into Lexington. Simon Kenton junior Braydan Blevins is No. 1 at 126 pounds. Ryle senior Rider Trumble is No. 1 at 157. Checking in at No. 2 for Ryle are freshman Bryant Brinkman at 106 pounds, sophomore Luke Cornwell at 126 and senior Landon Evans at 138. Evans won a state title as a sophomore. Walton-Verona senior Luke Hyden is ranked No. 2 at 215 pounds.
Local regional girls champions competing at state include Walton-Verona’s Emma Moore at 100 pounds and Sophie Anderson (132), Conner’s Rose Thomas (126) and Highlands’ Emma Hood (152).
McCloskey’s final state appearance concludes a varsity journey that began as a middle schooler. It’s a last go-round punctuating a wildly successful career on and off the mat.
“He is a really great young man,” Simon Kenton coach Jarrod Peebles said. “There is way more to him than just being a good wrestler.”
In addition to being one of the top grapplers in Kentucky, McCloskey is also a good student, regularly receiving As and Bs for his work. He is a respected member of the Simon Kenton student body and a solid citizen. To his coach, McCloskey is already a well-rounded member of society with the potential to do anything he wants if he puts his mind to it. McCloskey proved that on the mat.
“UTTERLY DOMINATING”
McCloskey is coming off back-to-back Region 5 weight-class championships. He won his second on Saturday, capturing the 132-pound title at Campbell County with a win in the championship final over Highlands senior Travis Votel. McCloskey is sporting a 49-5 record heading into this week’s state event.
“Jonah did what I expected him to do. He won by pin in his first match,” Peebles said. “He won by technical fall in the semis and finals. Just utterly dominating the two opponents, the last of which (Votel) was ranked third in the state, right behind Jonah.”
McCloskey and Blevins join a handful of other Simon Kenton regional placers at the boys state meet. They include regional runners-up Ian Lawrence (138 pounds), Parker Smith (150) and Benjamin Woosley (165). Lawrence is a senior. Smith and Woosley are juniors.
McCloskey stands out. Of the seniors, he’s the only one with a chance to become a four-time state placer. If he’s successful, it’s thought he would be just the fourth wrestler in Simon Kenton history to do so. Before his state runner-up finish last year, he placed sixth as a sophomore and third as a freshman.
“What makes Jonah such a good wrestler is his work ethic,” Peebles said. “Jonah is consistently one of the hardest workers in the room. He is very disciplined and for the last few years, he has voluntarily gotten in extra practices through the season. He would sometimes practice twice a day and would even wrestle seven days a week.”
Assistant Joey Parrott is a 2013 Simon Kenton graduate. The former Pioneers wrestler and one-time state finalist works with McCloskey extensively in the wrestling room. He drills with the senior and wrestles him on a regular basis. The coach has a pretty good idea what McCloskey’s opponents are facing, and it’s daunting.
“He has lightning quick feet,” Parrott said. “He frustrates even me. They’re there one moment and somewhere else the next. It makes him difficult to deal with.”
RAPID RISE
McCloskey was a middle school champion. It was a hard-earned ascent for the youngster, who began wrestling in the third grade. He was a champion by the eighth grade.
“I was 7 or 8 and a guy my dad worked with, Johnny Badida, was talking about wrestling and how his sons (including current Conner junior Clayton Badida) were already wrestling,” McCloskey said. “My mom said I had to do something in school, so I wound up wrestling.”
One thing led to another and McCloskey made his way to the mat, following Clayton Badida, but on a different path. Badida, also a regional champ this year, is ranked No. 3 statewide at 120 pounds.
McCloskey’s freshman success underscored his ability to learn and win. A sophomore slump undermined his desire to place higher. It was a catalyst for change, alterations that ultimately rocket-fueled his Simon Kenton career.
“Jonah’s least successful year was his sophomore year,” Peebles said. “He dealt with more injuries than he was used to. He lost to guys he beat previously and he was sixth at state, a placement far below a standard that Jonah accepts. A lot of kids would just be happy to be on the podium once, let alone twice at that time. But Jonah was angry with himself and his performance.”
McCloskey eventually reclimbed the podium. He once again carries a No. 1 seed into Lexington. Along the way, McCloskey has posted a 208-49 career record. Coaches believe he’s in the top five all-time among Simon Kenton victory leaders and among just a handful of Pioneers wrestlers with at least 200 career wins. McCloskey is 104-11 the past two seasons.
“That sophomore year he and his dad revamped his offseason training and his nutrition,” Peebles said. “As a result, Jonah reached his goal of being a state finalist the following season.”
THE COMMITMENT
With another victory, McCloskey will reach the 50-win plateau for the second year in a row. He was a phenomenal 55-6 as a junior. As a sophomore, McCloskey was 48-14. He was 37-12 his freshman year and 19-12 as an eighth grader.
“Jonah has been able to evolve himself as a wrestler and competitor because he would seek out challenges to test himself, and also because he is a very coachable kid who wants to learn and be better,” Peebles said. “Some kids get stuck in their ways and won’t evolve or change how they wrestle or their approach in a match, but Jonah has never had that problem.”
In many ways, McCloskey is a self-made wrestler.
“Jonah does not come from a wrestling family,” Peebles said. “Jonah’s dad never wrestled, and he has an older brother who only wrestled for one season. Jonah found this sport when he was young and just decided to commit himself to it.”
The learning curve was steep, but McCloskey’s commitment was deep. His coaches made conscious decisions to better him. His father made sure he had the resources to improve.
“Five days of practice with the team, competitions on Saturdays, then on Sundays he would go find tough and challenging wrestling rooms to practice in, such as Spatola Wrestling or the Woodshed Wrestling Club,” Peebles said. “In the off-season, Jonah always travels for tough competition. He would go to multiple states to compete, travel multiple hours just for a two-hour practice or a one-day camp or clinic.”
THREE STORIES
Another key to McCloskey’s success is his poise under pressure which gives him uncommon staying power.
“He has a unique capacity to never get down,” Parrott said. “He was wrestling TJ Meyer at Walton-Verona and got taken down on a bump move and got some blood time. He’s getting beat. He’s bloody. And he’s saying to me real calmly, ‘What do I have to do.’ I’ve never had an athlete come up to me in that kind of a situation and not panic and say that.”
Coach Peebles has been just as impressed by what McCloskey has done away from the mat.
“Jonah was waiting by a score table during a major Ohio tournament we go to every year, the Greater Miami Valley Wrestling Association Holiday Tournament,” the coach explained. “It’s a large, two-day tournament that invites over 60 teams. After Jonah walked out on the mat to compete, the table worker commented to me that Jonah was the most polite wrestler she interacted with all day: very respectful, spoke with manners and showed no cockiness, arrogance or attitude. For him to stand out in a tournament of that size, he must have really left an impression on her.”
Before that, there was the 2022 offseason wrestling camp at LaFayette High School.
“Every wrestler in the gym was packing their bags getting ready to leave to head home,” Peebles said. “I looked for Jonah because he was the only one of our team not present. I see him down on the gym floor with a cardboard box picking up everyone’s trash, not just from his teammates. That was the first and I think only time I’ve seen a teenager voluntarily cleaning up the messes of others, without being told to, in order to help out the host school with cleaning up. He’s just a good human being. He’s the type of leader who leads by example. Jonah doesn’t cut corners.”
HIS LEGACY
McCloskey has an opportunity to put himself in position to pull off an upset this weekend. The top wrestler in his weight class is international standout Jayden Raney from Union County. He defeated McCloskey in last year’s 126-pound final.
“Jonah has a goal of getting to the state finals again, so that’s what we are setting our sights on.” Peebles said. “He’ll have tough opposition to get there, but I think he has a very good shot at it.”
Regardless of this weekend’s outcome, coach Peebles said that McCloskey’s name will always be remembered at Simon Kenton, leaving behind a legacy to match his achievements.
“I’d say it’s a legacy of excellence,” the coach said. “A legacy of how good you can be when you put in the work, and being consistent with your process of improvement. It’s also a legacy of doing things the right way, all the time. When it’s all said and done, Jonah is going to be one of the best wrestlers to ever come out of Simon Kenton, with or without a state title.”
McCloskey calls it a legacy of love.
“I have loved it,” he said. “I feel like our team is really close and we have a great coaching staff. The bus rides and the hotels and just being with my teammates. I’ve really enjoyed it.”
