The annual Raider Rumble Wrestling Tournament braved the elements Saturday at Ryle High School. While nearly five inches of snow dropped on the area, breaking an 80-year-old daily record, nearly 300 wrestlers upped their games in Union.
“Saturday was a success,” said Ryle coach and event organizer Tim Ruschell. “The varsity boys wrestled hard.”
The Raiders were the top finishing local team with 139 points, good for fifth place. Event runners-up last year, they claimed one individual weight-class championship as Luke Cornwell was able to make his way to the top of the podium.
A strong Ohio contingent, led by Elder, Moeller and Lebanon, asserted dominance early and kept rolling. Elder emerged as champion with 215.5 points. Moeller was runner-up with 184 and Lebanon third with 157.
Fourth-place Boyle County was tops among Kentucky teams with 150.5. Ryle was 16 points ahead of sixth-place Madison Central. Harrison County was seventh followed by East Central, Woodford County and Conner to round out the top 10.
Taking finishing spots 15-19 respectively were all locals: Highlands, Covington Catholic, Campbell County, Walton-Verona and Boone County.
All but three of the 24 invited teams were on the floor inside the Ryle gymnasium. Considering the weather, which also included rapidly falling temperatures, Ruschell considered it a pre-Christmas miracle of sorts. Some big names, however, could not make the trip out of an abundance of caution, changing the event’s dynamic.
With some top programs sidelined, those who made the trip seized opportunities on the mat. The upshot for the Elder Panthers: they repeated as champions, which takes some doing at the highly competitive Raider Rumble. Moeller moved up a rung from last year’s third-place finish.
The downside: the weather. It kept Louisville Male, South Oldham and nationally-ranked Union County at home. That meant Oklahoma State-bound twins Jayden and Jordyn Raney did not make the trip for the Braves.
The result was an up and down day for local wrestlers.
Cornwell delivers for Ryle
Despite Ohio’s dominance, Ryle found bright spots. Things are looking up for Cornwell, one of just two area winners Saturday. He captured the 138-pound title one year after taking the 126-pound crown.
“Happy to get out there again and compete and win,” said Cornwell.
The junior was 4-0 with a bye at the Rumble, improving to 8-1 on the season.
“I thought we did well as a team,” he said. “It’s good for down the road when we have a lot of important meets in the future.”
Ryle added four more medalists Saturday. Aiden Brinkman won silver at 120 pounds. He was fifth last year at 113. Keigan Reisenbeck at 175 and Noah Crisp at 165 took home bronze.
Dakota Lonkard just missed the medal stand with a fourth-place finish at 190 pounds, a good sign for Ryle’s upper weights.
Ryle was missing defending 106-pound Rumble champ Bryant Brinkman. He is out of action with a lingering knee injury.
Ryle captured crowns at Friday’s JV/Girls Varsity Rumble. The Raiders won the JV event. Among Ryle individual winners at the girls meet were Peyton Brinkman, Amani Reddick and Preslee Steiber.
The Brinkmans, Cornwell and the gang are trying to keep alive Ryle’s streak of seven consecutive years with an individual boys or girls state wrestling champion. The last year the Raiders did not produce a state champ was 2018.
Local medalists shine
Saturday’s other local weight-class champ is Highlands’ Parker Wilkens at 106 pounds. That represents a big leap for him at the Rumble. Wilkens was sixth last year at 106. The Bluebirds added a runner-up finisher in Kayson White at 157.
Another local silver medalist is Campbell County’s Deacon Heisler at 144 pounds. It’s his second straight runner-up finish at the Raider Rumble. He was second last year at 138. Teammate Brayden Allender was third Saturday in the heavyweight division.
Conner put a pair of third-place finishers on the podium with Clayton Badida at 126 pounds and Keaton Dicken at 120. The Cougars also had fifth- and sixth-place finishers for a total of four wrestlers appearing in the top six, second among local teams only to Ryle’s six.
Champion Elder put 11 wrestlers in the top six, far outdistancing everyone else. Colin Broxterman at 120 pounds and Seb Hignite at 215 won weight-class titles for the Panthers. Broxterman is a two-time Greater Catholic League champ.
It didn’t take long for the winning word to reach the Price Hill neighborhood of Cincinnati. “Panthers get it done today at the Ryle Raider Rumble finishing first out of twenty-one,” said a team post on Instagram.
Moeller had three individual winners Saturday, eight making it in the top six.
Boyle County led Kentucky teams with three winners.
“This meet lets you know where you’re at early in the season,” coach Ruschell said. “That’s what this is all about.”