Maroon Knights Hope Present and Future Can Mesh At State Wrestling Tournament
Nick Henthorn Trending
WHEELING - Last year, the Wheeling Central Maroon Knights restarted their wrestling program. Working with a modest group of underclassmen, the Knight's newly-minted head coach Rick Welker sent two wrestlers to last year's state tournament.
Onwards and upward for the upstart Knights, who are doubling that number this year, with four wrestlers qualifying for states.
"We're in our second year coming back as a team," Welker said. "Last year we had two go down, Isaac Martin and Wyatt Brady. This year we've got a couple more freshmen going down with Eli Tedrow and Braxton Birch.
"They've been wrestling fantastic all year. We had four alternates, which is just showing the growth of the team. We're really excited for what these kids can do down there, they're excited for the opportunity and I think they're ready to go."
In their second go-rounds in Huntington, sophomore Wyatt Brady will face Calob James from Doddridge County at 165. Brady enters with a 47-5 record while James stands at 36-18. Fellow sophomore Isaac Martin comes into his first match against Tyler Carson from Lewis County at 215. Martin is 50-1 while Carson is 44-9.
As for newcomers to the state tournament, Braxton Birch sits at 42-3 at 120 pounds, and he will face South Harrison sophomore Dalton Myers, 29-24. Eli Tedrow, meanwhile will wrestle Webster County junior Jackie Ferguson at 157. Tedrow is 44-4 while Ferguson is 30-15.
Tylique Marshall is an alternate at 106, Marshall Crow is an alternate at 144, Joey Hall is an alternate at 150, and Dom Asbury is an alternate at heavyweight for Wheeling Central.
With their feet squarely under them at this point, Maroon Knights wrestling has an opportunity to lift off this Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
"We're building this from the ground up- good academics, wrestling program continues to get better, we don't have even a junior on the team," Welker said. "The team will continue to grow, and added experience is going to take us a long way the next couple of years. It's been good, it's been stressful, but we're getting there."
While the feel around the Knights is that the program is building itself up, Welker is focused on the present with his quartet.
"I feel confident that they can go down and wrestle well right now," Welker said. "The four of them have been around for a while. They've wrestled in big venues, they competed well at OVACs. I don't see them being taken by the moment, I think they're going to go down and really be excited about it, and hopefully just let it fly. Whatever the outcome is, is whatever the outcome is."