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| Kyler Deeter placed fourth at state a year ago and looks for bigger things this year as a junior. |
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Covington is coming off another very successful season where they finished 11th in the State Tournament and 20-7 in dual meets – their third consecutive season of 20 or more victories. Along the way, Covington earned solid victories over Carlisle, Urbana, Celina and Troy, and won their fifth consecutive championship at the Covington Duals. They finished second at the Versailles and Troy Invitationals, 3rd out of 20 teams at one of the toughest Sectional tournaments in the state, and qualified six wrestlers to Districts. The Buccs finished with two state placers – Andrew DeHart and Kyler Deeter – and a state alternate in Tyler Tebbe.
The Buccs lost five strong wrestlers to graduation – four-time state-placer Andrew DeHart who will continue wrestling at the Division 1 level at Duke University, state-alternate Tyler Tebbe, district qualifiers Sam Angle and Brandon Flora, and Zach Shilt – all who combined for 453 individual wins over their careers. Despite this loss, the team returns some talented athletes, including a state-placer, three district qualifiers and seven returning lettermen.
The Buccs, who have no seniors on the team, will be led by juniors Kyler Deeter, Bryton Lear, Gage Looker, Brian Olson, Brock Smith and Jake Sowers. Deeter became just the second Covington sophomore to place at state, while Olson and Smith are returning district qualifiers. Lear and Sowers are returning lettermen.
The sophomore class includes Justin Daniel, Dustin Freeman, Alex Fries, D.J. Jennings, A.J. Ouellette, Garrett Shafer and Jordan Wolfe. Daniel and Ouellette are returning lettermen, while Freeman, Shafer and Wolfe are new to the team. Rounding out the roster are freshmen Matt Carder, Ben Miller and Cole Smith.
The Buccs look forward to competing with the mix of Division 1, 2 and 3 teams that are on their schedule. Covington returns to the challenging GMVWA Holiday tournament and will also compete in the Northeastern, Versailles, Troy and Lima Central Catholic (LCC) Invitationals. The LCC tournament – a bracket tournament featuring 36 Division 3 schools – is new to the Buccs’ schedule. Covington will once again square off with some of the top dualmeet teams in the western part of the state, including Mechanicsburg, Brookville, Coldwater, Troy, Oakwood and Versailles. Additionally, the JV team will travel to some very competitive reserve meets including Greenville, Springfield Shawnee, Versailles, Northwestern, Sidney and Vandalia-Butler.
Covington has home meets with Oakwood, Brookville and Mechanicsburg and will once again host the Covington Duals tournament – which includes their Cross County Conference rivals, along with Lehman – where they hope to defend the first-place finishes they’ve claimed the past five years. The Buccs will again travel to Lehman high school for the Division 3 sectional tournament – whose participants have proven to be the most successful among all divisions in Ohio at the state tournament over the past several years.
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| 2011-12 BUCCANEER WRESTLING TEAM: Row 1 (L-R): Dustin Freeman, Matt Carder, Bryton Lear, D.J. Jennings, Alex Fries, Brock Smith. Row 2 (L-R): Gage Looker, Garrett Shafer, A.J. Ouellette, Jake Sowers, Cole Smith. Row 3 (L-R): Coach Tom Barbee, Justin Daniel, Kyler Deeter, Ben Miller, Brian Olson, Jordan Wolfe, Assistant Coach Eric Vanderhorst. |
