The Coyotes sent six boys’ wrestlers to the State Championships last weekend in Franklin, Tennessee. Sophomore Ty Hutchens and junior Standford Thompson medaled for the team,
Thompson fell in a 3-2 close match to eventual champion Tre McTorry from Nolensville High School. After the loss, he dominated Zerek Keel from Warren County by a 5-0 score. Thompson’s opponent in the third-place match was a familiar one: Henry Williams from Northwest High School. He wrestled Willliams four times this season, in the dual season, at regionals, at sectionals, and in the state tournament. Coming into the final match, Williams held a 2-1 season victory total.
In this match, though, Thompson won the victory that mattered most. Although the score was 3-3, he won as a result of a pin. “Overall, I feel that I made a lot of progress this season,” he said. “Granted, I didn’t place what I wanted, but I’m happy with what I did place. It lights a fire under me to get back in the room and work harder.”
Although wrestling is an individual sport, a team-first concept has been instilled by the coaches.
“I’m very proud of my teammates, whether they place or qualified,” Thompson said. “I’m very proud of the girls’ team who placed second. We’ve become closer. As much as iron sharpens iron, we can only move forward from here.”
Finishing third in the state has made Thompson more determined. “Sometimes you don’t always get what you want, but the world doesn’t stop just because you lost by one point in that match,” he said. “Go after the next best thing.”
Wrestling at 144 pounds, Hutchens dropped a heartbreaker, 4-3, to Independence High School’s Riddeck Romano in the semifinals. He then faced Rossview High’s Max Landrum in the third-place match. Landrum had defeated Hutchens 14-2 in their previous matchup in the Section 4 Regionals the week before. This time was a different story. Hutchens defeated Landrum by pin to take third in the State.
Coming into the tournament, Hutchens was seeded sixteenth and last, but he pulled upset after upset. “I was definitely the underdog, being seeded last,” Hutchens said. “In my first match, I beat the third seed, and that gave me confidence going forward.”
Winning against Rossview’s Landrum could be considered the greatest upset of all. He finished as champion in both the regionals and the sectionals. “I didn’t have the confidence the first time (I faced him), knowing how he did State last year,” Hutchens said. “It was my last match of the season, and I wanted to go out with a win.”
Now that Hutchens has seen success, he has set his sights on a state title next year. Like Thompson, Hutchens is proud of the progress the team made. “Our team definitely made history,” Hutchens said. “It was the furthest we went in school history and are definitely going to progress further. West Creek on top!”
As a team, the Coyotes finished fourteenth in the State. Although their goal was to finish higher, they finished ahead of 38 other squads and were the highest finisher among all the schools in Montgomery County.
