Boyle, Danville excel at state wrestling

Published 10:02 pm Thursday, February 6, 2020

Boyle County Middle School and Danville Youth Wrestling turned in historic performances in the state tournament over the weekend.

Boyle County finished 21st as a team in the middle school state tournament — the highest in the school’s history. It also produced its first two wrestlers to place in state.

Kaygen Roberts placed fourth in the 75 pound weight class and Ethan Montgomery placed fifth in the 140 pound class.

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Montgomery was also Boyle Middle’s first ever regional champion.

Danville had a state champion — first grader Chapman Satterly in the youth state championship.

They also had three girls go the Kentucky Wrestling Coaches Association state championships. Ella Sadler finished second in the 160 pound weight class and Charlee Blevins finished fourth in 106. Sadler became the highest placing Danville wrestler in a state tournament since Daniel Lanham in 2014 — and she did so wrestling underweight.

“We go to the weigh-in. I wrestle at 149, can’t be over 152. I’m already nervous because I’ve never weighed in,” she recalled. “She tells me I’m 150.9 and I hear, in my head 159. I ran up to coach (Elliot) Porter and I’m panicking and he goes and gets me changed to the 160 (weight class).”

And if wrestling 10 pounds below the class wasn’t enough of a challenge, she had another hurdle to overcome in her second match.

“I feel something on my foot, so I’m just trying to get it over with quick. I pin her as fast as I can because I’ve got something in my shoe,” she said. “I come over and take my sock off and it’s stained with blood. I look in my sock and I’ve got a staple in my foot.”

Blevins was wrestling in her second state tournament and was eager to improve after her performance last year. After she won her first match, she started to get some confidence and was flexing her muscles to pump herself up before each match. 

In the third place match, however, she attempted a risky move and ended up getting caught and pinning herself.

“I was winning but then I did something stupid and I’m still mad about it,” she said.

Boyle and Danville’s high school teams will compete in the regional tournament starting Friday night and continuing on Saturday.