On February 27 to March 1, the Highlands High School boys and girls wrestling team went to the KHSAA Championships to compete for the state title. The only girl that went to state was Emma Hood (10) while the boys had 6 participants: Kayson White (9) Parker Wilkens (9) Ryan Nickelman (10) Remi Rodriguez (11) Travis Votel (12) TJ Hicks (12) all competed for a state title.
At the tournament, Hood placed second in her division, Votel placed fourth, and White placed fifth.
Athletes making it to state is a huge accomplishment. A few techniques wrestlers may try to make this journey possible is cutting weight, and using their resources like Spatola Wrestling, a place where wrestlers can practice wrestling and help wrestlers.
“I trained as much as I could and I also trained very hard with some of the best guys in the wrestling room,” White said.
Training can be very hard and tiring for new wrestlers that want to wrestle. It takes a constant amount of hours and it teaches you a lot of discipline. A big toll that wrestlers take is cutting weight, which means they have to be a certain weight. Wrestlers do a lot to make that weight, like cutting back on certain foods and on their favorite snacks.
When a wrestler is wrestling they have to come out with confidence.
“I was not nervous at all going into my first match at state. I knew that I prepared and that I was going to do my best,” Nickelman said.
While wrestling is competitive at the high school level, wrestlers also would like to wrestle in college as well. There are many schools around the country that have wrestling programs at every level between Division 1 to Division 3.
“I would like to go to some national tournaments to win a title and possibly get some recruitments for college,” Hood said.
Prior to a few years ago, girls wrestling was not popular in Kentucky because it was CO-ED. However this year, the girls have their own division allowing them to only compete against other girls. This will also become effective at the college level starting in 2026 exclusive to not only Division 1 schools but also to Division 2 and 3.
Some of the wrestlers that are graduating this year are hoping to continue their wrestling careers at the next level.
“Yes, I would like to wrestle in college,” Hicks said.
Highlands High School wrestling team is celebrating their wrestlers that placed at state.
Hood got second place for the girls, Votel got fourth place for the boys, and White got fifth place for the boys.
As the wrestling season is coming to a close, many wrestlers are preparing for the next season and how they become better and stronger for their opponents.
