[Stardust]

LaRue County’s quest for the school’s first state wrestling championship begins Saturday when the Region 2 Tournament is held at Danville High School.

The top-ranked Hawks dominated during the regular season, when they went undefeated against in-state competition until a loss to No. 2 Union County in the championship of the State Duals.

With seniors Shawn Hull (33-1), Drew Newberry (36-2), Nick Paden (34-5) and Bernard Ray (38-2) leading the way, the Hawks are locked and loaded to make a run at the state title. But LaRue County must first take care of business in the region tournament, which begins at 10 a.m. Saturday.

“We shouldn’t have much trouble winning it,” said Paden, who’s going for his fifth straight region title. That would match the mark set by Josh Johnson, who won five region titles at John Hardin and North Hardin. “But individually, one little slip-up and you can get third or fourth or not even make it to State. We need all 14 individuals to do well this weekend.”

Winning their third region title in a row, however, isn’t the Hawks’ focus. Setting themselves up for a chance to win the state title in Lexington is.

“We are not looking at this as the region tournament; we’re looking at it as the beginning of the state tournament,” LaRue County coach Gary Canter said. “We’re trying to set ourselves up for the best possible draws we can get. But we’ve stressed to the kids that if you lose, it’s not the end of the world. A lot of times the No. 2 comes out with a better draw than the No. 1. It all depends on the luck of the draw.

“If we win region, great,” he added. “But our ultimate goal hasn’t been to win the region; it’s been to win the individual state tournament. The good Lord willing and us working to our potential, we ought to be right in the hunt to do so.”

The Hawks have come close before as they finished second in 2001 and ’05 and took third in 2000 and ’06.

Despite the loss to Union County, Canter feels everyone is chasing the Hawks.

“I still think we are the team to beat,” he said. “We’ve kind of used the saying that the state tournament is not ours to win this weekend, but it’s our tournament to lose. If we don’t set ourselves up correctly this weekend, we could very easily not win the state tournament.”

Paden agreed, saying the Hawks can set themselves up for success or failure at State depending on how they perform Saturday.

“We can’t win the state tournament this Saturday at region, but we can lose it,” Paden said. “If only half our team does well this weekend, then there goes our chance at a state title. It’s ours to lose this week, and we just have to keep the whole big picture in mind.”

LaRue County received seven No. 1 seeds for the region tournament. The other seven were awarded to Anderson County (three), Central Hardin (two) and Danville (two).

Sophomore Kyle Edlin (106 pounds, 34-5), and juniors Caleb Canter (170, 34-5) and B.J. Carman (195, 34-4) received the Hawks’ other No. 1 seeds.

Gary Canter said the Hawks should expect a challenge from No. 15 Anderson County and Central Hardin.

“I think Anderson County is a solid squad,” he said. “They fly under the radar and they’re good, solid kids. They’re going to win matches. If we overlook Anderson County, they could sneak in there and give us a push. They looked awfully good at the State Duals. They’re right up there. If anyone’s going to challenge us, I’d expect it to come from Anderson County.

[Bender B. Rodriguez]

If you're going to post entire articles, I think you should post a link with it as well.