Ryle Raiders wrestling: Winning all the way
UNION, Ky. — Ryle Raiders wrestling is one of the sports teams from Larry A. Ryle High School that has brought glory and honor through its success.
They are members of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association and are arguably one of the best wrestling teams in the association. One key reason for their success is “win and win.”
“We had to win. We couldn’t afford to lose,” Tim Ruschell, the head coach of the Ryle Raiders wrestling team, said.
Coach Ruschell has, in many ways, added greatly to the success story of the Raiders. He joined the Raiders over 10 years ago, and since joining them, the sky has been their limit.
Ruschell started his wrestling journey as a high school student at Newport Catholic High School and was the region champion in his high school days. After high school, he went to Northern Kentucky University where he continued wrestling.
Ruschell was appointed the assistant coach of the Raiders, a position he held for eight years before he was named the head coach. He, alongside Rick Barker, Larry Mikkelson and Dave Johnson, has helped produce some of the best wrestlers in Kentucky.
The Raiders have produced wrestlers with outstanding individual records. Four of their wrestlers were two-time state champions, 15 were state champions, 13 were state runners-up and 82 were state placers. Additionally, 175 were state qualifiers, 65 were regional champions, three were National High School Coaches Association high school All-Americans.
On the individual records, the Raiders have six wrestlers who were Division I collegiate wrestlers, one NCAA All-American, two NAIA collegiate wrestlers and one NAIA All-American.
The Raiders were three-time state runner-up in 2005, 2008 and 2010, and two-time Kentucky State dual runner-up in 2003 and 2005. In addition, they dominated the regional championship with seven consecutive regional champions and eight in total in 2002, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, as well as regional runner-up in 2001, 2003 and 2004.
In addition, they were three-time Northern Kentucky Athletic Conference Champions in 2000, 2001 and 2006. The Raiders also had 13 straight top 10 finishers in the Kentucky High School Athletic Association State Tournament from 2002 through 2014.
You can hardly find any high school wrestling team in the United States that can beat these records. However, it is also vital to know that it’s not only the male wrestlers performing excellently.
The female wrestlers have their destroyers on the mats. One of them is Olivia Messerly. Presently 16 years old, she won the gold medal at the U15 World Championship in Budapest, Hungary, when she was just 14 years old, and later won the national championship. Several other female Raiders are doing well in the sport as well.
“I’m a girl wrestler in a boys’ sport,” Messerly said. “I have type 1 diabetes. That’s what I get up and deal with every morning.”
When you speak of sports teams that bring honor and glory to a high school through wrestling in the United States, you’ll just have to mention the Ryle Raiders wrestling team.
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