Smith set to begin second stint as Ringgold wrestling coach

By Jonathan Guth

MVI Sports

Luke Smith returns to his alma mater as head coach at Ringgold after taking some time off to be with his family.

Smith, a 1996 graduate, remained a teacher in the school district, and was familiar with the results of the team, but is glad to be back in the thick of things.

“I was able to be in the room a little last year and was able to keep up on things, but it is great to be back as head coach for my second tour of duty,” Smith said. “My predecessor, Todd Miller, actually wrestled for me when I was head coach the first time around from 2004 to 2010. He placed at the state tournament, and I thought he did a great job with the program when he was coaching the team.

“I wanted to focus on my family and my kids before getting back into coaching because wrestling is definitely a sport that you have to be fully committed to. Obviously, it is tough right now with the pandemic and all, we are actually shut down right now due to COVID-19 and haven’t had a chance to wrestle-off or anything like that, but the guys are doing work on their own and they know what to expect.”

The Rams will have to replace Jacob Duncan, who was a regional qualifier last year as a senior with a record of 32-7. Duncan was 89-41 as a four-year starter for Ringgold. The Rams also lost Logan Vickers (26-13) to graduation, but Smith has a good number of bodies in the wrestling room.

“The majority of our guys are juniors,” Smith said. “We only have several seniors out, but we are encouraged by what those guys can do as leaders.”

Senior Joey Versharen will most likely start the season at 215 and Smith hopes he can drop to 189. The Rams also have two seniors from the football team that came out for the squad. Senior Logan Wellington is the second returning senior starter for Smith and his staff.

“The goal is always to field a full team, but with it being hard to practice with all of the restrictions due to COVID, we haven’t had a chance to really get a gauge of what these guys can do,” Smith said. “We are trying to see where we can get the most points out of the times we are able to compete. We would normally go to some out-of-state tournaments and things of that nature, but we know that won’t happen this year.

“I also want to make sure that Randy Miller is mentioned. He helps with getting our mats cleaned so we have a sanitized space when we are ready to practice. That is one thing about wrestling. We had been cleaning the mats before the pandemic hit. That is a standard practice in wrestling, so we could let everyone know that we were already taking the necessary steps to be clean and safe.”

To read the rest of the story, please see a copy of Tuesday’s Mon Valley Independent, call 724-314-0035 to subscribe or subscribe to our online edition at http://monvalleyindependent.com.