History made in Fargo! Striking gold in the Bluegrass State

Photo: Union County co-head coach Brooks Black (middle) with Kentucky’s first-ever Junior Freestyle champs Jordyn Raney (left) and Lucas Ricketts (right).

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By Tristan Warner

Brooks Black was one of the top high school recruits in the nation from the class of 2013.

The Dover, Pa. native, who competed for Blair Academy in Blairstown, N.J., was a three-time National Prep champion, a three-time champ at both Ironman and Beast of the East, as well as a Junior National champion in Fargo in 2012.

The eventual two-time NCAA qualifier and 2016 NCAA Blood-Round finisher for Illinois is now the co-head coach at Union County High in Morganfield, Ky. alongside Jarvis Elam. The duo was recognized in 2024 as Kentucky Coach(es) of the Year.

But even after amassing so many prestigious accolades as an athlete and coach, Black was perhaps never more ecstatic as he was when Team Kentucky’s Junior boys’ freestyle contingent posted a historic night on Wednesday, July 16 in the Fargodome.

Until that evening, Kentucky had never had a delegate earn a Junior National championship. In fact, the Bluegrass State’s last finalist was Joe Carr Jr., who earned a silver medal in 1997.

At the 2025 edition of the U.S. Marine Corps Junior Nationals in the boys’ freestyle division, two Team Kentucky representatives, who both happened to be members of Black’s Union County High squad, reached the finals in search of becoming the state’s first and second titlists.

The pair of rising seniors did exactly that, and in dramatic fashion.

At 138 pounds, Jordyn Raney, who missed the majority of the 2024-25 scholastic season with an injury, accrued seven tech-fall victories in leadup to his final bout with Wisconsin’s top-seeded Kellen Wolbert. The 2022 16U champ is also a future college teammate of Raney’s, as both are currently committed to Oklahoma State.

The pair put on a showcase of high-flying technique and scoring, especially from the neutral position, as the Fargo crowd feasted on one of the most exciting bouts of the tournament.

When the smoke settled, Raney emerged victorious with a 19-14 triumph while becoming the state of Kentucky’s first ever Junior National champion.

“Coming from Kentucky, not many people think you’re going to be any good,” Raney said. “Ever since my brother and I have been coming here (to Fargo), people have just been like, ‘Man, if they can do it, why can’t we?’ Everyone has been getting so much better, and it is unbelievable what Kentucky has grown into.”

Black, Raney’s coach, said, “It’s truly unbelievable. Jordyn hasn’t wrestled since February after tearing his ACL at the World Championships and just got cleared in time to win his fifth state title in Kentucky.

“I could tell he was nervous this morning, and I told him, ‘Just go have fun, man, and score points. Just go gun sling.’ He has some heart. As his coach, I couldn’t be more proud.”

Just as soon as Black beamed with congratulatory energy toward his extremely talented pupil, he quickly transitioned back to a business-like demeanor as Lucas Ricketts prepared to take the stage just six bouts later.

The 190-pound relatively unheralded brute reached the finals in stark contrast to his smaller teammate. Ricketts racked up three tech falls before earning victories of 4-2, 4-1, and 2-1 leading up to a final showdown with Minnesota’s nationally-ranked Jarrett Wadsen, who had tech falled all six of his opponents while racking up 87 points along the way.

Ricketts took a 3-0 lead at the break, scoring a point for passivity and a slide-by takedown in the first frame. But Wadsen, true to the moniker on his singlet, stormed back in the second period with a takedown and gut-wrench on the boundary line to take a 4-3 lead.

Then the drama ensued.

Trailing 4-3 with 15 seconds left, Ricketts spun behind on a go-behind attempt on the edge but stepped out of bounds while looking to secure the takedown. Initially, he was awarded a step-out point, tying the match, 4-4. Black and the Kentucky corner threw a brick, however, and the call was overturned in Wadsen’s favor, as the officials confirmed no takedown was secured and Ricketts actually stepped out first.

On a restart with nine seconds left and now trailing, 5-3, the Kentuckian, needing a takedown to win, would not be denied. He hit the same slide-by and mat return, finishing the takedown just in bounds with three seconds left to give Kentucky its second-ever Junior National champion.

“I’m just wrestling and having fun,” Ricketts said with a grin in the media zone. “I happened to win, which is good, but having fun is the most important part.

“I’ve always wanted to show Kentucky we can do it, too,” he continued. “We work as hard as anyone else, and we are just starting to get out there. There is more to come.”

The 6’4” Black sprung from his seat, in stunned elation, as his neighbor from “across the cornfield” accomplished something nobody outside the confines of Kentucky believed he could.

“Lucas is one of the hardest workers in the room,” Black said. “Talking to his dad, we have always said if he would just let himself go, he could be unbelievable. This was not a bad weekend to get hot.

“Union County is something special,” Black continued. “I grew up around some of the best guys in the country and gained a lot of knowledge in Pennsylvania and in New Jersey, so I am trying to bring down to Kentucky the mindset that we have to do freestyle and Greco if we want to get our names on the map. We have to go compete at Fargo, the National Duals and Central Regions.

“It just goes to show, Kentucky had three All-Americans and two are from Union County.”

Black pictured with the Raney twins of Union County High School.