The best 4 time state champions

[wrestling00]

Just wanted to hear who people thinks the best

[aacoach70]

Each of them were special individuals. Each had his own personality, style, work ethic, and skill set that made them the best. They spanned different times also. You could find things to make an argument for any single one of them, so just pick your favorite. Also, in years past, junior high grades were 7-9 and many high schools were 10-12, so there may have been a few 3x champs that never had the opportunity to do a 4th. This fact is bound to be brought up by someone if you pose the question. I think when throwing names out, you should keep in mind that in most cases, regardless of being A, AA, or AAA, these guys wrestled across all classes and went to better tournaments. Most, if not all, went to and placed in national tournaments. Most went on to compete at the next level. Many were Dutton Award winners and state tournament MOWs. They never achieved their success by taking short-cuts or luck. I had the pleasure of knowing and coaching a few of these guys. Extraordinary is a good way to describe them. Personally, I wouldn't attempt to assign a rank to them, but many might think it would be a fun debate.

[Doyablameme?]

Each of them were special individuals. Each had his own personality, style, work ethic, and skill set that made them the best. They spanned different times also. You could find things to make an argument for any single one of them, so just pick your favorite. Also, in years past, junior high grades were 7-9 and many high schools were 10-12, so there may have been a few 3x champs that never had the opportunity to do a 4th. This fact is bound to be brought up by someone if you pose the question. I think when throwing names out, you should keep in mind that in most cases, regardless of being A, AA, or AAA, these guys wrestled across all classes and went to better tournaments. Most, if not all, went to and placed in national tournaments. Most went on to compete at the next level. Many were Dutton Award winners and state tournament MOWs. They never achieved their success by taking short-cuts or luck. I had the pleasure of knowing and coaching a few of these guys. Extraordinary is a good way to describe them. Personally, I wouldn't attempt to assign a rank to them, but many might think it would be a fun debate.

Ok .. I will. Purely off the top of my head.
In no particular order
Derek Raike
Josh Humphreys
David Jeffrey
Brandon Rader

[Blast_Double]

Seth Easter!! I believe he finished his career at 186-3. He did not lose a match after his freshman year. Went on to sign with Cornell.

[mattman]

Noah Adam's with a 3.99 state championship is our best representation as the state of wv. Zero argument! Not sure who his runner up would be??

[mscoach90]

Dylan Cottrell was never scored on at the State Tournament.

[BsWrestler72]

If you are not looking at Zach Frazier, you are looking in the wrong direction!

[Armyman]

This is a tough one to answer as we have had numerous wrestlers who can fit into this category. I will say even though he was only a 3 time Champ (lost his Freshman season due to injury), Braxton Amos needs to be mentioned in this group at or near the top.

Since we didn't have 9th graders in HS back in my day, I would also say Rich Underwood from South and Dan Rowell from Williamstown were two that stood out.

[guard0544]

Dylan Cottrell was never scored on at the State Tournament.

He may not have been the first to do that.

[aacoach70]

Here we go. Can't pick favorites or point out things they accomplished without someone making a counter point. It's silly. These guys were the best of the best in their respective eras. In a sport where winning 1 title is a real special thing, these guys did it 4 times. I've already acknowledged there have been 3-timers that could be included. The 4-timers are all great. They did things that others can't do or are unwilling to do. They had to have intrinsic qualities and personalities that drove them to be better. They are like catching a glimpse of a rare animal in the wild, lol. You just don't see it very often. I guess it's understandable that we may bring up things that we think sets one apart from the others. So, we say things like, in the example of Cottrell, he never gave up a point in 12 state tournament bouts,.. or he won a state title every year for 12 straight years, ..and on and on. They each have accomplishments and stories that teammates and their coaches could share. You can argue for any of these guys, but it's hard to argue against any of them, in my opinion. Guard stated it, so just for our own knowledge of WV wrestling trivia,.. among 4-timers since Matt Ashley in '79, who can say they had not had a point scored on them at the state tournament? I agree, there could have been someone, but who? Some of the guys in this group had decorated high school careers and went on to compete successfully at the next level. Some are still involved in the sport as coaches. Some have gone on to be good family men and productive community members. I could point out qualities about a lot of these guys individually, but I prefer to give them all equal respect.

[aacoach70]

I'm not a math teacher obviously. There would be 16 bouts at the state tournament, not 12.

[jofus]

Giving up zero points in 16 state tournament matches is pretty amazing. I have to think that Cottrell is the only one to have that record?

[aacoach70]

I agree. It was more like an interesting by-product. It was not what made him one of the great ones necessarily, but it is pretty amazing that a wrestler would not have given an escape point intentionally, or be called for a technical violation, etc. If all matches were quick pins, it might have been understandable, but some of his matches were by tech fall.
My point is that all the other 4-timers probably have interesting anecdotal stuff like this that one could point to. Coaches that have been around long enough to know a lot of these guys could tell stories, I'm sure. Now that would be a fun session to sit in on and have some cold beverages.

[aacoach117]

Dylan Cottrell was never scored on at the State Tournament.

Any idea who his regular season losses were too? I find it interesting that he had just one loss every year and am curious.

[Doyablameme?]

I think he lost one year at South to a St Ed’s kid .. off top off my head .. could b wrong. May have been Diuluos ( spelling )?

[ringworm14]

Dylan Cottrell was never scored on at the State Tournament.

Any idea who his regular season losses were too? I find it interesting that he had just one loss every year and am curious.

Justin Riggs, Max Byrd, Rusty Maness, Bailer Faust

[Doyablameme?]

I think he lost one year at South to a St Ed’s kid .. off top off my head .. could b wrong. May have been Diuluos ( spelling )?

Yeah Dijulious was from Walsh and beat Fisher one year

[WVU]

Dylan Cottrell was never scored on at the State Tournament.

Any idea who his regular season losses were too? I find it interesting that he had just one loss every year and am curious.

Justin Riggs, Max Byrd, Rusty Maness, Bailer Faust

The loss to Rusty Maness came in the finals at Winners Choice, 1-0 in 2011

http://www.wvmat.com/scores/11scores/0115winn.pdf

[Jon Perkins]

Anyone remember a guy named Jared Haught? He was pretty good at wrestling.

And I don't think you can mention sets of brothers without mentioning Lou and Andy Thomas of PHS. (I believe they were both 4 timers)

[Doyablameme?]

Anyone remember a guy named Jared Haught? He was pretty good at wrestling.

And I don't think you can mention sets of brothers without mentioning Lou and Andy Thomas of PHS. (I believe they were both 4 timers)

Lou was not

[KDunbar]

Actually the original poster gave everyone an out when he said "champions", plural. That way we can all list more than one or include our favorite with everyone elses.

[guard0544]

Giving up zero points in 16 state tournament matches is pretty amazing. I have to think that Cottrell is the only one to have that record?

I can’t say for sure if he had any points scored on him because I wasn’t around to watch the matches…but Matt Ashley pinned everyone at his state tournaments within a couple minutes and the few that he did not pin scored zero points on him. So it’s possible he was never scored on. Maybe someone old enough to remember watching him at the state tournament would know.

[Bearhug]

Andy Thomas was one of the most dominant wrestlers I ever watched. He's gotta be one of the best four timers.

The Easter brothers were tough as well

One stat that has to be a record is Zach Frazier was only taken down once in his whole high school career

[guard0544]

Andy Thomas was one of the most dominant wrestlers I ever watched. He's gotta be one of the best four timers.

The Easter brothers were tough as well

One stat that has to be a record is Zach Frazier was only taken down once in his whole high school career

Who took him down?

[Doyablameme?]

Andy Thomas was one of the most dominant wrestlers I ever watched. He's gotta be one of the best four timers.

The Easter brothers were tough as well

One stat that has to be a record is Zach Frazier was only taken down once in his whole high school career

If true …That kinda makes one think he should have participated in some nationally recognized tournaments.
Powerade, Ironman , Beast ..etc

[guard0544]

Andy Thomas was one of the most dominant wrestlers I ever watched. He's gotta be one of the best four timers.

The Easter brothers were tough as well

One stat that has to be a record is Zach Frazier was only taken down once in his whole high school career

If true …That kinda makes one think he should have participated in some nationally recognized tournaments.
Powerade, Ironman , Beast ..etc

I once saw someone throw him to his back and get a takedown and back points on him. Possibly could have resulted in a fall but a rookie ref made a …questionable call…interpreting the newly enacted out of bounds rules. So curious if it’s the same match the other poster is saying is the only person to ever get a takedown on him…or if there were at least two of them.

[KDunbar]

Andy Thomas was one of the most dominant wrestlers I ever watched. He's gotta be one of the best four timers.

The Easter brothers were tough as well

One stat that has to be a record is Zach Frazier was only taken down once in his whole high school career

Braxton Amos, never taken down ever in his entire high school career, would beat that by 1.

[HighlanderFan]

Hands down Matt Easter from Nitro

[guard0544]

Andy Thomas was one of the most dominant wrestlers I ever watched. He's gotta be one of the best four timers.

The Easter brothers were tough as well

One stat that has to be a record is Zach Frazier was only taken down once in his whole high school career

Braxton Amos, never taken down ever in his entire high school career, would beat that by 1.

True. Though he did miss his entire Freshman year, arguably being the most likely season for someone to have achieved a takedown on him. I’m not arguing they would have.

[BigRedNightmare]

He never gave up a signal offensive point, outside of an escape, his entire career all while wrestling Ironman, Powerade, ect.