Talley and Cruickshank Earn Gamer of the Week Honors
Teays Physical Therapy Center, Inc. and The Putnam Herald are pleased to present this week’s male Gamer of the Week to Lucas Talley and Nicholas Cruickshank of Hurricane Wrestling.
Hurricane Wrestling’s senior captains, Lucas Talley and Nicholas Cruickshank, have been leading the way for a strong hurricane team this year. “They both bring something that the Hurricane High School Wrestling program couldn’t succeed or have the season we are having without,” said assistant coach Michael Talbot. “This season has been big for us. We have had the best finish at WSAZ’s that we have ever had in school history. We scored 129 points, and it goes on the shoulders of a couple of those young men,” he continued.
Talley is 147-27 in his career and is on pace to break the all-time wins record at Hurricane. Talley leads by example “If you want to see what an exceptional dedicated high school athlete looks like, it is his picture. He is not super vocal, but every kid in that room if you asked them who the best wrestler in that room is, they would all point to Lucas. The kid has phenomenal grades and is just an all-around good kid,” said coach Talbot.
Talley started the season strong going undefeated at the wheeling duals meet and placing 5th at WSAZ tournament. He attributes a lot of his success this season to the practice room being more competitive, and everyone taking it serious in there. Talley’s main goal is to win a state title this year, but says he is currently focused on Regionals. He finished 6th at last year’s state tournament. Talley has committed to wrestling at Glenville State next year and plans to study business.
Cruickshank is 90-42 in his career and finished 6th at the state tournament in 2021 at 132lb class. This season he has been the vocal leader helping the younger guys deal with the pressures of wrestling. “Wrestling has a lot of disappointment. It is a team sport but also an individual sport, so when you lose you can’t say this kid didn’t pass me the ball. You just got beat up in front of all your friends and family. He has helped a lot of our younger guy’s process that.” said assistant coach Michael Talbott.
Cruickshank started wrestling in third grade and has been doing it ever since. He says that he likes the grind and how you can’t slack off or it shows, and that the results are really reflective of how hard you work. The senior attributes a lot of his success to coach Talbott, who was the strength and conditioning coach when he first started and helped him improve to where he is now. After high school, Cruickshank plans to work in the collision repair industry and pursue his passion of painting cars.
Hurricane will be back in action February 17-18 at the Region IV Championships.
Please look for other local high school athletes to be named in next week’s male Gamer of the Week Sponsored by Teays Physical Therapy Center, Inc., and The Putnam Herald.