Grand Forks' James Covington to be inducted in North Dakota Wrestling Hall of Fame
Feb. 6—GRAND FORKS — Former Grand Forks Red River wrestler James Covington, current head coach of the Roughriders' boys program, will be inducted in the North Dakota Wrestling Hall of Fame later this month.
Covington, a 2004 Red River graduate, was a state champion in 2002 while placing third in both 2003 and 2004.
After winning a state title, Covington was an All-American by placing fifth in Greco at Junior Nationals in Fargo.
In his high school career, Covington was 151-28 for the Riders. He was ranked as high as No. 3 in the nation in Greco.
During his youth, Covington claimed a total of seven Freestyle/Greco state titles in Cadet and Junior Divisions in North Dakota.
Covington has been head wrestling coach at Red River the past five seasons.
Former Red River wrestling coach Dean Larimer will present Covington with the award.
Covington will be just the second member of the Hall of Fame from Red River, along with George Bowman, who was at Red River from 1974-77 and went on to be an NCAA Division I national qualifier at the University of Minnesota.
Covington is one of four North Dakota Class A inductees for 2024, along with Travis Lang of Bismarck High, Daniel White of Jamestown and Brian Zehren of Jamestown.
Scott Grochow of Rugby, Collin Kelly of Oakes, Kriss McCleary of Napoleon and Jeff Nagel of New Salem-Almont are the four Class B inductees.
Randy Piatz of Bismarck will be inducted to the Officials Hall of Fame.
