Status: Fini

(Click the above image for the tournament Website.)

To be held at the Xavier University of New Orleans Athletic Center.

At last season's Deep South Bayou Duals New Orleans' Brother Martin High School and Jefferson High School of Jefferson, Georgia, wrestled to a 29-29 tie in the finals.  Brother Martin was awarded the victory via the eighth tie-breaking criteria.

A few weeks later, Habersham High School hosted the eighth Sham Slam, arguably the Louisiana Classic of Georgia high school wrestling tournaments.  Jefferson came in a respectable second place with 197 points.  But 110 points ahead of them was a team from Archer High School.  The Archer Tigers had four champions and five runners-up - and they only entered wrestlers in 12 of the 14 weight classes.  In the 2014 Georgia Class 6A state championships Archer won their second straight championship by a margin of 65.5 points.  In January Archer won the Georgia Class 6A Duals State Championship (also their second consecutive), defeating their four opponents by average scores of 56.5-10.

Guess which Georgia team is slated to compete in the third Jazz Town Duals.

One might think graduation inflicted some attrition on the Archer team - think again.  Of the 11 Tigers that placed 5th or better in the 2014 Georgia state championships, only one state champion and one 5th-place finisher were lost to graduation.  They return four state champions, three runners-up, one 3rd-place finisher and one 5th-place finisher.  2014-15 is still looking pretty good for Archer.

Other challengers from the east include a team travelling as the South Walton Wrestling Club comprised of members of South Walton High School, Niceville High School, Pace High School and West Nassau High School.  South Walton's Pickren brothers will be on that squad.    Senior Cody placed 5th (albeit he was the #1 seed) in the Florida Class 1A state championships, and his younger brother, sophomore William (also a #1 seed), placed 2nd.  New Orleans area wrestlers may recall the Pickrens from their wins at the 2013 Trygg Memorial Tournament.  Now they have another to contend with - eight-grader Evan. 

Challengers from the north are not lacking either.  Team Valley of Clarion, Iowa, is bringing a Class 1A state champion, two Class 1A state runners-up and two Class 2A state runners-up.  Evansville, Indiana's Mater Dei is bringing wrestlers who placed 3rd, 5th and 6th in the IHSAA State Championships.  Pittsburgh, Kansas, has KSHSAA Class 5A 4th-place and 5th-place finishers.

Houston St. Thomas is bringing three Texas Association of Private and Parochial Schools (TAPPS) state champions and four TAPPS state runners-up.  One of those is junior Andrew Munn, whom Connor Stampley, the Division I 126 lbs. state champion and Outstanding Wrestler from Comeaux, defeated 8-7 in The Woodlands Invitational in Texas.

To date, it is not known who the Oklahoma Rampage, Team Leonidas (Texas), Miami Elite (Florida) and Back in Black (Florida) wrestling clubs are bringing to the fray.

The Louisiana competition cannot be overlooked, though.

The Crusaders, of course, are returning and reloading a team that should prove harder to beat in the 2014-15 season than last year's state championship team.  They lost three starting seniors but will fill those roster spots quickly.

Jesuit (New Orleans Wrestling Club) may not have as good a chance as they did last year to surpass the Crusaders until the 2015-16 season, as they should not receive as much help from other teams as they did last year, but the Blue Jays should still prove formidable.  They will have experienced senior leadership for a good batch of less experienced grapplers who are getting exposure on the national level in the off-season.

Rick Zimmer's Fontainebleau (Bulldog Wrestling Club) team is coming off one of their best finishes ever at a state championship (9th in Division I) and only lost four team members to graduation.

St. Paul's placed sixth in Division I with no placers aside from the 160 lbs. state champion Tanner LeBlanc.  Five of the Wolves' returning wrestlers were knocked out in the round just before placement points were awarded, though, so the 2014-15 season should be a good one.

With competition this formidable it is easy to forget that this is an off-season event, albeit happily a folkstyle one.  Mitosis pays no heed to one-pound-per-month weight allowances after February - kids grow with reckless abandon and attempts to rein that in are impossible until October.  "Cutting weight" when Ro-Bears is open makes no sense in the Deep South anyway, so expect the 132 lb. kids to be at 145 lbs., the 145 lb. ones to be at 160 lbs., and the like.  No doubt the matches will be fun, as should some of the "Challenge Matches" which will be available for grapplers not scheduled to meet during the course of the event.

All schools are guaranteed eight matches.  As the front runners are determined some teams may opt to use the "free agency" allowance, allowing them to recruit wrestlers to complete rosters and guarantee full lineups for non-championship matches.

For the smaller and oft-times younger wrestlers, a 98 lbs. weight class will be contested.

As of June 1st 28 teams are listed as participating, not including "B" squads from the Crusader Wrestling Club, Evansville Mater Dei and the New Orleans Wrestling Club.  The participation of the B.R.A.W.L. and Live Oak wrestling clubs, as listed on the tournament Website, are not guaranteed.

A summary of the teams and possible entrants attending the 2014 Jazz Town Duals, is presented below (grades listed are for the 2014-15 season; weights and places are from the 2013-14 season):

Lawrenceville, Georgia 2013 & 2014 6A Traditional State Champions 2013 & 2014 Georgia 6A Dual State Champions Archer Tigers 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight GA 6A State Vinny Artigues 11 106 3rd Chris Diaz 11 126 2nd Grant Aycox 12 132 1st Thomas Bullard 11 152 1st Daniel Bullard 11 160 1st Quinn Miller 10 182 2nd Elliott Lee 12 195 1st

Florida Panhandle South Walton H.S., Niceville H.S., Arnold H. S., West Nassau H.S., Camden, GA Back in Black: 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight FL State Dylan Haman 8 98 DNW Ethan Pickren - SW 8 106 #1 AAU Nov. William Pickren - SW 10 106 2nd - 1A Blake Hartzog - NC 12 106 Sta. Qualifier Richard McClanahan - AR 10 120 2nd - 2A Alex Cao - SW 11 120 DNW Brock Carlan - AR 12 126 Sta. Qualifier Paul Patterson - AR 11 132 Sta. Qualifier Chase Elmers ? 145 2nd in AZ Jay Shepherd - Camden ? 145 2nd GA Cody Pickren - SW 12 145 5th - 1A Michael Dudzinski - WN 12 160 Sta. Qualifier Tony Crowell ? 195 Sta. Qualifier

Brusly, Louisiana 3x Defending LA Division III State Champions Brusly Panthers 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight LA DIII State Austin Franklin 10 106 1st Kendon Lee-Kayser 10 113 1st Koby Mancuso 12 145 1st Diondre Dorsey 12 160 2nd Blayze Olano 11 170 3rd Jacob McGee 12 182 6th Dillon Prejean 12 195 1st Donald Johnson 12 220 2nd Jo'Vonte Wheeler 12 285 3rd

Mandeville, Louisiana 9th in 2014-15 LA Division I Bulldog W.C. (Fontainebleau) 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight LA DI State Zackary Lawson 12 126 DNP Brandon Verges 12 160 DNP Ethan Eisenhardt 12 182 3rd Christian Ponson 12 285 2nd

League City, Texas Clear Springs, Texas 2013-14 Results Placed 18th in Texas University Interscholastic League Region III Qualifying Tournament

New Orleans, Louisiana 3x Defending LA DI State Champions Crusader W.C. (Brother Martin) 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight LA DI State Steven Shields 10 106 1st Mason Mauro 12 113 1st (2x) Taylor Gambill 11 126 2nd Paul Klein 12 132 1st (3x) Danny Evans 12 145 4th Pierce Williams 11 145 DNW Mason Williams 12 152 2nd Yehia Riles 12 182 1st Jacob Clapp 11 220 5th

Cypress, Texas Cypress Ranch No information was available at of the publication date.

New Orleans, Louisiana 2014 Division III Runner-up De la Salle 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight LA DIII State Glen Gebo 11 126 6th Raekwon Thomas 11 132 4th Landon Dorsey 11 145 6th Daniel Francis 11 195 5th Trenton Anderson 11 220 6th Jalen Haydel 11 285 6th

Dunedin, Florida Dunedin High School 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight FL 1A State Stephen Nicholls 11 106 Qualifier Brendan Ditro 11 126 Qualifier Michael Dunlap 11 195 Qualifier

Easton, Pennsylvania Easton Area High School 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight PA AAA State Evan Fidelious 11 126 Qualifier James Saylor 11 138 Qualifier

Gulf Breeze, Florida Gulf Breeze, Florida 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight FL 2A State Chase Blake 11 138 Qualifier Blake Doerr 12 145 Qualifier

Harrison, Ohio Southwest Ohio Conference Champions Harrison, Ohio 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight SWOC Tournament C.J. Brown 12 106 1st Parker Buschelman 11 113 4th Chris Frey 11 120 3rd Josh Huff 11 126 2nd Bo McIntosh 10 132 1st Nolan Zeinner 11 182 3rd

Spring, Texas Klein Oak High School No information was available at of the publication date.

Leesburg, Georgia Lee County High School 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight GA 5A State Aaron Maxfield 11 106 Qualifier Eric Hunter 11 113 Qualifier Cody Bryant 12 120 Qualifier Jonah Anderson 11 126 Qualifier Slater Cruz* 11 132 Qualifier Brett Butler 12 138 Qualifier Collins Tensley 11 195 Qualifier * Hands down the coolest name of the tournament!

Evansville, Indiana Mater Die (Evansville) 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight ISHSS State Will Egli 10 106 5th Alex Johnson 12 120 6th Nick Lee 10 126 3rd

Miami Elite No information was available at of the publication date.

New Orleans, Louisiana 2013 & 2014 LA D1 Runner-up New Orleans Wrestling Club (Jesuit) 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight LA D1 State Brody Martin 106 12 3rd Ben D'Antonio 12 120 1st Jordan Giewat 10 120 DNW Jake Rando 10 126 4th Will LaFranca 12 138 3rd Guy Patron, Jr. 11 182 2nd Dominic Carmello 12 285 3rd

Oklahoma Rampage No information was available at of the publication date.

Pace, Florida Pace High School 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight FL 2A State Tyler Bradley 12 126 Qualifier Brendan McClendon 12 195 Qualifier Tres' Dawes 12 220 Qualifier

Pittsburgh, Kansas Pittsburgh High School 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight KS 5A State Tanner Hitchcock 10 106 5th Tyler Kester 10 113 4th Wes Jameson 10 120 Qualifier Christian Hyde 10 170 Qualifier Dylan Prince 10 182 Qualifier Jose Montelongo 12 195 Qualifier Logan Woods 11 220 Qualifier

Boutte, Louisiana River Parishes (Hahnville wrestlers listed) 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight LA D1 State Nicholas Lirette 11 106 2nd Kendrick Jones 12 195 1st

Covington, Louisiana 6th at LA D1 State Championships St. Paul's School 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight LA D1 State Mason Rader 10 106 DNP Steven Van Zandt 11 113 DNP Shane Ulfers 11 113 DNW Hunter Bourgeois 11 132 DNP Seth Dragon 11 138 DNP Chase Cochran 12 170 DNP Colin Francis 11 220 DNP

Houston, Texas 2014 TAPPS Runners-up Houston St. Thomas 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight TAPPS State Will Strickland 11 106 2nd Eric DeHart 11 113 2nd Jared Enochs 12 120 2nd Andrew Munn 11 126 2nd Patrick Munn 11 132 1st Patrick Rocha 11 145 1st Austin Longeria 12 152 3rd Campbell Clarkson 12 160 1st

Texas Team Leonidas No information was available at of the publication date.

Clarion, Iowa Clarion-Goldfield H.S., Clearlake H.S., Fort Dodge H.S., Hampton-Dumont H.S. Team Valley 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight IHSAA State Justin Portillo - C-G 11 110 2nd - 1A Josh Portillo C-G 11 117 1st - 1A Triston Lara - FD 10 117 4th - 1A Ryan Leisure - CL 10 124 2nd - 1A Joel Haberman - G-G 12 149 2nd - 1A Ryan Anderson - C-G 12 289 2nd - 1A

Marrero, Louisiana Westbank Wrestling Club (John Ehret wrestlers listed) 2013-14 Results Name Grade Weight LA D1 State Joseph Davis-Lucas 11 120 4th Jack Fontenot 12 152 5th

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