Fini

[NOTE: Guessing seeding is not fun unless it is done before actual seeds are released.  They are published now (even before grammar has thoroughly been reviewed) just to enable such fun.  The picks are predicated on matches held through Tuesday, January 12th, with the exception of Wednesday evening's Brother Martin-Hahnville match. ]

Question: What team has won the most Louisiana Classic titles in the last 10 years?

Answer: Did anyone say Brother Martin?  If so, guess again.  The Crusaders are actually third on that list.  Since 2006 Baton Rouge Catholic has won the event four times and Jesuit has won it three times.  Brother Martin has won it twice in that time span.  The remaining title went to Rummel in 2006.

The Louisiana Classic may be one of the only events the Brother Martin Crusaders have not dominated over the last several seasons.  In 2014 the Crusaders were unable to participate in the event due to a skin infection that affected most of the team.  Jesuit claimed the title that year, but most believe that the Crusaders would have won the event that year, as later in the state championships they beat runner-up Jesuit by 35.5 points.  In 2012 the Crusaders lost to Catholic by eight points, but returned the favor later with a four-point margin over the Bears at the state championships, their first of four consecutive Division I titles.

Four wrestlers are looking for their second LA Classic titles.  Brother Martin's Steven Shields, Stephen Rumney and Taylor Gambill won the event last season, and Jesuit's Guy Patron, Jr. won in 2014.  Looking for their first titles are 2015 runners-up Blake Mateu of Rummel, Joey Foret and Jake Rando of Holy Cross, and Jacob Clapp of Brother Martin.  Christian Walden of Airline was a runner-up as a freshman in 2014, as was Teurlings Catholic's Brock Bonin in 2013.

The Crusaders are the favorites entering the 2016 Louisiana Classic, to be held Friday and Saturday at the Baton Rouge Community College.  The Crusaders, however, will need solid performances by their new starters, and their veterans may all have to live up to expectations if the Crusaders do not want this year's LA Classic title to elude them.  They may not have eight finalists as they did in 2015 or seven as occurred in 2013.  The LWN editor, in all his flawed wisdom, only has the Crusaders with two #1 seeds: Taylor Gambill and Pierce Williams.  Two other Crusaders, Stephen Rumney and Jacob Clapp, are estimated to be seeded second.  But six more Crusaders are expected to be in the top four spots.

A lot of upsets over the Crusaders in the first and second rounds will be required if any other teams are to prevent the Crusaders winning their third Louisiana Classic title in the last four years.  Holy Cross, Jesuit and St. Paul's are the teams that can slip through any gap left by the Crusaders, but for one to do that the other two have to crumble after they beat their Brother Martin competition.

Advantage:    Crusaders

Likely runner-up:    Toss-up between St. Paul's, who has been solid all year, and a rejuvenated Jesuit.

The following seeds are mere estimates by the Louisiana Wrestling News editor.  If the editor gets 75% of the top four seeds correct, he will consider that a major personal coup. 

 EDITOR GRADING TIME: tabulated on January 15th.  The editor picked 84% of the top four seeds in each weight class.  55% of his picks were "spot on." 

(Unless otherwise indicated season records used below only reflect Louisiana competition.)

106 1 2 3 4 Michael Lundin Holy Cross Kiefer Fuselier Sulphur Daniel Varnado Brother Martin Brandon Stein St. Paul's

Fuselier is undefeated at 106 lbs., but Lundin has faced tougher competition and avenged his only 106 lbs. loss, which was to Stein. Lundin also has a win over Varnado.  Fuselier, Varnado and Stein each have one common opponent.  Fuselier and Varnado won via falls in the exact same time (2:43), whereas Stein's win was an 8-2 decision.  Fuselier and Varnado are basically interchangeable, but the Sulphur senior gets the nod for being undefeated so far.  Central's Austin Gouedy lurks, as does McKinley's Jeremiah Johnson.

113 1 2 3 4 Blake Mateu Rummel Adam Larriviere Jesuit Cole Houser St. Paul's Luke Cotton Brother Martin

Mateu is undefeated and has wins over Cotton and a better win over Houser than Larriviere.  Houser has a SV win over Cotton from the Trey Culotta.  (Via an unintentional oversight Houser's win is not listed on Cotton's TW record, but is on Houser's and the Trey Culotta's TW pages, should one check the records.)

120 1 2 3 4 Joseph Dupre Jesuit Cameron Carpenter Catholic Steven Shields Brother Martin Seth Oubre Comeaux

Dupre is undefeated and looked good at 120 lbs. at the Deep South Bayou Duals.  Carpenter only has one loss (3-2 to Dupre).  Oubre has not lost at 120 lbs., which includes a win over Shields in their last match at the Trey Culotta.  Oubre won his second match against Shields, but Shields has excelled against much stronger competition which give him "the nod" over Oubre.

126 1 2 3 4 Javarious Jones Airline Stephen Rumney Brother Martin Beau Bush Holy Cross Eli Larriviere Jesuit

Jones is undefeated, and that includes a Culotta win over Rumney.  Rumney has a win over Bush.  Larriviere is new to 126 lbs. but went 7-0 at the Deep South Bayou Duals.  At 132 lbs. he split with Holy Cross's Cole Clement, defeated East Ascension's Landon Wheat and only lost in a SV period to Brother Martin's Seth Gambill.  Those matches place him a little above Shane Ulfers of St. Paul's and Daniel Gunn of Catholic

NOTE: A lot of people think Nicholas Lirette intends on competing at 132 lbs. at the Louisiana Classic.  The 132 lbs. weight class seeding picks below are based on that assumption.  However, as Lirette competed at 138 lbs. Wednesday against Brother Martin and lost 7-6 to Gambill, he may not drop to 132 lbs.  If Lirette stays at 138 lbs. Gambill remains the editor's #1 seed and Lirette pushes everyone else back a spot.  Were this the LHSAA state championships Lirette would be seeded first as his win over Gambill came in a tournament, whereas Gambill's came in a dual meet.  The Louisiana Classic seeding committee does not have to follow LHSAA guidelines, however.  Neither Lirette nor Gambill should be worried anyway, as they both will have their hands full in order to make the finals.

132 1 2 3 4 Nicholas Lirette Hahnville Seth Gambill Brother Martin Cole Clement Holy Cross Landon Wheat East Ascension

Lirette was undefeated at 138 lbs., which included a victory over Brother Martin's Taylor Gambill, until Wednesday evening when Gambill beat him 7-6.  The younger Gambill has only two losses, one of which was to a 138 lbs. wrestler now competing at 152 lbs.  The other was to Wheat in the Trey Culotta pool rounds, which Gambill remedied in the finals the next day.  Clement's only loss was to Eli Larriviere, which he later avenged, and he has beaten Wheat.

138 1 2 3 4 Taylor Gambill Brother Martin Brock Bonin Teurlings Catholic Billy Harrison St. Paul's Ethan Alfonso Live Oak

Gambill's only loss was to Lirette in the Trey Culotta finals.  Also at that event he first lost to but later defeated Bonin.  Gambill also scored a major decision over Harrison at the Culotta.  A win by Harrison over Rummel's Dawson Mire puts him ahead of Alfonso, whose sole loss was to Mire.  Hunter Fitch has dropped from 152 lbs. and has only lost to Bonin at 138 lbs.  Catholic's Davis Polito and Jesuit's Nathan Koenig should not be overlooked.

145 1 2 3 4 Jake Rando Holy Cross Hunter Bourgeois St. Paul's Brennan Webb Live Oak Antonio Lococo Airline

Rando is undefeated with two wins this season against his Division I finals foe from last year, Bourgeois.  Their last match, however, was only a two-point decision.  Webb is having an excellent season with his only loss to a current 145 lbs. opponent was to Rando as well.  Lococo was undefeated until suffering an injury on December 12th, but will be back on the mat on January 26th for his win against Bossier.  (OK - let us agree that was a miscue on TW and Lococo won against Bossier on December 26th.)

152 1 2 3 4 Clint Brownell St. Amant Joey Foret Holy Cross Thaquan Priestley Lafayette Brad Albarado Shaw

Brownell is 27-0 with wins over Foret, Priestly, Jesuit's Griffin Mason, Sam Houston's Andrew Aucoin and Hunter Fitch of Comeaux.  After a month off he did lose an out-of-state match at the Deep South Bayou Duals, but his other six matches included four falls, a technical fall and a 7-0 shutout.  Foret is 2-1 against Albarado.  Foret is 2-1 against Albarado, and his only other loss was to Brownell.  Priestley, aside from his loss against Brownell, will not face anyone else he lost to previously, and he has a win over Albarado.  Brother Martin's Kevin Casey, who is 1-1 with Albarado, is also a threat.

160 1 2 3 4 Christian Walden Airline Sam Dufour St. Paul's Jacob Fereday Catholic Brad Guidry Brother Martin

The returning Division I state champion Walden is undefeated with wins over Dufour, Fereday and Guidry.  Dufour has a win over Fereday and Guidry, and Fereday has a win over Guidry.  St. Amant's Kaelin Lambert may enter into the placing picture, as might Brusly's Division III state champion Richard Hunter, who made an undefeated debut in this weight class at the Brusly Invitational.

170 1 2 3 4 Pierce Williams Brother Martin Sage Nugent St. Amant Chase Menendez Destrehan Kole Miller Comeaux

The problem some people (as in people in his weight class) have with Pierce Williams is that he learns something after every match.  An unexpected 3-2 dual meet loss to St. Amant's Sage Nugent turned into a 7-6 Spartan Open championship over Nugent six days later.  A 3-2 Spartan Open win over Comeaux's Kole Miller turned into a 12-6 win in the Trey Culotta finals.  Nugent gets the nod over Miller because of his win over Williams.  Menendez gets the nod over Miller as his only loss of the season was a 7-5 match against Nugent, which can be mathematically translated into a four point edge over Miller.  Or, against their only common opponent, Menendez scored a fall seven seconds faster than Miller.  St. Paul's Blake Huff is a viable "dark horse" candidate.

182 1 2 3 4 Josh Ramirez Rummel Keegan Gilligan Airline Travis Viener Brother Martin Jordan Averett St. Amant

Ramirez has been unstoppable since the middle of last season.  Gilligan has a win over his only common opponent with Viener (aside from Ramirez, who owns two wins over each), and Averett's only loss was to Viener.

195 1 2 3 4 Guy Patron, Jr. Jesuit Austin Gary Carencro Kynan Sonnier Teurlings Catholic Trevon Honor Hahnville

Patron is undefeated at, well, 4-0.  That, of course, is in Louisiana.  His out-of-state record is 19-1.  Patron will be the #1 seed.  Carencro's Austin Gary has only one loss, to Kynan Sonnier of Teurlings Catholic, but Gary turned the tables on Sonnier in the Greg Lavergne Parish (Lafayette) Duals last weekend.  Sonnier's only other losses have been to Ramirez and Lafayette's Rodrigo Diaz.  Honor lost twice to Sonnier at the Trey Culotta, but otherwise has only lost to Ramirez and Brother Martin's Cole Alfonso, whom he later defeated.  Alfonso, however, should not be overlooked.

220 1 2 3 4 Rodrigo Diaz Lafayette Jacob Clapp Brother Martin Stephen Cloud Hahnville Colin Francis St. Paul's

OK - all of the research used below was for naught.  Diaz will be the #1 seed if only because he finished higher than Clapp did in the same weight class at last year's state championships.  Clapp defeated Cloud 4-3 on Wednesday evening which earned him the #2 spot. Diaz, Clapp and Cloud are all undefeated in Louisiana.  However, they each have pins over one common opponent: Diaz in 0:08; Clapp in 0:48; Cloud in 1:24.  Between Diaz and Clapp is another common opponent.  Diaz pinned that wrestler in 1:46 while Cloud only managed an 11-5 win.  Clapp and Cloud have a common adversary also.  Clapp pinned him in 1:53 while Cloud only won via an 18-3 technical fall.  Diaz pinned another wrestler in 0:19 while Cloud only won by a 9-1 major decision.  Francis has a loss to Cloud, This no doubt will be an entertaining weight class as technical falls and major decisions are actually detriments to higher seeding.

285 1 2 3 4 Corey Dublin Jesuit Matthew Blair Shaw K.J. Wilson Catholic Dominique Williams Lafayette

Jesuit's Corey Dublin made his 2015-16 season debut at the Trey Culotta, where he placed fourth.  Against Louisiana competition he lost to and lost to Shaw's Matthew Blair by one point and Catholic's K.J. Wilson by two points.  At the Deep South Bayou Duals Dublin defeated Wilson in a Sudden Victory round, and then on January 6th he avenged himself vs. Blair in a 7-1 win at Shaw.  Wilson's only other loss is to Blair.  Williams' only loss to scheduled competitors in this event who remain at 285 lbs. was a 5-1 decision vs. Blair.

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