Fini

Rummel's Robert Hudgins pinned all four of his opponents, including 2nd seed Johnny Vanveckhoven of Haghton in 3:36 in the finals, on his way to the 220 lbs. Division II state championship.  Hudgins did not lose to a Division II or Division III wrestler all season, and the Division I foes to whom he did lose were very good, placing 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th in Division I over the weekend.

Synopsis

Starting in mid-December due to the post-season success of the Rummel football team, Robert Hudgins won the first of only two tournaments in which he competed before the state championships.  He won the Jefferson Open and then fared very well in the Deep South Bayou Duals.  There he won five of seven matches, losing only Rodrigo Diaz of Lafayette (3rd in Division I), the consensus #1 seed for everything at the time, and to an out-of-state opponent in a 3-2 match.  In a dual meet just prior to the Louisiana Classic he lost to Stephen Cloud of Hahnville (fourth in Division I) and, after a bye, had the misfortune of running into Darian Mitchell of Barbe (second in Division I) although Hudgins gave Mitchell a run in a 13-8 match.  Mitchell did not make the semifinals, however, so Hudgins did not qualify for the consolation rounds.  Just before the trip to Bossier Hudgins faced probably his toughest opponent of the year in Jesuit's Guy Patron (1st in Division I at 195 lbs.).  With only 18 matches to his credit, Hudgins had a very good 14-4 record going into the state championships.  With his four pins in the tournament Hudgins showed his short season prepared him just fine.

Junior Johnny Vanveckhoven of Haughton had a very good season in which he won the Lone Survivor and North Louisiana Regionals, and between those events he placed fourth at the Ken Cole.  His only two losses came at the Ken Cole to Diaz and to Dunham's soon-to-be Division III state champion Mason Rabel.  Vanveckhoven had 18 wins, including ones over Sulphur's Brennon Broussard, Baton Rouge's Chase Stuckey and St. Michael's Bradley Brignac.

The surprise of this weight class was Chandler Beach of Benton.  At 20-10 the senior was seeded sixth but upset #3 seed Anthony Ingram of Live Oak in the quarterfinals.  After a loss in the semifinals to Vanveckhoven, Beach defeated Abraham Morales of Bossier (whom Beach defeated in Round 2) and once again defeated Ingram to place third.

Placers Place Name School Seed Year 1st Robert Hudgins Rummel 1 12 2nd Johnny Vanveckhoven Haughton 2 11 3rd Chandler Beach Benton 6 12 4th Anthony Ingram Live Oak 3 10 5th Dylan Sweeney Belle Chasse 4 12 6th Abraham Morales Bossier >8 12

1st	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Robert Hudgins	Robert Hudgins	Johnny Vanveckhoven	Chandler Beach	Anthony Ingram	Dylan Sweeney	Abraham Morales

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Quarterfinals

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Semifinals

(1) Robert Hudgins (RUM) pinned (4) Dylan Sweeney (BC) in 2:42.

(2) Johnny Vanveckhoven (HAU) pinned (6) Chandler Beach (BNT) in 2:19.

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Championship Consolation Rounds

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Finals

(1) Robert Hudgins of Rummel pinned Johnny Vanveckhoven of Haughton in 3:36.

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