Fini

(Left two photos) One thing the editor of the Louisiana Wrestling News has learned over the last few years is that there are very few angles in which one can take a photo of a "spladle" without such a photograph being deemed, for those who saw The Imitation Game, indecorous.  A great "spladle" was used in Round five by a Tate WC wrestler against a Paradigm opponent.  The photos show the confidence a "spladler" has in his accomplishment:  (Right photo) The photo of Bayou Elite's Michael Lundin (yes, he still gets special coverage because of the Rex doubloons he acquired for the editor), showing the red mat curving up from the blue one, reminds the editor of the baseball scene on "Cooper Station" near the end of Interstellar. is a little

Suffice to say, there was some good wrestling on Saturday.

Saturday Reflections

A few things were easy to determine after the first day of the 2016 Jazz Town Duals:

1)    The Best Trained team from Texas is not the same Allen, Texas, team that Brother Martin defeated in the 2014 Trey Culotta.  Certainly, a lot of the names are the same, but then add two more years of experience, and Best Trained must be considered the favorite going into Sunday's championship matches.  While going 4-0 in Pool A on Saturday, Best Trained scored 321 points to only 21 scored by their four opponents combined.  They completely shut-out two teams, and only Woodward Academy of Georgia scored double-digits against them (18);

2)    Everyone knew Camden, GA, was a very good team, and they went 4-0 also, scoring 266 points in Pool B.  However, not much was known about the top seed in Pool D - Major Decision from Missouri.  The grapplers from the "Show Me State" showed plenty by scoring 263 points and defeating a solid Bayou Elite squad, that included five 2016 Louisiana state champions, 35-27;

3)    The Gulf Coast PINitentiary team fared better than some may have expected, pushing top seed and Pool E winner Eagle Empire (of the Miami, FL, area) to the last match and finishing only 15 points behind them, but well ahead of the host New Orleans Wrestling Club team;

4)    The Baton Rouge Allstar team also surprised a few people by finishing second in Pool B.  The team is an olio of Catholic, Central, Dunham, Episcopal, McKinley and possibly other schools from the Baton Rouge area (aside from Live Oak), albeit the editor is at a distinct handicap when trying to determine names of wrestlers not in their high school colors;

5)    On a more local note, the Crusader Wrestling Club looks to be more than adequate to keep Brother Martin, the five-time defending Division I team champions, as the team to beat in the upcoming Louisiana high school season.

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Best Uniforms

The editor only noticed two typical New Orleans-themed shirts - one by the team from Floyd Central and another from a team of which the editor does not yet know. 

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However, the best singlet/warm-ups combination most certainly goes to the Gulf Coast PINitentiary team.  With their black and white horizontally-striped warm-ups, as well as the numbered "Orange is the New Black" singlets.  Give them a pole with a sharp end and put them on a neutral ground, and a New Orleans motif could be justified.

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Round Photos

Round 1

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Round 2

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Round 3

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Round 4

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Round 5

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Random Photos

The venue again was superb at the Xavier University Convocation Center.

As they were all together in one spot the editor thought a team picture of the Live Oak Wrestling Club was in order.  It was certainly worth it as one member was in the upper mezzanine and scurried down the stairwell perhaps less stealthily as he might have desired, but in time nonetheless.

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As results and pictures become available new links will appear on the menu to the left in underlined gold letters.  Some others will appear as underlined green letters.  Some links will work Saturday night, some Sunday night, and all of them, as most will require photos, may not be complete for up to a week after the event is completed.

All matches on all mats are scheduled to be streamed on FloWrestling. Click the logo left to go to the FloWrestling Website.

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