 |
|
Fini |
 |
|
Basile's Christ
wins a second Division III title, but has eyes on bigger events |
LHSAA State
Wrestling Tournament |
Division III, 126
Pounds |
May 12th, 2017 | Written by:
Editor |
|
Sophomore and top seed
Gavin Christ of Basile pinned third-seeded Calep Balcuns of Brusly to
win his second Division III championship. |
The other wrestler, aside from St. Louis' Yokubaitis, with a shot at four
consecutive state championships, is Basile's Gavin Christ. Barring an
injury, four consecutive titles will keep him sharp through the next two
Division III state tournaments. Christ though, who has won two Division
III titles so far, is looking for more than that. In 2016, he was a
runner-up at the Ken Cole. This year he won it, and, in doing so, avenged
an early season loss to St. Amant's Brier Babin (later a Division I finalist).
Christ's only other loss was to defending Division I and Louisiana Classic
champion Cole Houser of St. Paul's. Christ, only seeded sixth at the LA
Classic, ran through the bottom half of the bracket with a technical fall, two
first period falls and a 9-2 win over second-seeded Morgan Manuel of Rayne.
He met Houser in the finals, losing 8-5 in what could be described as an
undisciplined match on the part of Christ. A week later he won the Ken
Cole, adding another championship to go with his wins at the Warrior Open, the
TC Rebel Open, the Evangel Eagle Open, the Jacob McMillan Memorial, the Brusly
Invitational and the Lafayette Metro championship. Upon entering the 2017
state championships, Christ's record was 39-2, which included the win over
Division I's Babin, Division II state champion Trey Fontenot of Parkway, two
wins over the Division III 120 lbs. champion Sam Pitts of Ouachita Christian and
a 9-2 win over the Louisiana Classic champion and Outstanding Wrestler Trent
Mahoney of East Ascension. At the state championships, Christ advanced to
the finals after 1:12 on the mat in his first two matches.
The "tournament within the tournament," as in who Christ's finals opponent would
be, was between second-seeded Jacob Routon of Church Point, and Calep Balcuns,
the third seed from Brusly. Routon had defeated Balcuns 5-4 at the Brusly
Invitational and 9-0 at the Ken Cole. As it was in the Brusly
Invitational, the Routon-Balcuns semifinal was decided by one point. This
time, though, it the freshman Balcuns prevailed 6-5 over the junior Routon.
Christ and Balcuns did not meet prior to the finals, but that did not phase
Christ at all. The Basile sophomore pinned Balcuns in 3:46.
1st |
2nd |
3rd |
4th |
5th |
6th |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Gavin Christ |
Calep Balcuns |
Jacob Routon |
Grant Gebo |
James Geiger |
William Kennedy |
Basile |
Brusly |
Church Point |
De LaSalle |
Hannan |
Episcopal |
#1 Seed |
#3 Seed |
#2 Seed |
#4 Seed |
#5 Seed |
#7 Seed |
Sophomore |
Freshman |
Junior |
Sophomore |
Sophomore |
Junior |
Back to Top
Early Championship Rounds
|
Round 1: #6 Son Nguyen (NOMMA) defeated Hayden
Humphrey (LKS) 10-8. |
Back to Top
Quarterfinals
#1 Gavin Christ (BAS) pinned #8 Divintre
Plowden (NV) in 0:16. |
|
#4 Grant Gebo (DLS) defeated #5 James Geiger (HAN) 13-12. |
|
#3 Calep Balcuns (BRU) pinned #6 Son Nguyen (NOMMA) in 3:06. |
#2 Jacob Routon (CP) pinned #7 William Kennedy (EPI) in 1:59. |
Back to Top
Semifinals
|
#1 Gavin Christ (BAS) pinned #4 Grant Gebo
(DLS) in 3:46. |
|
#3 Calep Balcuns (BRU) defeated #2 Jacob Routon (CP) 6-5. |
Back to Top
Consolation Rounds
|
C2: #5 James Geiger (HAN) defeated Hayden
Humphrey (LKS) via a 13-0 Major Decision. |
|
C2: #7 William Kennedy (EPI) pinned John Green (DUN) in 4:37. |
|
C2: #8 Divintre Plowden (NV) pinned Christian Giddens (EVA) in 4:15. |
Back to Top
Championship Consolation Rounds
#2 Jacob Routon (CP) defeated #4 Grant Gebo (DLS) via an 11-2 Major
Decision
to place 3rd. |
|
James Geiger (HAN) defeated #7 William Kennedy (EPI) 8-3
to place 5th. |
Back to Top
Finals
Top-seeded Gavin Christ of Basile pinned
third-seeded Calep Balcuns of Brusly in 3:46. |
|
Back to Top
© 2016-17 by Louisiana Wrestling News
|
You
may not make electronic copies of these copyrighted materials nor
redistribute them to 3rd parties in any form without written permission.
|