Division I 182 Lbs.

Fini

Harter's triumph the first for the Warriors since 2012

LHSAA State Wrestling Tournament

Division II, 182 Pounds

May 30th, 2018 | Written by: Editor

Weight Class Synopsis

Early Championship Rounds

Quarterfinals

Semifinals

3rd and 5th

Finals

St. Michael's Dane Harter ruled the 182 lbs. weight class in Louisiana

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Name	Dane Harter	Kaleb Garcia	Blake McKee	Garrett Timm	Joshua Halbrook	Austin Hotard
School	St. Michael	Parkway	Teurlings Catholic	Haughton	Pearl River	Belle Chasse
Seed	1	2	6	7	Unseeded	4
Class	Senior	Sophomore	Senior	Junior	Senior	Senior

Weight Class Synopsis

With a pedigree including a father and coach who was a Holy Cross state champion in 1983, and an uncle who was a Tiger state champion in 1980 and 1981, it came as no surprise that Dane Harter would succeed at wrestling. Only the degree in which he did might be surprising. The Warrior senior did not place as a sophomore, and his junior year finals appearance was overlooked by many as his opponent was Rummel's Josh Ramirez, who currently works out at the Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs. This season, he was only stoppable at 195 lbs., a weight at which he first lost by a major decision to eventual Division I state champion Gavin Bonilla, and later showed he was gaining on Bonilla with just a one-point loss. But Harter was a natural 182-pounder, and he dropped down to that weight for the Trey Culotta Invitational, in which he defeated eventual Division I state champion D.J. Evans of Airline in the finals. In the Louisiana Classic finals, he defeated Jesuit's Thomas Arceneaux, but more important to his state championship hopes he defeated Parkway sophomore Kaleb Garcia the first of two times prior to the state championship. Harter was 44-0 at 182 lbs., and only four of those matches did not end in a fall or technical fall. He spent 1:29 on the mats in the two matches he had before a semifinals forfeit due to an injury to Belle Chasse's Austin Hotard. He had previously pinned Hotard in 1:34. (Hotard had to withdraw from the tournament but, according to his coach, the senior recovered well from his injury.)

Parkway's Kaleb Garcia was seeded second. Garcia brought a 43-13 record the four miles between Parkway High School and the CenturyLink Center. Two of those losses were to Harter, one from an out-of-state opponent, seven were from Division I state championship 1st-6th placers. He did have a loss to Lakeside senior Austin Moss from Division III, but he defeated Moss later. He also split matches with Clay and Brother Martin's Michael Clap during the season. Garcia used a fall in 3:51, a 15-5 major decision and a semifinals fall in 4:45 over Blake McKee of Teurlings Catholic to advance to the finals.

Harter and Garcia locked up for the better part of the first and only round of the finals match. Garcia attempted a good single-leg shot early, but Harter countered it well. After 20 seconds had elapsed Harter used a duck-under to a single-leg lift to score a takedown on Garcia. From the top Harter rode a single-leg cross-body ride and patiently turned Garcia over with a forced-nelson. As Garcia's back edged closer to the mat, Harter placed used a figure-four to press Garcia flat, scoring the fall in 1:55.

Sixth-seeded Blake McKee of Teurlings Catholic upset Huntington's Christopher Washington in the quarterfinals, and thus only needed to win one match to advance to the match for third place. It was not an easy match, though, as unseeded Joshua Halbrook of Pearl River gave McKee plenty of trouble in a 9-7 McKee victory. There he faced seventh-seeded Garrett Timm of Haughton, who required a fall and a 9-8 decision over Washington before a forfeit (from the injured Hotard) put him in the consolation finals. The Rebel senior was too much for Timm, though, as McKee defeated the Haughton junior in 2:01. Halbrook placed fifth due to Hotard's injury.

Early Championship Rounds