Division I 106 Lbs.

Fini

Basile's Alex Menier shrugs off four losses to his finals opponent to win the 106 lbs. title

LHSAA State Wrestling Tournament

Division III, 106 Pounds

May 30th, 2018 | Written by: Editor

Weight Class Synopsis

3rd and 5th

Alex Menier, whom Gavin Christ said was his protégé early in the season, completed "State One" of his tutelage by winning a state championship as a freshman.

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Name	Alex Menier	Cameron Witherwax	Zachary Lauland	Kataurio Grigsby	Kaden Gillikin	Cole Bartlett
School	Basile	St. Louis	De la Salle	Lakeside	Brusly	Hannan
Seed	2	1	3	4	Unseeded	Unseeded
Class	Freshman	Senior	Freshman	Eighth-grade	Sophomore	Freshman

Weight Class Synopsis

Last season Cameron Witherwax of St. Louis placed fourth at the state championships, exactly as he was predicted to do by the seeding committee. This season he brought a 27-9 record to the state championships and was seeded first at 106 lbs. Only one of his losses was to a wrestler from Division III. De la Salle's Zachary Lauland pinned Witherwax in 2:00 in the quarterfinals of the Louisiana Classic. That was when Lauland was on a mini-roll, having defeated second-seeded Jacob Frost of Holy Cross in the first period. Witherwax, though, had defeated Lauland in 2:00 in the Brusly Invitational semifinals, and after that he pinned Lauland again at the Division III State Duals Championships on 0:45. Of his 27 wins, four were over Basile freshman Alex Menier. Except for the last match, the freshman and the senior wrestled close matches, resulting in Witherwax wins of 7-4, 6-5 and 7-5. In their last meeting before the state championships, a dual meet just prior to the Louisiana Classic, Witherwax pinned Menier in 3:52.

Menier entered the event with a 32-14 record. He had defeated Lauland at the Division III State Duals Championships via a fall in 1:38. But he still was 0-4 against Witherwax. Aside those losses, Menier did not lose to any other Division III opponents. Lauland had defeated fourth-seeded eighth-grader Katauria Grigsby of Lakeside, and hence the seeding went as follows: 1) Witherwax, 2) Menier, 3) Lauland, 4) Grigsby.

Witherwax made it to the finals via two falls and a 6-1 semifinals win over Grigsby. Menier, after a bye, used under four minutes to pin Evangel's Jarius Wilson and, in the semifinals Lauland.

The first period of the finals was a low-scoring one. Menier scored on at double-leg takedown with 1:20 remaining for a 2-0 lead. Witherwax escaped and the round ended 2-1. Menier chose to start the second period in the bottom position and on his third attempt he succeeded reaching back for Witherwax's head on a short sit-out, turned with it and put Witherwax on his back for a five-point move. Witherwax rolled off his back with 40 seconds remaining, and with 10 seconds left the St. Louis wrestler was awarded a point for Menier locking his hands. The second period ended 7-2 in favor of the freshman. In the third period Witherwax switched Menier to cut the lead to 7-4. However, while attempting a cross-face Witherwax put himself very high on Menier's shoulders, and the Basile wrestler backed out under Witherwax and jumped on top for a reversal. Menier rode-out the remainder of the period and completed perhaps the largest upset in the Division III finals with a 9-4 win.

Semifinalists Lauland and Grigsby needed a little over two minutes combined to advance to the consolation finals. In their earlier matches Lauland won by falls in 2:21 and 2:20. In this match, Lauland captured third-place in 2:14. In their fourth consolation bracket matches, Brusly's Kaden Gillikin pinned Cole Bartlett of Hannan in 1:24 to place fifth.

Quarterfinals

(1) Cameron Witherwax (STL) over Kaden Gillikin (BRU) in 3:19