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Rayne's Morgan Manuel won his second Division II state championship as well as the 2019 Division II Outstanding Wrestler Award

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Morgan Manuel	Charles Travasos	Jordan Griffin	Michael Seal	Hayden Wood	Gavin Gauthreaux
School	Rayne	Teurlings Catholic	Live Oak	Shaw	Parkway	Belle Chasse
Seed	2	1	5	3	6	Sophomore
Class	Senior	Junior	Sophomore	Sophomore	Sophomore	Belle Chasse
Final Record*	37-4	46-6	20-17	33-23	24-17	19-17

*    Louisiana opponents only, not including any types of forfeits, byes or junior varsity events.

Weight Class Synopsis

This weight class looked to be, and was, between two people.  Top-seeded Charles Travasos of Teurlings Catholic, a third-place finisher in 2018, and second-seeded Morgan Manuel of Rayne, who was a defending state champion.  Travasos had defeated each of the four seeds below him.  He defeated #2 Manuel twice (5-3 and 6-2), #3 Gavin Gauthreaux of Belle Chasse in 3:25, #4 Michael Seal of Shaw 9-0 and #5 Jordan Griffin of Live Oak 10-0.  Manuel had defeated only one of the top-six seeds, but that happened to be Travasos 7-1 in the Ken Cole consolation finals.

Travasos  won the Dele Ketelsen Memorial, The Jacob McMillan Memorial and the Trey Culotta Invitational (albeit Travasos won by a forfeit as Brother Martin's Patrick Evans was injured but let us not forget Travasos made it to the finals in a very tough tournament).  He placed second in the Louisiana Classic and third in the Ken Cole and the Lone Survivor.  He had five losses prior to the state championships.  They were from St. Michael's Lance Robinson, who was not competing in this weight class, Hunter Gustin of Sulphur, an 8-7 loss to two-time Division I runner-up Dyllon Bernard of Comeaux.  He also has losses to Parkway's Jacob Chittom and Rayne's Morgan Manuel.  While it did not count that much re Chittom, Travasos had two wins over him.  More importantly, he also had two wins over Manuel.  He also had wins over St. Paul's Division I runner-up Ben Davidsonand Colby Queyrouze of Jesuit.  Travasos scored an 18-1 technical fall in his round-one match and a fall in 2:45 in the quarterfinals.  Fifth-seeded Jordan Griffin met Travasos in the semifinals.  Travasos defeated Griffin 10-0 in a dual meet and this time pinned him in 2:42 to reach the finals.

Manuel suffered only four setbacks in the 2018-19 season.  One was to Patrick Evans of Brother Martin, a two-time defending Division I state champion.  Another was to St. Michael's Lance Robinson, who would follow Manuel in the next match to win his own state championships.  A 2-1 record against Travasos cost Manuel the number-one seed.  The defending state champion from Rayne won the Lone Survivor and the Lafayette Metro.  He placed second at the Jacob McMillan Memorial to Travasos, and third at the Trey Culotta Invitational, the Ken Cole Invitational (over Travasos) and the Louisiana Classic.  He defeated the likes of Hunter Gustin of Sulphur, Colby Queyrouze, Brad Mahoney, defending Division II state champion Richard Mack, III, Haughton's Nate Williams, Brennan Sturm of Comeaux and Riley Horvath of Brother Martin.  To reach the finals Manuel's received a forfeit in round-one, pinned his quarterfinals opponent in 0:45 and defeated 6th-seeded Hayden Wood of Parkway via a fall in 2:59 in the semifinals.

Quarterfinals

(1) Charles Travasos (TC) pinned (8) Tyler Emory (BNT) in 2:45

(5) Jordan Griffin (LO) defeated (4) Michael Seal (SHW) 10-8

(6) Hayden Wood (PKY) pinned (3) Gavin Gautreaux (BC) in 2:45

(2) Morgan Manuel (RAY) pinned (7) Mark Donegan (RUM) in 0:45

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Semifinals

(1) Charles Travasos (TC) pinned (5) Jordan Griffin (LO) in 2:42

(2) Morgan Manuel (RAY) pinned (6) Hayden Wood )PKY) in 2:59

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Championship Consolation Rounds

(5) Jordan Griffin (LO) pinned (4) Michael Seal (SHW) in 3:49 to place 3rd

(6) Hayden Wood (PKY) pinned (3) Gavin Gauthreaux (BC) in 4:00 to place 5th

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Finals

(2) Morgan Manuel of Rayne defeated (1) Charles Travasos of Teurlings Catholic 8-6

Four seconds into the first round Manuel snatched Travasos' left leg and moved behind Travasos to pull Travasos by blocking the back of his right ankle.  Thirty second later Travasos stood-up and faced Manuel, scoring an escape.  Travasos then used an arm-drag to get ahold of Manuel's leg and when a trip did not work, he swung Manuel backwards to put the Rayne wrestler down and score a takedown.  Manuel stood-up twice but could not escape.  On his third try, however, with eight seconds remaining, Manuel's stand-up worked.  At the end of the first period the match was tied 3-3. Travasos won the toss and Manuel chose to start on the bottom.  He stood-up and scored an escape in 10 seconds, taking a 4-3 lead.  After a Manuel shot Travasos was able to hold Manuel's head and one shoulder and push it down, allowing Travasos to pick Manuel's ankle.  Manuel, though, basically did a cheerleader's split to keep his other leg free.  Then, reaching over Travasos' arm and between his legs, attempted to spladle the Teurlings Catholic wrestler.  While pulling Travasos back, though, Travasos kicked his leg out of Manuel's hands, leaving Manuel's with no choice but to turn flat to avoid nearfall points.  Now Travasos had a 5-4 lead.  With 20 seconds remaining Manuel was able to get up to one foot and one knee, and when he freed his left arm, he turned behind Travasos, who by that time had stood-up, but Manuel lifted him off of and the back to the mat for a takedown with 10second remaining.  Manuel had the lead, 6-5, to start the third period. Needing to score only one point to tie Manuel, Travasos started on the bottom, stood-up and pulled free of Manuel after seven seconds.  Having already tied the match again, it appeared whomever scored the next takedown would be the winner.  Travasos came close to scoring when he again shoved Manuel's head and shoulder down and picked Manuel's ankle again.  Manuel, however, landed in a sitting position and reached over Travasos' back to grab a leg, and a stalemate results with 45 seconds remaining.  With only 28 seconds remaining Manuel shot a deep double-leg and when Travasos sat down on it, Manuel switched to just the right leg.  Travasos rolled over his back to try to get on top of Manuel, but Manuel ended up in a sitting position with Travasos' head on the mat, holding onto Manuel with just one arm.  Manuel turned into that arm turning Travasos toward his back.  Instinctively Travasos rolled to his stomach to avoid nearfall points, but there was not enough time remaining for that to happen.  Manuel was awarded the takedown with six seconds remaining.  No doubt it was a long six seconds to Manuel, but when it was over, he was a two-time state champion.

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