Division I 160 Lbs.

* Records include all wins but only losses to Louisiana wrestlers. Forfeits and defaults are not counted.

Obviously, as he was seeded second, St. Paul junior Landry Barker had a good season. He was 28-2 and placed third at the Louisiana Classic, instead of making the finals, because some Texas kid beat him 12-7 in the quarterfinals. Earlier in the season, though, he won the South Walton Border Wars, running up a 9-0 record over Florida competition. More on that, later.

East Ascension's Santos Santos was 44-1 prior to the state tournament. He was the LACL champion and Outstanding Wrestler award winner. His loss came from a Florida wrestler in the Trey Culotta semifinals, 8-6.

The LWN usually does not refer to out-of-state losses, but the ones above are relevant.

But was Barker's season really good enough for many people to believe he had a chance to win against the East Ascension senior?

There were signs to that effect. Most of us just did not see them. All we saw was a vast gap between Ramos and anybody else in the 160 lbs. weight class. But why?

There are several reasons. Arguably it is because the LWN paid more attention to Louisiana tournaments than Louisiana dual meets or out-of-state tournaments. More rationally it is because the LWN was at the Trey Culotta and saw Ramos there, and the LWN saw Barker lose to Fontainebleau’s Raymond Favaza at the Battle of New Orleans. Mathematically and metaphysically, keeping in mind that I am four decades removed from my Calculus II course, and longer still from Death be not Proud, it stems from the LACL matches against Rockwall Heath, Texas’ Leif Clinton. Clinton defeated Barker 12-7. That means it took just over 51 seconds for Barker to score each of his points. Ramos pinned Clinton in 45 seconds. So, had Barker advanced to the finals, might not that mean the match would have been over a little more than five seconds before it started? (How's that for metaphysics?)

We should have taken note of three things prior to Saturday evening's Division I 160 lbs. finals match at the River Center:

1) At the LACL, Ramos took 5:14 to pin Hannan’s Grayson Pennison in the semifinals. Barker required only 55 seconds against Pennison in the CSFs,

2) In their first three matches at state Barker pinned his opponents nine seconds faster than Ramos did. The #1 seeds generally have an easier route to the finals than #2 seeds. Ramos had an easier time in the semifinals than Barker did, though. Ramos pinned #5 Michael Price of Catholic in 2:32. Barker was expected to have a harder time with the #3 Favaza, and he did, taking six minutes in a 10-3 win. Yet that seven-point margin was larger than Ramos’ wins over Favaza during the regular season (10-5 and 11-6).

3) This one was harder to see, yet may be the most telling. In the semifinals of the Border Wars, Barker defeated Fleming Island, Florida wrestler Ronan Bozeman 7-0. In January and February, Bozeman defeated Atticus Waters 4-2 SV in their first match and then 11-2 MD. That would be the same Atticus Waters who defeated Ramos 8-6 at the Trey Culotta,

Any imagined gap between Ramos and Barker was just that - imagined. The finals match proved that.

Prior to the LACL, East Ascension senior Santos Ramos was 34-0 (LWN rules are back). He won the Spartan Invitational, was undefeated at the Crusader Duals and won the Zachary Big Horse. He placed third, easily, at the Culotta, after falling 8-6 to an out-of-state wrestler who demolished everyone else. Yet it was a “human” 34-0 record, as it had some close calls against some formidable opposition: 10-5 and 11-6 over Fontainebleau’s Raymond Favaza (D1 3rd), 10-7 over John Paul Travasos of Teurlings Catholic (D2 1st x 2) and 10-8 over Baton Rouge’s Kade Moran (D1 2nd x 2), and that match was at 170 lbs.

At and after the LACL, Ramos just mercilessly pinned everyone, including the Texas kid who defeated Barker 12-7 in the quarterfinals. That match lasted 45 seconds. After the LACL, he pinned his way through the Greater Baton Rouge Championships. During the season Ramos defeated not only Travasos and Grayson Pennison, but #3 Favaza, #4 Landen Carroll of Covington, Catholic’s #5 Michael Price and Samuel Riles of Brother Martin, the #6 seed. At the state championships, prior to the finals, only Price, in the semifinals, made it to the second period. Ramos was the only choice for top-seed billing.

Prior to the LACL, Barker had only participated in two tournaments, the South Walton Border Wars in Florida, which he won, and the Battle of New Orleans, in which he lost to Favaza in the finals. Nobody knew the Florida wrestlers he beat, but Favaza was formidable at any time. That Barker placed third at the LACL did not seem to matter unless one looked at his road in the consolation bracket. He beat Haughton’s Charlie Yocom (D2 2^nd) 7-0, Favaza (D1 3^rd) 6-3, Pennison (D3 1^st) in 0:55 and Carroll in 1:29. Two weeks later he beat Carroll again in the St. Tammany Parish Championships finals. His loss to Favaza and/or placing worse than Ramos at the LACL (well, everyone did) sealed him into the #2 spot.

Favaza lost his first match with Carroll in November but avenged that in December and January, and thus was seeded third to Carroll’s fourth. During the season, Favaza won the Rumble on the River, the Lakeshore Open, the Jacob McMillan (5:00 over Travasos), the Battle of New Orleans, the Titan Invitational and the St. Tammany Parish Championships (at 170 lbs.). He placed second at the Bulldog Brawl (to Carroll) and the Spartan Invitational (to Ramos). He had a second win over Travasos (5-3) and also beat the D3 state champion Pennison at a dual meet.

Carroll got the fourth seed due to a 4-0 win over Price in the LACL. Well, he earned it for other reasons as well. The Covington junior won the Lakeshore Open and the Bulldog Brawl. He placed second at the Trygg Memorial, the Titan Invitational and the St. Tammany Parish Championships, placed third at the Big Horse and fourth at the LACL. He had wins over Favaza, Hannan’s Gavin Gautier (D3 4^th), Price (D1 4^th), North Desoto’s Hunter Hanson (D1 1^st) and Pennison (D3 1^st).

Jesuit freshman Wyatt Mire drew first blood against the top eight seeds with a Round-One 9-0 MD over #8 Landon Wright of Sulphur. In his first state tournament, the 25th-seeded (they do not seed that far, so basically "unseeded") Blue Jay frosh made it to the quarterfinals and was one match away from the medal rounds. He was 3-2, scoring five regular and three bonus points.

The fifth-seeded senior from Catholic never trailed in his quarterfinals match with #4 Carroll, earning some revenge for his 4-0 LACL loss to Carroll.

Barker showed no remorse for Favaza, beating him for the second time after his Battle of New Orleans loss.

Everyone seeded to reach the medal rounds did so, just not in the order they were chosen. That can be blamed on Price’s quarterfinals win over Carroll. Favaza, though, got to end his season with a 3-1 record over Carroll, which for a senior is much better than a 2-2 tie. And Price and Riles had not met before, so if there were questions to be had, well, even though Price prevailed, a 15-13 SV victory is going to leave some unanswered.

After his third-place-winning match, Favaza may have cost some other wrestlers some internet glory by momentarily distracting the editor while photographing from the stands. While I of course regret immensely the 100 or so additional photographs I did not have to process, I would not change the circumstances. What was said in the all too brief conversation was not something I had heard before and is something I shall always remember.

Barker held a 2-0 lead after a hard-earned first period takedown, but it still seemed like only a matter of time before Ramos came back. As Barker chose to start the second period standing, Ramos did just that with a takedown and two nearfall points. Barker was given a penalty point after the nearfall points, and he scored a reversal 14 seconds later to take the lead back 5-4. Ramos’ comeback would have to happen in the final period. Yet it didn’t. He scored an escape, but Barker answered that with another takedown for a 7-5 lead. Ramos escaped again, but Barker answered with another takedown. With 24 seconds remaining, Ramos scored his last escape, but he could not manage a takedown to tie the match. It appeared that Ramos never recovered from the unexpected two-point deficit Barker gave him in the first period. Barker’s win was the biggest upset of the evening so far, but Ramos took his loss as befitting a Spartan wrestler.

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Landry Barker	Santos Ramos	Raymond Favaza	Michael Price	Landen Carroll	Samuel Riles
School	St. Paul	East Ascension	Fontainebleau	Catholic	Covington	Brother Martin
Seed	2	1	3	5	4	6
Class	11	12	12	12	11	11
Final Record*	33-1	46-1	56-6	22-6	42-11	34-10