2022 LHSAA State Wrestling Championships February 11th-12th 2022 Raising Cane's River Center Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Ashton Sonnier	Gaven Guidry	Stephen Kimball	Kobe Nguyen	Thailyr Mixon	Kolin Giles
School	Teurlings Catholic	Rayne	Rummel	Shaw	Broadmoor	Benton
Seed	1	3	2	5	NS	6
Class	12	12	11	11	12	10
Final Record*	26-2	30-7	37-13	16-16	8-12	8-14

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

Ashton Sonnier was probably invited to the “Big Kids Table” on holidays after winning the 2021 Division II 106 lbs. state championship.  Brothers Andre Viator (2009), Kynan (2016) and Colten (2018) each won a championship for Teurlings Catholic.  Having now won his second, the youngest Sonnier may be the one to invite whom he pleases to HIS table, now.

It was the second Rebel championship of the evening, and there were nine other finalists waiting in the wings.

Seeding Synopsis

Sonnier had an outstanding season.  The only blemishes on it were three losses to Brother Martin freshman Richie Clementi.  Clementi, however, would mar 38 matches for his opponents during the season.  Sonnier gave the Crusader his three toughest matches, though: 3-0, 4-2 and 7-0.  The closest another Louisiana wrestler came to Clementi was 11-0.  Clementi won in a dual meet, in the Black Horse finals and the Louisiana Classic finals.  The closest Sonnier came to losing a match to someone else was versus defending 2021 Division I champion and Outstanding Wrestler award winner Landon Reaux of Southside.  That was a 6-2 match.  Sonnier won the Griffin Open, the Jacob McMillan and the Ken Cole.  Aside from Reaux he defeated Dutchtown’s Cole Mire (D1 2^nd), Luke Caballero of St. Louis (D3 2^nd), Jesuit’s John Michael Bourgeois (D1 2^nd seed), Kael Reaux of Southside (D1 4^th), Rummel’s Stephen Kimball (D2 3^rd) and Parkway’s Christopher Strong.

Rummel junior Stephen Kimball was seeded second as he had two losses to Sonnier and a 10-7 win over Rayne’s Gaven Guidry in the Ken Cole semifinals.  Kimball placed fifth at the Gulf Coast Clash, fourth at the District 9-5A Championship, second at the Raider 8, the Battle of New Orleans and the Ken Cole, and he won the Trygg Memorial.

Senior Gaven Guidry of Rayne was seeded third.  Guidry won the Rayne Invitational and the Lafayette Metro, placed second at the Lone Survivor, third at the Jacob McMillan and fourth at the Ken Cole.  Caddo Magnate sophomore Lam Jaden was seeded fourth.  Jam had nine wins versus six losses.

Back to Top

Quarterfinals

Shaw’s #5 Kobe Nguyen win over the #4 from Caddo Magnate, Jaden Lam, was not surprising.  Nguyen faced much stronger opposition in his 13-14 season than Jam did in his 8-6 one.  Nguyen competed in the LACL, the Ken Cole and the District 9-5A events whereas Jam never left north Louisiana until the state championships.

(1) Ashton Sonnier (TC) pinned (8) William Bouillion (NV) in 1:12

(5) Kobe Nguyen (SHW) pinned (4) Jaden Lam (CAD) in 2:29

(3) Gaven Guidry (RAY) pinned (6) Kolin Giles (BNT) in 1:17

(2) Stephen Kimball (RUM) pinned (7) Natalie Davis (HAU) in 0:40 (I told Natalie's mother I had a photo showing her being very limber.  The photo with Kimball is probably not what she expected, so I promised her mother I would post a couple of better ones.  One is from STATE and one from the Adidas Nationals, at which she was the Girls 9-12 133.7 lbs. champion.)

Back to Top

Semifinals

Guidry’s 10-7 loss to Kimball at the Ken Cole didn’t “take,” and he avenged it with relish in a 40-second fall over Kimball to make the finals.  Sonnier, as expected, had little trouble with the fifth-seeded Nguyen, racking up a 13-0 lead prior to scoring a fall.

(1) Ashton Sonnier (TC) pinned (5) Kobe Nguyen (SHW) in 3:44

(3) Gaven Guidry (RAY) defeated (2) Stephen Kimball (RUM) in 0:40

Back to Top

Consolation Rounds

CSF: (5) Kobe Nguyen (SHW) pinned (6) Kolin Giles (BNT) in 0:44

CSF: (2) Stephen Kimball (RUM) pinned Thalyr Mixon (BRD) in 4:14

Back to Top

Championship Consolation Rounds

Kimball defeated Nguyen 8-3 in the District 9-5A consolation semifinals and this match was not much closer, despite the score.  Kimball scored on a takedown and a reversal while Nguyen, down 4-0, only scored his points because Kimball was penalized for stalling.  The two juniors were at 106 lbs. and 113 lbs. in the 2020-21 season, and Kimball won their only match by a mere two points.  Expect these two to meet again next season.

Broadmoor senior Thailyr Mixon deserves noting.  This was his first (and last) high school season on a wrestling mat.  He was “welcomed” to the sport by Lathan Hirschey (D1 3^rd for Live Oak) and Aiden Krass (D1 5^th for East Ascension).  Those two matches were on December 11^th.  A week later he won a tight 8-6 match at the Jacob McMillan for his first victory.  Mixon was rewarded shortly thereafter by a match with Southside’s Landon Reaux (2021 D1 1^st and OW), thank you very much.  He won a match at the LACL and two at the GBRs before the state championships.  His 5-10 record earned him a round-one match with Rummel’s second-seeded Stephen Kimball.  That match did not work to his satisfaction, and after Kimball was upset in the semifinals, Mixon wasted little time, winning matches in 25 and 19 seconds, to get another shot at the Raider.  That did not work to his liking either, so he took that frustration out on Benton’s sixth-seeded freshman Kolin Giles via a fall in 3:58 to win fifth-place.  Giles gets a lot of credit also.  After falling to eventual finalist Gaven Guidry of Rayne in the quarterfinals, he won a gut-wrenching 16-15 match over Lakeshore’s Luke Latino via a takedown with six seconds remaining.  He then beat a girl 6-1.  Not just any girl, though – it was the Natalie Davis mentioned above.  He earned every bit of his 6^th-place medal.

(2) Stephen Kimball (RUM) defeated (5) Kobe Nguyen (SHW) 4-2 to place 3rd

Thailyr Mixon (BRD) pinned (6) Kolin Giles (BNT) in 3:58 to place 5th

Back to Top

Finals

Sonnier was unstoppable in the finals.  He took a 4-0 lead after the first period, scored seven more unanswered points in the second.  After starting on their feet in the third, Sonnier scored a takedown in 50 seconds and just rode Guidry the rest of the way for a 13-0 major decision.

(1) Ashton Sonnier (Teurlings Catholic) defeated (3) Gaven Guidry (Rayne) 13-0 MD

Back to Top