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	Daniel Olivier	Brandt Babineaux	Kade Miller	Caleb Andrews	Cameron Gandolfi	Lincoln Palmer
School	North Desoto	Teurlings Catholic	Lakeshore	Belle Chasse	Rummel	North Vermillion
Seed	1	2	5	4	3	6
Class	11	9	12	11	10	12
Final Record*	32-1	26-10	29-19	38-11	35-17	20-16

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

I had never heard of North Desoto’s Daniel Olivier until the Louisiana Classic.  Quite possibly that is because it took over a year for the archivist of the LHSWA website to learn to read, and then change “North Vermillion” to “North Desoto” on the 2021 state championships page.  I finally convinced “His Arrogance” to change it.  As a seventh seed Olivier placed sixth in the 2021 state championships.  The LWN did not know he was one to keep track of until the Louisiana Classic, in which, though not seeded, he placed third.  Olivier (and everyone else) lost to Brother Martin's Mason Elsensohn (D1 1st), yet defeated Tyler Villareal (D2 3rd), Jon Michael Cuba of Catholic (D1 2nd-seed), Collin Veron of De la Salle (D3 1st) and Rummel's Carter Burgess (D2 1st). "Who are you?" was what many of his LACL competitors may have thought.

Seeding Synopsis

North Desoto's Daniel Olivier was 16-0 with wins at the Little Rock Central Classic, the David Beeson Memorial and the Big Cat Brawl.  He also had two wins over Parkway’s Christopher Bacot, but nobody knew then that Bacot would be a threat in Division I (seeded 4^th and placed 3^rd).  Olivier made his presence known at the LACL and then won the North Louisiana Regionals.  Even moving up to 138 lbs. Olivier was the only option for the #1 seed spot.

Freshman Brandt Babineaux of Teurlings Catholic would have been seeded first were Olivier not in the weight class.  After a loss in his first match, he won the Griffin Open and the Trygg Memorial.  He was the runner-up at the Jacob McMillan and then won eight straight matches heading into the LACL.  Acadiana senior Luke Lafleur was back on the mats by then, and he upset the sixth-seeded Babineaux in the first round.  The freshman won his next four matches and just missed the medals matches.  That was not the case at the Ken Cole, though, where Babineaux placed second to Basile’s Luc Johnson.  He also placed second in the Lafayette Metro, again to Lafleur.  Overall, though, he had a freshman season most people would love to have.

Rummel sophomore Cameron Gandolfi was seeded third.  He placed second at the Rummel 8, the Trygg Memorial (losing to Babineaux) and the District 9-5A Championships.  He was fourth at the Ken Cole and sixth at the Gulf Coast Clash.  He defeated Babineaux once in their three meetings, in a dual meet a week before the Trygg.  Belle Chasse’s 2021 runner-up Caleb Andrews was the fourth seed.  The junior had a surprisingly good season after losing his first match to Burgess.  He won the Lakeshore Open, placed second at the Rumble on the River and third at the Trygg Memorial.

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Quarterfinals

Aside from the presence of NOMMA’s Mekhi Keith, who won a 7-5 UTB match over 7^th-seeded Kyren Pierce of McKinley, there were no surprises in the quarterfinals.

(1) Daniel Olivier (ND) pinned (8) Jace Honeycutt (CAD) in 4:59

(4) Caleb Andrews (BC) pinned (5) Kade Miller (LKS) 5:37

(3) Cameron Gandolfi (RUM) pinned (6) Lincoln Palmer (NV) in 4:49

(2) Brandt Babineaux (TC) pinned Mekhi Keith (NOMMA) in 2:52

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Semifinals

Olivier had little problem getting past Andrews in their semifinal match, and Babineaux won his third of four matches during the season against Gandolfi.

(1) Daniel Olivier (ND) defeated (4) Caleb Andrews (BC) 13-3 MD

(2) Brandt Babineaux (TC) defeated (3) Cameron Gandolfi (RUM) 9-3

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Consolation Rounds

C1: Keegan Ardoin (RAY) defeated James Lindsey (HAU) 9-4

Championship Consolation Rounds

Andrews beat fifth-seeded Kade Miller of Lakeshore in the quarterfinals in 5:37.  The senior Miller took care of the freshman Ardoin in 0:35 and Pierce, who may have still been recovering from his 7-5 UTB Round One match with Mekhi Keith of NOMMA, in 0:26.  Miller was not expected to get past #3 Gandolfi, particularly in only 2:27.  He also was not expected to get past Andrews, but he did via a 10-5 score to place third.

Gandolfi had an unexpectedly hard time against North Vermillion senior Lincoln Palmer.  The senior evidently knew it was his last high school match and scored seven points in the third period to Gandolfi’s three.  But Gandolfi maintained a one point, 10-9 lead, as time expired.

(5) Kade Miller (LKS) defeated (4) Caleb Andrews (BC) 10-5 to place 3rd

(3) Cameron Gandolfi (RUM) defeated (6) Lincoln Palmer (NV) 10-9 to place 5th

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Finals

Olivier’s closest match of the season was his 10-8 win over Cuba in the Louisiana Classic.  Babineaux took him a step further.  A reversal by Olivier to start the third period proved to be the difference.  Olivier held a 2-1 lead after the first period.  Babineaux tied it up at 5-5 in the second two minutes, scoring two escapes and a takedown to Olivier’s takedown and one escape.  In the third period, Olivier scored the only reversal of the match and was warned for stalling, but Babineaux could only manage an escape, and that came with three seconds remaining and no time to score again.  In the last four events in which he placed, Babineaux placed second.  Recall though, he is a freshman.  Do not expect that to be the case as a sophomore.  As for Olivier, if he can get enough quality mat time as a senior, he may be unstoppable next season.  Then, again, 7-6?  Do not take Babineaux lightly.

(1) Daniel Olivier (ND) defeated (2) Brandt Babineaux (TC) 7-6

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