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Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	Zachary Lauland	Gavin Gautier	Jace Jordan	Chris Miller	Brevan Fields	Daniel Thomas
School	De la Salle	Hannan	Thomas Jefferson	Brusly	Basile	St. Louis
Seed	1	2	5	NS	4	NS
Class	12	11	12	10	11	10
Final Record	14-4	11-6	7-4	7-5	15-6	5-10

Final records include Louisiana losses but all wins

Weight Class Synopsis

It is a safe bet that 2018 was the only year in which an eighth-grader was seeded first at the Louisiana Classic.  That honor went to Jacob Frost, who at the time was 20-1 yet undefeated against Louisiana competition.  Brother Martin's Connor Stafford put an end to that later, but Frost was still not deemed an "ordinary" wrestler, even then.  Yet one other Louisiana wrestler would get a win over Frost.  And this year he would also give the De la Salle Cavaliers their first individual championship since 2017.

In 2018 a buzz was heard in the Lamar-Dixon EXPO Center just after the second-round started.  Frost had lost.  He had been pinned in the first period by some kid from De la Salle, a freshman named Zachary Lauland.  Lauland was 11-16 going into the tournament.  He placed fourth at the Trygg Memorial and third at the Brusly Invitational, but when faced with a lot of Division I caliber competition, Lauland managed only 16th of 18 wrestlers at the Trey Culotta.  He did beat some quality opponents, however, including Belle Chasse's Nicholas McClendon, St. Amant's Ty Didier, Kataurio Grigsby of Lakeside and Church Point's Timothy Routon.  But he did not have the wrestling resume to beat Jacob Frost.  (Actually, Frost pinned himself on a tilt maneuver, but a win is a win, particularly if one’s opponent’s name is Frost.)  Surely the quarterfinals would put the Cavalier upstart in his place, particularly against St. Louis senior Cameron Witherwax, a wrestling veteran who had previously pinned Lauland in 2:00.  Think again.  Lauland pinned Witherwax in 2:53.  The run ended against fellow senior Carter Duet of St. Paul in the semifinals, but Lauland made both Frost and Witherwax wrestle more than they expected at the event.  He was a bit dinged-up after the Duet match and did not compete in the consolation semifinals, but he did place sixth just for making the semifinals.

In the following three Division III state championships he placed third, second and third again.  But suffice to say, his three Division III state championship losses came from no slouches.  They were to a two-time state champion (Brusly's Calep Balcuns) and to two four-time state champions (Alex Menier of Basile and Alex Yokubaitis of St. Louis). 

This season Lauland entered the state championships as the top-seed with an 11-4 record.  His losses were to eventual Division I third-place winner Jamarius Koshko of East Ascension (twice), eventual two-time Division II state champions Jacob Ramirez of Rummel and to Jordan Griffin of Division I's Live Oak.  He had eight wins over Division I opponents, three over ones from Division II and three over Division III foes.  He placed fourth at the Trey Culotta Invitational and won the Brusly Invitational.

Aside from Lauland, who dispatched this weight class with average pin times of 46 seconds in his three matches, Thomas Jefferson senior Jace Thomas might be the proudest for his efforts.  As the fifth seed and following a brutal 1:11 fall to fourth seed Brevan Fields of Basile, Jordan used two major decisions and a fall to place third. 

Kudos go to Brusly sophomore Chris Miller who defied the seeding committee all the way to the consolation finals and a fourth-place finish.  Miller defeated Fields 2-1 in the consolation finals before losing to the senior Jordan.   Miller previously advanced over Gerrett Davis of Dunham who called his own injury default in the second period.

Fields did win the match for fifth place with a 2:51 fall over Daniel Thomas of St. Louis.  Thomas gave second seed Preston Gautier fits in a 1-0 semifinals loss.

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Quarterfinals

(1) Zachary Lauland (DLS) pinned David Routon (CP) in 0:31

(4) Brevan Fields (BAS) pinned (5) Jace Jordan (TJ) in 1:11

Daniel Thomas (StL) defeated (3) Gerrett Davis (DUN) 7-4

(2) Gavin Gautier (HAN) defeated Chris Miller (BRU) 14-6 MD

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Semifinals

(1) Zachary Lauland (DLS) pinned (4) Brevan Fields (BAS) in 0:19

(2) Gavin Gautier (HAN) defeated Daniel Thomas (StL) 1-0

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Championship Consolation Rounds

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Finals

De la Salle's top-seeded Zachary Lauland pinned second-seeded Preston Gautier of Hannan in 1:28   Lauland ankle-picked Gautier in the first five seconds to take a 2-0 lead.  He then used an arm-bar chicken-wing to turn Gautier to his back and score a fall in 1:28.

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