2012-13 Season Award Winners!

Congratulations to all of the Wildcat Wrestlers for an outstanding season. Thank you all for your hard work, your great attitudes, and the fond memories. This is a great start to a new tradition for Louisburg High School wrestling, and I’m proud of you all!

Here are the award winners for the 2012-13 season:

Varsity Letter-winners
Seniors: Curtis Lemke, Austen Scott, Blaise Staver, and Dylan York
Juniors: Ben Powers
Sophomores: Shea Cox, Sean Dennis, Austin Huber, Zach Knox, Cooper Skeem, and Brenton Wrigley
Freshmen: Jacob Bolton, Parker Cates, Bradley Trageser, and Anders Vance

Team Awards
Wrestler of the Year: Curtis Lemke
Wildcat of the Year: Ben Powers
Workhorse Award: Zach Knox
Newcomer of the Year: Sean Dennis
JV Wrestler of the Year: Jacob Mitchell

KWCA Awards
Curtis Lemke – Academic All-State, Honorable Mention
Regional Wrestlers – Team Academic Championship, 1st Team (3.338 GPA)

Miami County Republic Tri-County Spotlight Team
Sean Dennis (152 lbs.) – Honorable Mention

Frontier League Duals

Huber, Dennis, and Wrigley lead Wildcats at League

February 8-9, 2013

The Wildcats came away with two dual victories and three league runners-up at the 2013 Frontier League Duals. The team title came down to Baldwin and Spring Hill facing off. Ending with a tie score, the champion was determined to be Baldwin, who had more pins than Spring Hill. Paola was in 3rd, followed by Ottawa in 4th. Louisburg finished 5th ahead of DeSoto and Eudora.

Sophomores Austin Huber (120 lbs.), Sean Dennis (152 lbs.), and Brenton Wrigley (182 lbs.) each finished the weekend with records of 5-1. Huber had two wins by fall, while Dennis had two wins by fall and one by technical fall. Wrigley won one match by fall and notched a couple of key decisions. Senior Curtis Lemke (145 lbs.) had hoped to improve on his league runner-up finish from last season, but couldn’t overcome opponents from Paola and Spring Hill. Lemke finished in 3rd place. Sophomore Zach Knox (126 lbs.) looked strong this weekend, losing to the eventual champion from Baldwin by a score of 6-9. Knox nearly had him pinned, but he ended up in 4th place.

Freshman Parker Cates (113 lbs.), senior Austen Scott (132 lbs.), and freshman Anders Vance (285 lbs.) all earned key pins for the Wildcats. Vance’s pin came at the end up the DeSoto dual, securing us a team victory. Junior Ben Powers was 1-5 at 138 lbs., and freshman Bradley Trageser was 2-4 at 220 lbs. Sophomores Shea Cox (160 lbs.) and Cooper Skeem (170 lbs.) also represented the Wildcats at the league tournament.

The Frontier League Duals is the first step in the championship series. Next week, the Wildcats travel to Pittsburg for the 4A Regional Tournament. The top four placers in each weight class qualify for the 4A State Tournament in Salina.

Individual Results:
106 lbs. – open
113 lbs. – Parker Cates (fr.) 2-4, 1 fall
120 lbs. – Austin Huber (so.) 5-1, 2 falls, 2nd place
126 lbs. – Zach Knox (so.) 3-3, 1 tech fall, 4th place
132 lbs. – Austen Scott (sr.) 2-4, 1 fall
138 lbs. – Ben Powers (jr.) 1-5
145 lbs. – Curtis Lemke (sr.) 4-2, 1 fall, 3rd place
152 lbs. – Sean Dennis (so.) 5-1, 2 falls, 1 tech fall, 2nd place
160 lbs. – Shea Cox (so.) 0-6
170 lbs. – Cooper Skeem (so.) 0-4
182 lbs. – Brenton Wrigley (so.) 5-1, 1 fall, 2nd place
195 lbs. – open
220 lbs. – Bradley Trageser (fr.) 2-4
285 lbs. – Anders Vance (fr.) 1-5, 1 fall

Dual Results: (2-4 record)
Ottawa 43, LHS 26 (L)
Baldwin 53, LHS 24 (L)
LHS 45, Eudora 33
Spring Hill 63, LHS 9 (L)
LHS 37, DeSoto 36
Paola 63, LHS 18 (L)

Team Placing: 5th out of 7 teams

Next Competition:
4A Regionals @ Pittsburg (February 15-16, 2013)

Wildcats earn Academic All-State Honors

The Louisburg High School wrestling program earned a big honor this season as the regional wrestlers earned 1st Team honors in the 4A Academic All-State team standings.

Each year, the Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association recognizes teams that have excelled in the classroom. These LHS wrestlers, all of whom competed at regionals in mid-February, earned a team GPA of 3.338:

• 113–Parker Cates, freshman
• 120–Austin Huber, sophomore
• 126–Zach Knox, sophomore
• 132–Austen Scott, senior
• 138–Ben Powers, junior
• 145–Curtis Lemke, senior
• 152–Sean Dennis, sophomore
• 160–Shea Cox, sophomore
• 170–Cooper Skeem, sophomore
• 182–Brenton Wrigley, sophomore
• 220–Bradley Trageser, freshman
• 285–Anders Vance, freshman

Our overall team GPA (all wrestlers) was a 3.154.

Also, congrats to senior Curtis Lemke for being named Honorable Mention Academic All-State!

Academics are a huge focus of our coaching staff, and we’re very proud of how serious the team is with their roles as student-athletes.

Click here to see all Kansas 4A Academic All-State honorees.

Wildcats fifth at League

OTTAWA — Youth and inexperience didn’t seem to bother the Louisburg wrestling team much Saturday at the Frontier League Tournament. The Wildcats finished the dual tournament with a 2-4 record and finished fifth, but it was the individual results that stood out the most. Click here to read the rest: “Wildcats fifth at League” (Andy Brown, Louisburg Herald, 2/13/13)

Wildcats set for the 2012-13 Season!

The tradition of winning is returning to the Wildcats wrestling team. The 2012-13 season looks to be a promising one for the Louisburg High School wrestlers under the direction of second-year head coach Bobby Bovaird. Assistant coach Aaron Ziadeh returns for his third season with the Wildcats, and the squad is being joined by first-year assistant Robert Ebenstein.

A year ago, the Wildcats saw history being made with the third state championship of Austin Hood. Hood etched his name in the record books in many categories, and was named the KWCA 4A Senior Wrestler of the Year. Louisburg finished 6^th at 4A Regionals and 20^th at 4A State. Joining A. Hood was younger brother Cullen, who went 1-2 at 120 lbs., and graduate Austin Caskey, a 38-match winner at 145 lbs. Caskey was Louisburg’s lone Frontier League Champion, followed by league runners-up C. Hood (120 lbs.), Curtis Lemke (152 lbs.), and Kyle McLellan (220 lbs.).

Five seniors are returning to the mat this season. Cullen Hood will be looking to earn his first state championship, and Kyle McLellan, a 25-match winner, will also be looking for some hardware at state. Curtis Lemke and Austen Scott will also provide some great leadership, along with Kyle Edwards. Lemke was one match away from qualifying for state last season.

Junior Ben Powers, sophomore Austin Huber, and sophomore Zach Knox will also be shooting for success this season. All three were first-year wrestlers last season, and Huber was one match away from qualifying for state.

This year’s squad is ready to hit the mats this winter. After the ups and downs of last season, the Wildcats are ready for a competitive season, and Coach Bovaird and the LHS coaching staff plan to use that excitement for the upcoming season.

Frontier League Tournament

February 10-11, 2012

Wildcats led by Caskey, finish 6th at League!

Every year, the Frontier League is filled with competitive teams with lots of great talent, and this year was no exception. The Wildcats traveled to Paola High School to compete in the Frontier League Tournament last weekend and faired pretty well against tough teams such as Baldwin, Spring Hill, and DeSoto. Baldwin won the league crown outright, going 6-0 in duals. Spring Hill, Ottawa, and DeSoto were tied with records of 4-2; using the tie-breaker criteria, Ottawa finished 2nd, Spring Hill finished 3rd, and DeSoto finished 4th. Host school Paola was 5th, Louisburg was 6th, and Eudora finished in 7th place.

The Wildcats began the day with a rematch against Ottawa. Last time we wrestled, we were short some key starters, and this time our opens put us in too deep a hole to climb out of. The final score against Ottawa was 45-33. Freshman Austin Huber (113 lbs.) won a key rematch against a kid who’d beaten him earlier this season, and junior Curtis Lemke won a decisive match by fall against a solid wrestler at 152 lbs. In the next round, we took on Paola, another rematch from earlier this season. The score was much closer, 30-24, but again our opens worked against us. Junior Cullen Hood (120 lbs.), senior Austin Caskey (145 lbs.), and junior Curtis Lemke (152 lbs.) each won their matches by fall. The last dual of the night was against Spring Hill, dropping that dual by a score of 48-30. Caskey, Lemke, and junior Kyle McLellan (220 lbs.) all scored pins for the Wildcats.

On Saturday, we had three more tough duals, opening against DeSoto. Freshman Zach Knox, filling in at 126 lbs., was losing 14-2 in the third period and scored a takedown that led to a fall to score some solid points for the Wildcats early on. Later in the dual, we had pins coming from Caskey and McLellan, but the final score was 45-21. Three Wildcats were undefeated going into the Baldwin dual: Hood, Caskey, and McLellan, but only Caskey came out with a win. Hood lost in an ultimate tiebreaker to Tucker Clark and McLellan was pinned by Colton Bonner, the #1 ranked wrestler in 4A. The final score was 57-11. In the last dual of the tournament, the Wildcats faced off against Eudora. We matched up very well against the Cardinals, ending the day with a 43-28 dual victory and securing 6th place in the tournament. Junior Austen Scott (132 lbs.) won by fall and sophomore Ben Powers (138 lbs.) won a 9-3 decision, but one of the highlights of the dual was freshman Shea Cox. Cox, a first-year wrestler, bumped up a weight to fill in at 160 lbs. He lost by a major decision, but he fought the entire match and even scored a takedown on his much bigger opponent.

The Frontier League Tournament marks the beginning of the “Championship Series” for the Wildcats. The next step will be the Kansas Class 4A Regional Tournament at Fort Scott. The top-4 placers in each weight will move on to the Kansas Class 4A State Tournament in Salina. This is the time of year for the boys to be peaking, and it’s looking like several of them have a shot at qualifying for state. Wrestling starts at 2:00pm Friday and 11:00am Saturday at Fort Scott, so come on down to support the Wildcats!

Individual Results:
113 lbs. – Austin Huber (fr.) 4-2, 1 fall, 4th place
120 lbs. – Cullen Hood (jr.) 5-1, 3 falls, 2nd place
126 lbs. – Zach Knox (fr.) 2-4, 2 falls
132 lbs. – Austen Scott (jr.) 1-5, 1 fall
138 lbs. – Ben Powers (so.) 2-4, 1 fall
145 lbs. – Austin Caskey (sr.) 6-0, 4 falls, 1st place
152 lbs. – Curtis Lemke (jr.) 4-2, 3 falls, 2nd place
160 lbs. – Shea Cox (fr.) 0-6
220 lbs. – Kyle McLellan (jr.) 5-1, 4 falls, 2nd place

Dual Results: (overall record of 6-12)
Ottawa 45, LHS 33
Paola 30, LHS 24
Spring Hill 48, LHS 30
DeSoto 45, LHS 21
Baldwin 57, LHS 11
LHS 43, Eudora 28

Team Placing: 6th out of 7 teams

Next Competition: Kansas 4A Regional Tournament at Fort Scott (February 17-18, 2012)

Silver Lake Invitational

February 4, 2012

Caskey and Hood win gold at Silver Lake!

The Wildcats hit the mats Saturday and faced off against some key Kansas Class 4A teams in the Silver Lake Invitational. Four of our wrestlers placed in the top-6 of this 18-team tournament, leading the Wildcats to an overall 9th place finish as a team. St. James Academy captured the team title, followed by Salina South and the Prairie View.

Two seniors captured gold medals this weekend. Austin Hood went 4-0 with 3 falls to take 1st at 126 lbs. In the finals, Hood defeated Baldwin’s Bryce Shoemaker, a 2010 state champion, for the third time this season, by a score of 6-2. Austin Caskey entered the tournament as the #6 seed, but in a key quarterfinals match-up, he upset the #3 seed who had pinned him just a week earlier. In the semi-finals, his Osawatomie opponent had to injury default, putting him in the finals. Oddly enough, Caskey’s finals opponent was also forced to injury default, giving him the gold medal, his first of the season.

Junior Cullen Hood (120 lbs.) had a great showing in his first tournament back after being injured in early January. In the semi-finals, Cullen dropped a 1-0 decision to the eventual champion, but bounced back with a pair of dominating wins to take 3rd. Junior Curtis Lemke is also coming on strong at the end of the season, taking 5th place at 152 lbs. Lemke wrestled a state-ranked opponent from Class 5A to a 7-4 decision, but had a good run through the backside of the bracket. Junior Austen Scott (132 lbs.) had some great matches but came up short this weekend, going 1-2. Also competing for the Wildcats were freshmen Austin Huber (113 lbs.) and Shea Cox (bumping up to fill in at 160 lbs.). Both Huber and Cox went 0-2.

The “Championship Series” begins next week as the Wildcats travel to Paola High School for the Frontier League Tournament. The seven league schools will compete in a dual format, going head-to-head with each school. League champions, both team and individual, will be determined by overall head-to-head record.

Individual Results:
113 lbs. – Austin Huber (fr.) 0-2
120 lbs. – Cullen Hood (jr.) 2-1, 1 fall, 3rd place
126 lbs. – Austin Hood (sr.) 4-0, 3 falls, 1st place
132 lbs. – Austen Scott (jr.) 1-2
145 lbs. – Austin Caskey (sr.) 3-0. 1st place
152 lbs. – Curtis Lemke (jr.) 3-2, 1 fall, 5th place
160 lbs. – Shea Cox (fr.) 0-2

Team Placing: 9th out of 18 teams

Next Competition: Frontier League Duals (February 10-11, 2012)