Wrestling still way up yonder

Clarion Herald Sports

So, tell me again why the parents and schoolmates of New Orleans area high school wrestlers had to drive 349 miles for 5 hours, 26 minutes, to Bossier in order to watch their athletes perform in the state wrestling championship tournament?

For the last half decade, Bossier’s Century Link Center has hosted the Louisiana High School Athletic Association’s biggest show on mats in a remote part of the state where wrestling is as synonymous to that region as is surfing on Lake Pontchartrain (on a windy day).

For the record, Brother Martin won its seventh Division I team title in the last eight years after a struggle with Catholic League rival Holy Cross, the first-day leader. 

The difference in winning the Brother Melchior trophy and taking home the runner-up hardware was 331.5 points for the champion Crusaders to 306.5 for the Tigers.

Eight other teams among the top 10 finishers are also located along the I-10 corridor. 

The highest-ranked team from the thriving metropolis of North Louisiana was Byrd High of Shreveport, which finished in 11th place behind Jesuit, Catholic of Baton Rouge, St. Paul’s, St. Amant, East Ascension, Comeaux, Zachary and Fontainebleau.

The other Bossier-area school to score was 15th place Airline.

Time to bring it back

The state grappling meet moved to the remote northwest because the event outgrew its home at Kenner’s Pontchartrain Center. Seriously, the facility could no longer safely accommodate the throngs of hard-core high school wrestling enthusiasts from the area as well Baton Rouge, Lafayette and all points west.

Apparently, no other arena management  along I-10 wanted to bid on the event, even though it had drawn record crowds when Kenner was the host city.

The City of Bossier and its Century Link Center stepped in to fill the void.  The sport has slowly grown in that part of the state. Hometown Parkway High won its second consecutive Division II championship and ended a five-year run by Teurlings Catholic as state champions. The two had tied for the title a year ago.

All 13 individual weight class champions in Division I were from the south. 

But that was not the case in Division II, where only one wrestler from these parts, Archbishop Shaw’s Glenn Price (106 pounds), won an individual championship.

The only local teams in Division III were Archbishop Hannan, which placed fourth, No. 7 De La Salle, No. 12 John Curtis and three other schools.

I don’t see a reason that the state wrestling tournament cannot be held at three locations to accommodate all the schools that field teams.

The Pontchartrain Center would easily accommodate the Division I crowds. Division II could stay in Bossier and Division III somewhere in Central Louisiana. Makes sense to me.

Ron Brocato can be reached at rbrocato@clarionherald.org.