The LHSAA Wrestling State Tournament returns to the Brookshire Grocery Arena Friday and Saturday.
Three wrestlers from parish schools won titles last year, but only one returns.
Benton sophomore Audrina Wade won the girls division 132-pound weight class. She has had another stellar season with a record of 27-3. Two of those losses were to out-of-state opponents.
Wade is the No. 2 seed in the 126-pound class. Lafayette senior Quetzicalli Guervara-Tapia is No. 1. According to TrackWrestling.com, Guervara-Tapia is 34-0.
Wade and Guevara-Tapia met in the 126-pound finals in the Louisiana Classic with Guervara-Tapia taking an 8-3 victory.
Benton has several other contenders in the girls division.
Junior Keira Liesch was the runner-up in the 138-pound class last year. She is the No. 7 seed in the class this year.
Junior Caylee Brammer finished third in the 120-pound class last year. She is the No. 2 seed.
Senior Valkyrie Ibarra was fifth in the 235-pound class. She is the No. 7 seed.
Senior Emma Luther was ranked fourth in the 138-pound class in December. The rankings were regardless of class.
Sophomore Avery Teutsch is the No. 5 seed in the 145-pound class.
Haughton sophomore Destiny Lollar was fifth in the 152-pound class last year. She is the No. 7 seed.
Some newcomers will be looking to make deep bracket runs.
Haughton freshman Darbi Karnowski is the
Parkway freshman Ashlyn Coffey is the No. 6 seed in the 100-pound class.
Benton finished fifth in last year’s girls tournament, which was the first for girls wrestling as an LHSAA-sanctioned sport.
Benton junior Cayden Brammer and Airline junior Bruce Bletz are the highest seeds from parish schools in Division I boys.
Brammer is No. 4 in the 157-pound class last year. Bletz is No. 4 in the 150-pound class.
Airline junior Jackson Larkins is No. 6 in the 126-pound class.
Other parish wrestlers seeded in the top 10 are Parkway junior (7th, 126), Bossier junior Joshua Lugo (7th, Division II 285) and Haughton junior Will Haughton (9th, 132).
Benton was the top finisher among parish teams in Division I last year at No. 13.
The defending champions are New Orleans Jesuit (Division I), Lafayette Teurlings Catholic (Division II), Basile (Division III) and Baton Rouge (girls).
The tournament begins Friday morning at 9 with Session I.
Session II which includes the boys and girls semifinals starts at 10 a.m. Saturday. The Session III finals matches start at 5 after the building is cleared.