Airline sophomore Ernie Perry III and Haughton junior Charlie Yocom are the top seeds in their respective weight classes in the LHSAA Wrestling State Tournament which begins Friday at the Raising Cane’s River Center in Baton Rouge.
Perry is No. 1 in the Division I 113-pound class. Last year, he won the 106-pound class.
Yocom is No. 1 in the Division II 182-pound class. He was fifth in the same class last year.
The state tournament will be the first event in over a month for the state’s wrestlers. The LHSAA brought an end to the regular season in late January after a COVID-19 outbreak was linked to the Louisiana Classic tournament.
The move was meant “to ensure the 2020-21 state wrestling championships will not be affected due to potential COVID exposure and those accompanying rolling quarantines,” according to an LHSAA memo sent to member schools.
Two parish wrestlers, Parkway’s Steven Driggers and Haughton’s Louis Lindsey, earned No. 2 seeds — Driggers in the Division I 182-pound class and Lindsey in the Division II 126-pound class.
Last year, Lindsey finished fifth at 120 pounds.
Parkway’s David Viers is seeded third in the Division I 113-pound Class. He finished third at 106 pounds last year.
Other No. 3 seeds are Benton’s Jackson Peters (Div. II 145-pound class) and Bossier’s Christian Johnson (Div. III 160-pound class).
Other parish wrestlers who are among the top six seeds in their respective classes are Parkway’s Hayden Wood (4th, Div. I 160), Haughton’s Adam Franklin (4th, Div. II 106), Haughton’s Christopher Rodriguez (4th, Div. II 220), Bossier’s Ja’cory Tyler (4th, Div, III 120), Bossier’s Moses Thomas (5th, Div. III 132), Benton’s Aiden Carinio (5th, Div. II 138) and Airline’s Christian James (6th, Div. I 182).
Parkway finished fifth last year in its first year in Division I after winning back-to-back Division II titles.
Haughton and Benton were ninth and 11th, respectively, in Division II. Bossier finished 12th in Division III.
The defending state champions are Brother Martin (Division I), Teurlings Catholic (Division II) and Basile (Division III).
