Brusly’s wrestling tournament has grown into one of the biggest dual meet tournaments in the South.

In its fourth year, the Louisiana National Guard Deep South Bayou Duals will be held for the first time at the Exhibition Hall of the Baton Rouge River Center Friday and Saturday. Admission is free.

Nine states and 44 high school teams will be represented.  There are four six-team pools and four five-team pools. Pool play begins at 9 a.m. Friday and will be completed around 6 p.m. The top two teams from each pool advance to a 16-team bracket beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday. Finals are set for 3:30 p.m.  The top eight teams will be awarded team trophies.

The third-, fourth-, and fifth-place teams advance into eight-team consolation brackets Saturday. The four sixth-place teams will play a round robin.

“This is one of the premier dual meet tournaments in the nation,” said tournament director Barrett Wilson, Brusly’s associate head wrestling coach. “It’s a great chance for Louisiana teams to play against
national-level competition. They love wrestling someone new.”

There are 21 teams from Louisiana entered. Brother Martin and Catholic High, ranked 1-2 in Division I, are the teams to watch along with Jesuit, Rummel, St. Paul’s, Teurlings Catholic and Brusly. Brother Martin, Teurlings and Brusly are the defending LHSAA champions in Division I, II and III, respectively.  “Brother Martin and Catholic are both real disciplined and real technical teams,” Wilson said. “They have hard working kids and great systems.”

Other teams from Louisiana include Airline, Comeaux, Dutchtown, East Ascension, Fontainebleau, St. Amant, Lafayette, Live Oak, Mandeville, Zachary, St. Louis, Sulphur, Catholic, Sam Houston and Baton Rouge High.

Alabama’s Thompson High School is the Deep South Bayou Duals defending champion, but is sending its junior varsity team to this meet. Missouri’s Jefferson City, Brother Martin and Catholic High finished 2-3-4 last year.  Other teams to watch are New York’s Phoenix High, coached by two-time NCAA wrestling champion and 1980 U.S. Olympian Gene Mills, Oklahoma’s MacArthur and Missouri’s Platte County. Florida, Georgia, Tennessee and Texas are the other states represented.

Results will be available at www.trackwrestling.com.

There are 14 weight classes and each dual meet team gets one entry in each class. Different athletes can compete in each weight class as the opponents change. Sixteen mats will be in place and each pool participates on two mats.

Brusly wrestling coach Jimmy Bible said his team is 7-5 in dual meets and is improving. “We’ve been wrestling pretty well,” Bible said. “Our standouts have been juniors Trevor Schermer (132 pounds), a two-time state champion, Baret Sanchez (113) and Wyatt Lejeune (120). Sophomore Koby Mancuso is having a good year. They’re all hard workers.  “This is the midpoint of the season. The level of competition is going to be good for everybody. We’re excited about the meet.”

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