Four (Or More) Time State Champions in College = Louisiana

 I tell you every time I ever do any research involving wrestling in the state of Louisiana, I am always pleasantly surprised at what I find. When researching dropped collegiate wrestling programs, I had known for years that Louisiana State had a program. I was shocked to find out that Louisiana-Lafayette as well as Louisiana Monroe also had programs. Then earlier this year I discover the Northwestern State even had a varsity program at one time.  As have been a few of the other states, information wasn't as easy to come by as I was hoping it would be for Louisiana four (or more) time state champions. I had to do some digging. Within that digging, I may have missed a thing or two.  Feel free to let me know if you see something that should be here that isn't. Out of what I did find, I hope you find interesting. We hear so little regarding wrestling in Louisiana & it's a shame because it has a much richer history than you'd guess. 


*NOTE - I've already ran into this a little bit as I've posted other Four (Or More) Time State Champions in College. It has been brought to my attention that not every four (or more) time state champion wins all of their titles in the same state. That is certainly true. It's very true for the Frost brothers Jacob & Evan who won three Louisiana High School State titles before coming up to Iowa & winning title #4 for West Des Moines Dowling Catholic.  I'm going to see what I can come up with, but for cases like these what I may end up doing is a Four (Or More) Time State Champions in College = Various States post.  For the record the Frost brothers will be competing at Iowa State this upcoming season. 

Jack Hecker 

Believe it or not but high school wrestling in Louisiana dates back all the way to the 1943-1944 season & they had their first state tournament in 1945. Jack Hecker a freshman from Holy Cross won his first of what would be four state titles.  Per college he decided to go the football route instead of wrestling. Playing two seasons for Pearl River Junior College, Hecker finished up at Southwest Louisiana. 

August Vegas 

Representing Holy Cross, August Vegas won Louisiana High School State titles from 63'-66'.  To my knowledge he did not wrestle in college. 

Nick Michael 

Winning four Louisiana High School State titles for Holy Cross from 09'-12', Nick Michael wrestled collegiately for Wartburg.  He was an NCAA Division III runner-up his senior season of 2016. 

Paul Klein 

Wrestling for Brother Martin, Paul Klein won four Louisiana High School State titles from 12'-15'.  Collegiately he wrestled for a short amount of time for Arizona State. 

Steve Shields 

Another representative of Brother Martin, Steve Shields won four Louisiana State High School championships from 14'-17'.  Collegiately he competed for The United State Merchant Marine. 

Jimmy Vidrine 

Winning Louisiana High School State titles from 60'-64', to my knowledge Basile's Jimmy Vidrine is the only five time champion in the history of Louisiana High School Wrestling. He did not wrestle in college. 

Carmen Cortez 

Winning his first Louisiana High School State title in 1994, Carmen Cortez would win three others from 97'-98' for Basile. Per what I could find I don't believe he wrestled in college. 

Tim LeBlanc

Tim LeBlanc won his four Louisiana High School State titles from 79'-82' for Brusly. I don't believe that he wrestled in college. 

Micah Easley

Winning four titles for Zachary from 01'-04'. from what I have found Micah Easley did not wrestle in college. 

Trevor Schermer

Alongside brother Austin, Trevor Schermer won four Louisiana High School State titles from 11'-14' for Brusly.  He wrestled collegiately for Iowa Lakes where he was an NJCAA qualifier. 

Austin Schermer 

Like brother Trevor, Austin Schermer's four Louisiana High School State titles were won from 11'-14' for Brusly. He too wrestled collegiately for Iowa Lakes. 

Austin Franklin 

Austin Franklin won four Louisiana High School State titles for Brusly from 14'-17'.  To my knowledge he did not wrestle in college. 

Brock Bonin 

Representing Teurlings Catholic, Brock Bonin won four Louisiana High School State titles from 13'-16'.  To my knowledge he did not wrestle in college. 

Cade Felps 

Representing Zachary, Cade Felps won four Louisiana State High School titles from 03'-06'. I don't believe that he wrestled in college. 

Chad Buras 

No your eyes are not deceiving you.  Chad Buras of Buras (I had to triple check this to make sure) won four Louisiana High School State titles for Buras from 87'-90'.  To my knowledge he did not wrestle in college. 

Brad Macha 

Brad Macha won four Louisiana High School State titles for Redemptorist from 92'-95'.  To my knowledge he did not wrestle in college. 

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As for current times? 

I know Alex Youkabitis of St Louis is at Oklahoma State 

Gavin Christ of Basile spent some time at Campbell and is now at Life 

Alex Menier of Basile & Glen Price of Archbishop Shaw? Not sure

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Now I don't know if the information I have above is 100% correct or not. Perhaps those among the "did not wrestle in college" crowd, did in fact wrestle in college & I wasn't able to find any information on it. However if accurate, six seems like way to high of a number.  It makes sense though. At any given time Louisiana has never had much for collegiate wrestling opportunities to begin with.  To my knowledge when Louisiana State dropped after the 84'-85' season, it was the last time there was varsity collegiate wrestling in the state. I don't know if Louisiana makes a strong case for why it should have NCAA Division I wrestling, but even just looking at their four (or more) time state champions, I think there is plenty to work with when arguing that the state should at least be represented at some level. Among the 12 DI schools Louisiana also has 1 DIII school, 7 NAIA schools & 6 NJCAA schools. It might be pulling teeth to get wrestling at the DIII school, but I'd like to think within time we could see it at the NAIA level.