2023 State Tournament

The 2022-2023 Season came to a close on Saturday. 8 Knights made their way to Omaha for the NSAA State Championships, including 2 girls in the first season of LSE Girls Wrestling! 

Senior, Katelyn Rutledge ended her career going 1-2 at the State Tournament. In round 1 she wrestled the eventual 4th place finisher, falling 10-5. She came back on the back side pinning North Platte, before falling to the Yutan Freshman who ended in 5th Place. Freshman Raye Aldag went 0-2 losing in the first round to state finalist Emma Stice of Papillion, before falling out of the bracket losing to the Louisville Girls Wrestler 4-1. This season was Historic for LSE Wrestling as the inaugural season of LPS Girls Wrestling. We qualified two qualifiers, winning a match at the state tournament, we went 3-2 in duals and came in second in multiple Team Tournaments, including the first ever LPS Girls Wrestling Classic. 

On the boys side, we finished with 6 qualifiers, and brought home a silver and bronze medal. Seniors Alex Hicken and Rafael Lima Martinez both lost of their matches capping off a great career for the seniors. Joseph Schaffer also lost both of his matches to eventual champion and medalists. The Sophomore had a great learning experience and is eager to get back next year and bring home a medal. Junior Stephen Sullivan-Diaz went 2-2 on the weekend, losing to eventual champion from Omaha North and eventual 4th place finisher from Lincoln East. His two wins were complete upsets as he had lost to each of them 3 times this season. Stephen finished 1 win away from medaling and will be back next year!

Junior, Cooper Johnson came back with revenge on his mind as he went 1-2 last year at the state tournament. Johnson won his first round match by FALL, then beat Millard South 8-2 to make the semi finals and earning his first State Medal. In the Semi Finals Cooper wrestled Pittman from Grand Island who we have seen 3 times this season, with us losing the first two matches but winning the 3rd In the 4th bout between the heavyweights, Johnson was able to get the fall in the 3rd period to move onto the State Finals and face returning state champion, and undefeated in high school, Tyson Terry. Cooper fell in the finals to finish the weekend with a bronze medal.

Senior, Caleb Durr, capped off a fantastic career this weekend by coming home with a Bronze Medal. Durr won by FALL in round 1, before winning in the quarter finals 5-0 to secure his second State Medal. In the semi finals he faced 2x state champion and World Champion, Joel Adams from Millard South. Durr fought hard, but fell to the consolation bracket to fight back for 3rd. His consolation semi finals match was a win by Fall, before facing Swarm from Kearney for the 3rd time this season. The first two matches went in Durr's favor, but it was close 8-7 and 2-1. This time the Knight wrestler was able to control the entire match by giving up just 1 point in the last 10 seconds of the match to win 3-1 and earn a Bronze Medal. 

Durr's Career was capped off with climbing the record boards as well. With his 38 wins this season, he tied for 9th for most wins in the season. He also climbed the Career win board all the way to second place with 131 wins, passing former teammate Max McClatchey (129) in the consolation semi finals. His 26 pins but him tied for 6th with most pins in a season, as well as climbed him to 3rd place with most pins in a career with 77. Durr had a great career as a Knight and finished it off with 2 State Medals and 4 State appearances.