St. Paul’s wrestling team scored big at the District/Parish Dual Meet held the weekend of Jan. 7, 2016, at Lakeshore High School in Slidell. With scores towering over their competitors, SPS easily snagged the title of best team in not only their district, but also the entire parish, making this their ninth district title and 19th parish title.

The competition consisted of a multitude of teams from all over St. Tammany Parish, including Covington High School, Fontainebleau High School, Mandeville High School, Pearl River High School, Lakeshore High School, and Archbishop Hannan High School. The tournament featured three rounds followed by two championship rounds for the district and parish titles. SPS was declared champion of both titles with the best overall record, followed by Fountainebleau in second, and then Hannan in third.

“I think we are showing definite improvement. We have won this tournament as a team, so I think that’s a great accomplishment,” Coach Craig Ketelson said. “I think that’s going to spur us on to better performances.”

Winning this event was not new for SPS though, as this was their eighth consecutive parish win. The Wolves started the tournament with a 67-9 win over Mandeville, then a 54-17 victory over Fontainebleau, and a 72-9 win over Covington. In dual meets, teams score points through various types of wins. A pin awards the team six points, and a major decision (a win by 8-14 points) awards the team four points. A minor decision (a win by 1-7 points) awards the team three points, and a technical fall (a win by 15 points) awards the team five points. SPS finished 3-0 heading into the Championship round.

This was the first official victory of this year’s SPS team in a tournament. This year, the team is very young with only one senior and some of the varsity spots filled by freshmen and sophomores.

“We have a very young team this year, but we have a talented lightweight division,” Coach Craig Ketelson said. “Our younger heavyweights struggle a little bit facing older competitors.”

Following the District/Parish duals, the Wrestling Wolves went on to placed 5th at the Louisiana Classic held in Baton Rouge at Baton Rouge Community College on Jan. 13 and 14.

Next, the Wolves look forward to the Dale Ketelson Memorial Tournament to be held at St. Paul’s on Saturday, Jan. 28. But, the team’s biggest concern is to prepare for the state tournament to be held at the Century Link Center in Bossier City in February.