Seneca wrestler Brant Laughlin and Carthage wrestler Irish Lee have been named the Zimmer Marketing’s Athletes of the Week for the week ending March 1 brought to by JL Mobile Truck and Trailer Repair.
Laughlin completed his historical season at the Class 2 State Wrestling Meet. Laughlin went into the tournament with an unblemished record and walked out just the same. He closed by winning the Class 2 state title at 138 pounds with a win over Odessa’s Kamden Hooper by sudden victory. His historic season ended with a 52-0 record.
“He was able to get extra work in throughout the season by working out before school and fine-tuning techniques that would benefit him against his opponents and improve strengths and address some situations to improve that needed to improve,” Seneca wrestling coach Jeff Sill said. “I believe his commitment to improve outside of practice time paid dividends throughout the season. Brant had a heck of a performance at state, wrestling to his strengths, controlling what he could control and providing the team with leadership.”
Lee finished her season with a fourth-place finish at the Class 2 girls meet. She fell to McCluer’s Demetria Higgins by a 10-4 decision. Lee closed the year with a 31-12 record.
“Irish Lee is one of our program's greatest success stories,” Carthage girls wrestling coach Shelby Swinehart said. “As a sophomore with only two years prior experience, Irish finished her season as a four-place state medalist, pinning her way through the consolation side of the bracket to her final match. This was typical for Irish, as her 32 wins this season consist of one technical fall with the remainder wins by fall! Irish Lee has a lot of potential and I am excited to see her continued success.”
Coaches can nominate students for athletes of the week by emailing the name, previous week’s stats and accolades to sports@zrimarketing.com.