Lakeside junior Chance Mahan finished the wrestling season with a record of 34-4, became the school's first individual state champion and is The Sentinel-Record's 2018 Wrestler of the Year.
Lakeside's wrestling program continues to reach new heights. The Rams finished third in Division 1A-5A behind only Greenbrier and Pulaski Academy at the 2017 Arkansas State Wrestling Tournament, the program's best since it began five years ago.
“I wanted to go out there and do as I have always done and perform well for the team with the heart of a Ram.”
The team eclipsed its previous best with a second-place finish at the 2018 Centennial Bank State High School Wrestling Championship behind Mahan's 113-pound title and four runners-up. Lakeside saw 10 of its wrestlers place out of the 13 to compete at the state meet in the Jack Stephens Center on the campus of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in February.
Mahan knew he had a challenge to overtake the 113-pound division's two-time defending state champion, Chris Whisenant of Greenbrier. He is the son of Adam and Michelle Mahan.
Whisenant led Greenbrier to the 1A-5A state title in 2017. Mahan led Whisenant throughout an earlier match before state this season, but the former champion pulled ahead in the final seconds.
"I knew going into state that I wanted to beat him for first place, but the week of state he dropped out," Mahan said. "I knew for sure I was going to win. No doubt about that.
"As we went on, it went just as planned. All of our kids were going. We were all wrestling for first and second. The end results just flipped. State is just a different deal."
Mahan and the team captains helped Lakeside pass Greenbrier, 219 points, to take second at state with 229. Pulaski Academy took the title with 316 points.
Team captains Aaron Killian, junior; Colton Burchard, junior; and Alex Stewart, senior, each took second place in their respective divisions. Senior captain Judson Spellings was unable to compete at state after suffering an injury at a Pulaski Academy tournament earlier in the season.
Junior Garrett Garner was seeded first in the 170-pound division, adding to the team's lofty expectations at state. He placed second in Little Rock and ended the season with a record of 44-3.
"I knew it was going to be a tough match and I knew we were going to go for first (place)," Mahan said. "I did not know how it would turn out, but I always knew it in my mind. Something clicked. I just knew I was going to win."
Killian had a 36-10 record at 145. Burchard was 40-11 at 152. Stewart finished 36-7 at 182. Mahan knew he had a chance to make history as the program's first state champion.
"I wanted to go out there and do as I have always done and perform well for the team with the heart of a Ram," Mahan said. "I knew going into it that we were going to come out on top. We were close to the very end and came in second."
Mahan has been wrestling since coach H.E. Burchard helped establish Lakeside's program five years ago. The team is assisted by National Wrestling Hall of Fame member Tony Bradley and former Tennessee all-state wrestler Nick Ballard.
The Rams have had at least one wrestler place at the state meet each year. Kaleb Rogers, Avery Ingram and Noah Ingram each placed in the top six in the program's first year. Marco Gargano won the fifth-place match at the 2015 state meet.
"We have the best coach there is in the state of Arkansas," Mahan said. "Coach Burchard has been a coach for nearly his whole life. He knows the rule book front to back, better than the refs do. And we have two phenomenal assistant coaches, coach Bradley and coach Ballard. They are just always there, practicing one-on-one and making us better."
Lakeside's winning ratio at the varsity level is 82 percent and the Rams have a 73 percent ratio overall. The Rams placed at every tournament in which they participated this season, save for the meet in Greenbrier when four were unable to travel due to the flu. Lakeside hosted the state dual tournament earlier in February and placed second behind Pulaski Academy.
"It is great to be part of Lakeside wrestling," Mahan said. "The school is super supportive. I knew they were going to back us 100 percent the entire time. I just wish we had a Ram wrestling room to practice in. I think we probably would have won state if we had something like that in the program."
Mahan said the team benefited from traveling to other states and wrestling against higher quality competition from older programs.
"We did great, phenomenal, our whole team did," Mahan said. "We learned a lot from wrestling out-of-state."
Mahan said he began the season with confidence and high expectations for both himself and for the team.
"I felt like my work ethic was going to show this year," Mahan said. "I was working than I ever had. I knew I was working harder than anybody else was on other teams. I was confident in myself that my work would show."
"Chance had an outstanding season this year," said coach Burchard. "He competed well at every tournament. He worked really hard this year in practice and began to understand the why's and the sport in general. He began to use his hips and be able to follow is opponents.
"He did a great job of actually wrestling this year. He rarely missed any practice and works hard to lead us daily. He has an awesome attitude and wants to be better. His goal is to win it all again."
Mahan said he will pursue opportunities to wrestle in college, possibly at Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, which is home to state's top college wrestling program. The University of Arkansas at Little Rock announced this week the Trojans could start the state's first Division I program in the fall of 2019.
"Next year, I know I have the title," Mahan said. "I'm the guy to beat. Everybody is going to be trying to try to beat me. So, next year, I'm going to keep doing what I normally do, work hard and beat them."
Sports on 03/25/2018