On April 3, senior Logan Ladach competed at the individual states wrestling competition, placing sixth in the meet. Ladach said that his qualification for states did not come without lots of practice and preparation.

“I had to place top four at districts and top four at regionals to go to states,” Ladach said. 

Following his qualification, Ladach continued to practice tirelessly, however, the pandemic limited his experience with coaching, required testing before every meet and cancelled a large part of the season and prohibited individual competition. Despite this, Ladach was able to successfully compete at the state level. 

“At states I won my first two matches then lost in the semifinals,” Ladach said. “Then, I wrestled another match to go for three for four, but lost by one point which had me wrestle for sixth.”  

Head wrestling coach Jaron Nelson believes that Ladach’s success at states came from his drive and determination that he had throughout the season. He said that the senior realized that success came from hard work. 

“He put the extra mile in and received a successful outcome,” Nelson said. 

Along with Nelson, freshman wrestler Preston Auld agrees that Ladach worked his hardest every day, allowing him to achieve his goal at states. As a teammate, Auld said he was sure to work with him as much as possible in an attempt to advance his abilities. Not only did Ladach practice with Auld, but he was determined to take advantage of every opportunity that he had, whether that was individually, with his teammates or with his coach. 

“He was always there before everyone, and always doing things after practice was over,” Auld said.

Even after the season, Ladach continued to put in effort, and was able to work individually with coach Nelson, focusing on eliminating any challenges that he might face. Nelson said that in their final week together, they were concentrated on sharpening his technique, as well as a ton of conditioning and preparing mentally, as he believes that Ladach’s biggest obstacle is his own mentality. 

“(Ladach)’s biggest challenge is himself, when he blocks out everything and just wrestles, the kid does amazing things, and sometimes surprises himself,” Nelson said. 

Ladach is very thankful for both the help of his coach and his teammates. He said that they pushed him to be the best that he could and work as hard as he knew he needed to. Specifically, he gave a big thank you to Nelson, and said that last year they would be in the weight room running two miles every day and that he was always there to pick him up when he needed it. 

“I couldn’t have accomplished what I did without him,” Ladach said. 

Following his high school wrestling career, Ladach is actively visiting colleges in hopes of continuing with the sport at an even higher level. Auld said that he will encourage his teammate to keep working his hardest so that he can watch him compete in college. Nelson agrees, and believes that high school is definitely not the end of Ladach’s career.

“He’s a wrestler that I don’t see stopping anytime soon,” Nelson said.