History

         In the fall of 2004, Mark Englehardt and Kyle Harris became fed up with no wrestling on LSU's Baton Rouge campus.  What followed was hours and hours of paperwork and networking to put together a loosely nit club.  Practices were rare, but a common goal of having a mat to call the club's and the possibility of practicing at the LSU UREC center kept the club alive. 

       In the spring of 2005, Dutchtown High School and Steve Thomas as well as Phil Bode, made practicing four days a week possible.  While the wrestlers had to travel 20-30 minutes each way, there was almost always a strong showing for the practices. 

       After some fundraising, the club approached student government with a proposal.  The Program Support and Initiatives Fund (PSIF) is an allotment of money set aside to help organizations at the discretion of a special committee.  When the club asked for a measly $10,000 for a new mat, they jumped at the opportunity to provide LSU with yet another extracurricular activity.  A brand new 45 X 45 foot mat was ordered from Resilite, and has recently been delivered. 

***The club can not thank Student Government and PSIF enough for their enormous support.  They have given the club a strong backbone that will ensure the club's survival and growth in the future.  Thank you Student Government and PSIF.  Also, thank you Ms. Mary!

2006-2007:  The Tigers' first season.  At the South West Conference Championships in Boulder Colorado, the team qualified three wrestlers to send to Nationals.  At 125 lbs, Travis Olinde placed 1st becoming our first Conference Champion; at 157 Joshua Kotter also won the tournament, and at 235 William Comar (aka "Doc") received 3rd and was the final wrestler to qualify.  Nationals was held in Dallas, TX-March 8-10th.  The team finished 21st of 69 teams and had two All-Americans.  Travis Olinde placed 7th and Joshua Kotter placed 5th.  William Comar was one match from becoming an All-American.