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WE ARE ADAPTIVE

WRESTLING-SPECIFIC MEDIA

Dunham's Baldwin not to be denied

LHSAA State Wrestling Tournament

Division III - 220 Pounds

August 20th, 2023| Written by: Staff Writer

Place	1st	2nd	3rd	4th	5th	6th
Podium
Name	James Baldwin	Henry Milligan	Wade Rist	Henry Travis	Austin Young	Zachary Drake
School	Dunham	St. Louis	Hannan	Haynes	De la Salle	John Curtiz
Seed	1	2	3	6	5	4
Record	19-1	8-1	31-4	18-8	27-13	7-4
Class	12	12	12	11	11	11

Dunham senior James Baldwin did not start the season until January 7th, when he won the Jimmy Vidrine Division III. A week later he lost an 8-5 match at the Louisiana Classic to eventual winner Griffin Ellis of Jesuit. He did not lose again. In that tournament he defeated Live Oak's Gage Kelly (D1 2nd) and Kristofer Mesloh of Parkway (D2 1st). A week later he defeated Mesloh again in the Ken Cole finals. In the Greater Baton Rouge Championships finals he handed Baton Rouge's Eli Latitois his only loss of the season prior to the state championships.

Second seed Henry Milligan, like Baldwin, was a 2022 runner-up. Milligan, though, had a seriously interrupted season. His first two matches were on December 7th. On December 17th he won the Jacob McMillan, but he did not compete again until January 18th. His next match was at the state championships on February 10th. Hence, even with only a 15-1 record prior to the state tournament, Baldwin still had over three times the matches Milligan had.

Milligan also had a win over Mesloh, but Baldwin's experience proved to be too much for the senior Saint. The Tiger senior won the first period 4-0, the second 2-1 and the third 5-1 for an 11-2 Major Decision. Baldwin became only the second state champion from Dunham not named Rabel.

Early Championship Rounds