Lusk wrestlers and young athletes were treated to an amazing opportunity, as  Joe LeBlanc came to town for a two day camp, July 12th and 13th courtesy of Lusk Rawhide Wrestling.  The winningest wrestler in University of Wyoming history has an infectious passion for the development of young athletes, and for the 30 plus kids k-12 who were able to attend, the environment could be summed up with a quote from Joe’s late step father, “have fun, and learn something” -Bren Sullivan

Coach LeBlanc comes from a small town in rural north west Colorado and his message resonated with the young athletes in the room when he addressed the mindset that is necessary to achieve success when faced with some of the disadvantages of being from a rural environment, where access to high level competition is limited.  He encouraged the kids to “shoot for the moon and even if you don’t make it you’ll land amongst the stars”.  The room was filled with a diversified group of kids but every ear was on the soft spoken 4x D1 All American as he challenged each kid.  “No matter where you come from, no matter your social or economical situation why can’t you be the best… what’s stopping you”.   From there he transitions into the many advantages of rural living.  The support from the community, and the opportunity to get your hands dirty, helping local ranchers with branding or fencing.   “There are hundreds of talented individuals for every one that achieves great success, work ethic is usually the difference, and there is no better place to develop that work ethic than in a small town”.  Overall, the camp wasn’t just about wrestling at a high level, it was about living at a high level, and to sum things up coach Leblanc ended with his favorite quote.  “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your all your might”  - Eccliastes 9:10.

The timing was also good and Joe was also able to attend the Legend of Rawhide pageant and parade.  After spending 3 days in Lusk Wyoming Coach LeBlanc couldn’t complement the people of Lusk and the town its self enough. 

For those who were able to continue with the long weekend of wrestling.  Saturday morning wrestlers and coaches headed to Custer, SD for the Black Hills Night Brawl.  Wrestlers from North Dakota, South Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, and Nebraska would compete under the lights, on the football field.  Eleven young men made the trip for the Lusk Tigers but only Nine were able to compete (due to sickness and age restrictions), but those nine represented well as they placed 15th as a team out of 60+ other teams.  Five Lusk wrestlers would leave without a medal but almost all won a match and contributed to the teams point total.  Only two wrestlers were unable to find a win, Cooper Stewart, and Urijah Fish both lost two tough matches, but ultimately had a great learning experience, as Urijah explained.  “I never lose, I either win or I learn something”.  Three wrestlers went 1-2 on the night.  Tyke Coffman lost his first match but was undaunted as he returned to the mat and made quick work of his second opponent. He would then loose a close one in his third match.  If you check the official results you won’t see Tyke’s name in the top three, but always the optimist, he explained… “I won one and lost two so that means I got 3rd”.  No one was going to argue with that.  Keen Coffman found himself in one of the biggest brackets of the tournament (Urijah’s bracket also).  The depth and parody in this bracket was evident from the start and both of Keen’s losses and his win were hard fought.  The difference between first place and not placing was minimal in this group, and it was clear that Keen and Urijah were both knocking on the door of being a real threat in this class.  Christopher Hicks was able to pick up a big win for the team as well.  Chris scored a first period takedown to go up 2-0.  His opponent chose top in the second, where he threatened to turn Chris multiple times, however the stocky red head from Lusk showed great determination as he fought off each attack.  He was clearly exhausted going into the 3rd period but was able to summon the grit to hold off his opponent and score a late takedown to win 4-0.  It was a big win against a quality opponent, and the coaching staff couldn’t have been more proud.  Nathan Fish’s tournament didn’t start like he would have liked, as he lost his opening bout. Undeterred Nathan battled his way back to the consolation finals where he would face a South Dakota State placer and Black Hills Nationals finalist.  Here young Mr. Fish would get to show his quality as he bested the accomplished wrestler 4-0.  There was no questioning the depth of this bracket as Nathan wrestled his way to a hard earned 3rd place.  Coincidentally in the very next bracket Nathan’s work out partner Will Stewart would also start with an opening loss to a multiple time ND State champ, and a Rumble on the Red champ.   Will’s attitude after the loss was the most exciting thing, from a coaching stand point, he hadn’t performed at the level he felt he was capable of, but there was no dwelling on the loss and ultimately that poise allowed the young wrestler to fight his way through the back side of the bracket where he would record three pins and two technical falls to claim true second.  Lusk would have one more second place finisher in Jasper Caldera, the solid 220 pounders only loss would come at the hands of a SD High School State placer.  After two periods of battling the score was knotted at 0-0.  Jaspers opponent chose to take bottom in the 3rd, and though Jasper hadn’t scored any points it was clear he was in control when in the neutral position (on their feet) so after a few attempts to turn his opponent Jasper was encouraged to let him up to try and score a takedown.  Lusk’s freshman state placer fought hard to score but ultimately couldn’t get through the head and hands defense of his opponent and the match would end 0-1.  After that Mr. Caldera would go on to dominate the rest of his opponents, stacking up much needed team points along the way.  That brings us to Lusk’s lone champion.  Colton Coffman wouldn’t find himself in the largest bracket of the night, but the draw from five states insured that quality and depth would be a universal theme in any division.  Colton would open with a commanding win over a rock solid opponent.  A beautiful heel pick early in the match would set the tone, and Coffman’s stance would yield nothing as he stymied his opponent to post a 5-0 win.  The talented young Coffman’s resolve would be tested in his next match as he would give up a takedown and back points early in the first period to start 5 points down.   The sometimes volatile young wrestler would show great maturity as he composed himself and methodically picked away at the score eventually winning 7-5.  In another fundamentally and technically sound performance Colton would blank another opponent with a 4-0 victory to be crowned champion.  

The tournament would run late into the night of July 14th, and although there were some tired young men, they were very proud of what they had accomplished over the last 3 days.  Now it was time for some R&R, so after breakfast on Sunday we packed up and headed to Stockade lake outside of Custer SD for some fishing and fun.  As good of wrestlers as these boys are, they are even better fisherman.  I don’t know exactly how many fish they caught but I think the number would be north of 100.  Pacen Gifford who came along to help coach was generous enough to bring a boat and enough fishing gear to outfitt the entire crew.  Thank you Pacen and  thank you to everyone who helped put this together and/or helped sponsor, or do the leg work to make it possible.  A very special thanks to the Niobrara Recreation District, without their support this experience would not have been possible.  

In the end it was an amazing 4 days spent with some outstanding young men and I’m almost certain we all  “Learned something, and had fun”.