Thursday, February 10, 2005 by Billy Turner of the New Orleans Times-Picayune.
"Back from injury, Levee sets sight on title - He can recoup season at state wrestling meet"
"Mandeville's Caleb Levee wrestled in one tournament this season - until now.
Levee, who was 42-0 last season as The Times-Picayune's All-Metro wrestler of the year, won the St. Tammany Parish tournament last weekend. That might send shivers through all wrestlers in the Division I 130-pound class at the State Wrestling Tournament at the Pontchartrain Center on Friday and Saturday.
Levee, 43-0 the past two seasons, broke his arm in four places in the fall and missed 12 weeks. He had been practicing for two weeks, and had a bye before he won the parish tournament for the fifth time.
As the seeds were chosen late Monday, Levee was seeded fifth because he beat St. Paul Danny Tigert, who probably would have been the fifth seed at that weight class in Division I.
But if Levee, who won the state 125 weight class last season, is healthy...
"He's doing fine," Mandeville coach J. P. Pierre said. "He's in a good position. He's feeling good, raring to go."
Levee has a bye in the first round and faces the winner of the match between Shawn Landry of Hahnville and Luke Terro of Bishop Sullivan in the second round. Levee would face a seed (Mitch Trahan of Comeaux or Devin Murray of Andrew Jackson) in the quarterfinals. Levee's toughest match by seed would be the semifinals, should he make it, against Cameron Loebig of Jesuit, the top seed.
Mark Rome of Rummel is the second seed at 130 pounds. Levee beat Rome 10-5 in the semifinals last season.
Jesuit, the favorite in Division I, has the most seeds of any team. The Blue Jays, the defending champion, have five top seeds, three seconds and three thirds.
Phillip Mahne, Daniel Re, Loebig, Paul Hebbler and Roger Irion are Jesuit's top seeds.
Jesuit coach Mark Strickland doesn't concern himself with seeds, though. He has a deep team, and they have been working on themselves rather than other teams. "We don't focus on other teams," he said. "We prepare for them all. We kind of know where everyone is, and we're preparing for them all.
Rummel has seven seeds, three of which are No. 1s, two No. 2s and two No. 3s. Matthew Ory, Jeffrey Slaughter and Stephano Billich are their top seeds.
Brother Martin, another contender in the division, has seven seeds, but only one top seed - Jack Duffard at 125. The Crusaders have four second seeds and two thirds.
Holy Cross' Jack Garrett, who lost for the first time this season two weeks ago in the district tournament to No. 3 seed Michael Bossetta of Jesuit, is seeded No. 1 at 189. Northshore's Torey Schertz is the No. 1 seed at 145 pounds.
In Division II, no local wrestlers is seeded in the top three. De La Salle, which finished fifth last season, is the top local threat.
In Division III, Belle Chasse, which finished eighth last season, has two top seeds, Brandon Lloyd at 119 and Jonathan Ortego at 125. Buras, which finished fourth last season, has Daniel Pelas at 112 and John Nguyen at 130 seeded No. 1.
Pearl River, which finished second to Brusly last season in Division III, has James Ballantyne seeded No. 1 at 135. Pearl River has 11 seeded wrestlers.