Though his high school wrestling career has come to an end, senior Alan Clothier feels pretty good about how he finished the season. Over the past few weeks Clothier has taken titles at league, regionals and now state.

“It’s an amazing feeling,” Clothier said. “You put in all the work for the whole year, and to come out on top and be the best in Kansas, it’s pretty amazing.”

This is Clothier’s second state title in his wrestling career. This year, he won his last match by a 13-4 decision, claiming the title in the 182-pound weight class. When he competed at state during the 2013-14 wrestling season, Clothier won by a much narrower 2-1 decision.

Wins like Alan’s, coach Pat Naughton said, result from hard work and focusing on one’s overall well-being.

“Preparing for state is making sure the team is focused on techniques, rested, and feeling good mentally,” Naughton said. “We usually cut practice time down to 45 minutes and add some pool time at the end of practice.”

Willingness to improve also factors into how well wrestlers compete, Naughton said.

“He is a good listener,” Naughton said. “He is able to take the important parts of a conversation and implement them to fit his goals. The coaching staff noticed a few changes Alan could make on different shots to increase the success rate of his takedowns. Alan used these techniques to improve his success rate.”

Clothier has also had to prepare for state by overcoming unexpected obstacles. At state last year, Clothier lost his first match of that season.

“I’ve taken some losses I wish I hadn’t taken,” Clothier said. “I had a shoulder injury last year at state that cost me a match, so just there’s a couple things [that could have gone better] but I don’t…[dwell] on that. I lost, it was my fault.”

Teammate Chris Geiss said the team will definitely miss Clothier when he’s graduated, and his wins don’t go unnoticed.

“I think it [the win at state] is really special to the team because we all enjoy having him, and we realize it’ll be his last time [wrestling at the high school level] so we won’t get to see it again,” Geiss said.

Clothier’s legacy as a wrestler at LHS will be remembered by the team for years to come.

“…I know I walked out of the arena as the top wrestler,” Clothier said. “Nobody can say that ‘Well he won it one year and didn’t win it the next year,’ like, I’m walking out as a champion, not second or third.”

The greatest reward, Clothier said, was having the support of the people he cares about most.

“[My favorite moment of the season was] probably winning the state championship then going up and hugging my mom. She’s been by my side the whole time, all these years of wrestling, traveling and everything, so that’s probably the greatest moment.”