Boucher leaves mark as Golden Hawk

WELLMAN - An elite athlete always wants to better himself.

Isaac Boucher has done that in his wrestling career at Mid-Prairie High School.

Boucher finished his senior season at the Class 2A state tournament. He also went to state as a junior.

His record in his senior season was 43-8, wrestling at 195 pounds. That gave him enough wins in his career to be in the top 10 in win total at Mid-Prairie.

'Isaac had an amazing season,” Mid-Prairie head wrestling coach Justin Garvey said. 'He made the century club with 128 career wins, putting him seventh on the all-time win list. This is pretty amazing considering he only had 10 wins as a freshman.”

Boucher more than quadrupled his win total in his four seasons as a Golden Hawk. The work ethic, discipline and hard work required of a wrestler to better oneself by leaps and bounds says a lot about Boucher.

'Isaac went from being a 10-win freshman to the leader of our team in two seasons,” Garvey said. 'His work ethic in the class room and on the mat made him an instant team leader.”

At state, Boucher, who was seeded sixth, won his opening match Thursday with aggression. He got a takedown within 40 seconds and two more in the first round for a 7-3 lead after one period. He was ahead 14-6 when he scored a pin to end the match in 5 minutes, 39 seconds.

That put him in to a Friday quarterfinal match against the third seed, Gabe Hemsted of Carlisle, who finished fourth.

'Isaac had a good experience at state,” Garvey said. 'We knew that the second match was going to be a tough one.”

Boucher was pinned in 54 seconds.

'After that loss, it is about an hour turn around to the blood round match,” Garvey said. 'We were coming off a loss and the Solon kid coming off a win. It's one of the hardest rounds of the tournament. I think Isaac was still a little shell shocked from the previous loss. He didn't wrestle his best match. It happens every year. Good kids lose in that round.”

Gage Marty of Solon finished seventh. He pinned Boucher in 1:08.

Despite the two losses at the state tournament, Boucher has left his mark as a Golden Hawk in more ways than his win total.

'Isaac is one of the hardest working kids I've ever coached,” Garvey said. 'Also his ability to make friends with anyone helped grow our team. He is truly the best teammate a person could ask for. He is always more concerned with his teammates than himself. His presence on our team will definitely be missed in the coming years.