Winning Williams

Matt and Lucas Williams are in their third year wrestling together at Lakeland High School. They both qualified and placed in districts and are now on their way to state. 

Matt is going to state for his second year, and Lucas is going for his fourth consecutive year, making appearances every year of his high school career. 

Although Matt’s season is not over, he explained that he has really enjoyed it so far. When explaining his favorite memory of the season he said, “I really had fun when we went bowling in Bonners Ferry.” 

Lucas echoed similar sentiments about the quality of their season; however, his favorite memory was, “Staying in hotel rooms with my wrestling teammates.” 

Once Matt and Lucas started wrestling, they did not look back. Since they began wrestling together, they have been very prominent wrestlers in Lakeland’s program. 

Since Lucas is one year older, this is his last state tournament appearance; however, Matt still has one more year left in his high school career. 

Lucas does not have plans to wrestle after high school; instead, he plans to attend college and study to become a history teacher. However, he could see coaching in his future high school teaching career. Lucas said, “No, (I am not planning to wrestle after high school)… (my plan is) to go to NIC then the University of Idaho to get my teaching degree.”

Matt has different plans. He is also not planning to wrestle after high school. Instead, he is planning to attend lineman school and learn to operate on power lines, which he hopes to pursue as a career. 

Throughout this season, Matt has wrestled in the 113-pound weight class and is currently seeded at number three in the state tournament. Lucas wrestled in the 138-pound weight class and hopes to place in his final state tournament.

Previewing the upcoming state tournament, Lakeland has a very good shot at the title. Although Lakeland fell to Sandpoint in districts which snapped a streak of 13 straight district titles for LHS, they also had other wrestlers qualify for state, including Devon Howell and Anika Thompson, in addition to the Williams brothers. 

Lucas had a message for anyone thinking about trying to become a wrestler. “If anyone is looking to try something new, wrestling is an excellent opportunity to grow both physically but also grow as a person, and I would recommend (it) to everyone”.