PulseJournal.com

Patrick Lanham, Madison

Lanham went 162-34 in four years at Madison and capped his career by winning the Division III 140-pound state championship in 2005. The 162 wins are a Madison school record, and at the time they ranked Lanham 15th on Ohio's career victory list.

"That seems like quite a long time ago," said Lanham, who is continuing his wrestling career at Kent State, where he is a redshirt sophomore majoring in business with a minor in marketing.

"That whole weekend, the whole three-day tournament was great," Lanham continued. "I went up there with no expectations. I was kind of scared. I was wrestling not to lose. But I ended up having a great weekend and came out of it with a title."

Lanham went 0-2 at state as a junior, but he put that behind him and got off to a great start his senior year before suffering his only loss to Edgewood's Joe Zehler at the Edgewood Invitational.

"That's the one tournament I never won," Lanham said. "But that was a great loss, really. I don't think I could have won state without it. It really brought me back down to Earth and let me know I wasn't untouchable."

Lanham capped his 50-1 championship season by riding McComb's Justin Hill for the entire third period of the title bout to secure a 1-0 victory.

"What I remember the most are the two or three minutes right after (the referee) raised my hand," Lanham said. "And I remember not being able to get to sleep at all that night. It was an exciting time."