Making his State-ment
Danville wrestler qualifies for his sport’s big stage for a fourth straight season
By Mike Beas
Logan Boe’s longing to become a drone pilot is leading him directly to Columbia, S.C., for a journey scheduled to begin the fourth Monday of June.
It’s there, at Fort Jackson, a United States Army installation, where the Danville High School senior will experience the mental and physical rigors of basic training before continuing what has become something of a family tradition.
“Both of my parents were in the Army,” said Boe, referring to Michael and Christel Boe. “I’m kind of hoping to get a career out of it. My mom’s cousin was in the Army, was deployed into a bad situation, and a drone pilot saved his life. I’ve had drones in the past but never done anything of this caliber.”
At the moment, Boe’s focus is on making what will be his fourth and final trip to the state wrestling finals at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. One of the state’s premier 152-pounders this season, Boe has already stood on three different levels of the awards podium.
Logan Boe is headed to the Indiana state wrestling finals for the fourth straight year. The Danville senior wants to finish in the top four in the 152-pound weight class. (Photos by Eric Pritchett)
As a freshman, he earned eighth-place at 106 pounds. Boe followed that with a fifth at 120, and last season took seventh at 132 pounds. Boe entered this postseason ranked fourth in the state in the 152-pound division. He won the Evansville semistate Feb. 15, improving to 39-0 this season.
“Being ranked in the top four, I don’t have an excuse to finish lower than that,” Boe said.
One of the Warriors’ co-head coaches Mason Meling believes Boe can enter the rarified air currently occupied by the program’s previous state champions – Neal Malloy in 2011 at 130 pounds and two years later at 145, and Brock Hudkins at 120 in 2015 and 126 the following season.
“Really, as a wrestler he just has this confidence in him. Logan has a game plan from the moment he steps on the mat,” said Meling who shares the title of head coach with Logan Luce. “He’s one of those wrestlers who studies his craft and likes to be on top of his game.
“Logan’s wrestling IQ and body awareness are, in my opinion, better than most wrestlers. If he wrestles to the best of his abilities, I don’t see why he can’t win it all.”
Boe attended Plainfield High School as a junior but returned to Danville for his senior year. He enters the state finals with a record of 35-0 and is 127-24 in his high school career. Boe’s brother Landon, a Plainfield sophomore, qualified for semistate at 138 pounds after being runner-up at the Mooresville Regional.
Meling, for one, doesn’t lack confidence when asked about the elder Boe’s future be it this weekend in Indy or a decade from now.
“Logan is one of those guys who is very easy to coach and very easy to relate to,” said Meling. “There is no doubt that whatever he puts his mind to he’ll find a way to succeed.”
