Ottawa ? Nolan Kellerman lost weight last winter to wrestle at 145 pounds, and the move worked as he went 34-9 and qualified for state for the second year in a row.

But Kellerman, who also plays running back and defensive back for Lawrence High, didn’t see the point in gaining weight in the summer and fall for football and then cutting it for wrestling. Kellerman stayed at 160 pounds for his junior season, and he’s dominating the competition this winter.

“It’s a better weight for me,” said Kellerman, who ran his perfect record to 18-0 by winning five matches Saturday at the Ottawa Invitational, where the Lions finished second in the 10-team event. “I chose to cut weight last year, and I wasn’t as strong as I should have been. This year I decided not to do that, and it’s paid off. I didn’t want to lose a lot of strength.”

Kellerman won four of his five matches by fall Saturday. The only exception was a lopsided 14-2 victory over Highland Park’s Chris Burns. He has pinned 13 of his 18 opponents.

LHS won’t compete again until Jan. 8 at the Shawnee Mission South Invitational, but the Lions will take off only seven days from practice during winter break.

“Other than those seven days, we’ll be in the wrestling room,” Kellerman said. “I can get a lot better, especially on conditioning.”

Kellerman wants to improve, but he’s not obsessed about his unblemished record.

“It’s just a little bonus,” he said. “It won’t bother me if I get beat. I’ve been beat before. … I want our team to do better. I didn’t set too many individual goals. My major goal is to get our program better.”

The Lions seemed headed in the right direction at Ottawa’s dual tournament, rolling over Kansas City Wyandotte (72-10), Highland Park (62-18), Paola (42-36) and Osawatomie (76-6) in pool play before suffering a 67-6 loss to defending Class 6A champion Manhattan.

“It’s good for our program and young kids to see what they need to do to get to the next level,” LHS coach Mark Dulgarian said of the loss to Manhattan. “They’re ranked No. 1 in the state right now. I’m pleased with what we’re doing so far. We just need to expand on it.”

The Lions finished second despite the absence of four wrestlers who likely will join the lineup next semester. Brendan Halpin (145 pounds) and Tim Giblin (189) each have been sidelined by injuries. Larry Tuthill (152) was ineligible first semester, but will be back on the mat after the break, and so will state qualifier Blake Hageman (heavyweight), who has been kept out of the lineup after rejoining the team late in preseason practices.

“We’ll have a bit of a different look,” Dulgarian said.

The Lions looked pretty good Saturday. Brandon Goodwin (103), Chris Coons (112) and Kyle McTaggert (189) won their weight classes in pool play and finished 4-1. Zach Hertzel (130) was 3-2 and also was a pool-play winner.

Dulgarian also was pleased with junior Chris Cates, who switched from being the junior varsity’s 125-pounder and joined the varsity at 119. He was 3-2.

“He wasn’t real big at 125,” Dulgarian said.

“This is a good spot for him. I saw some good things from him today.”

Host Ottawa finished seventh in the team standings. The top performers for the Cyclones were Michael Espinoza (215) and heavyweight Levi Bowen. Both juniors went 5-0 and improved their season records to 11-1.