Lorang stands as only Valedictorian Wrestler in Idaho

Lance Lorang is an LHS student who accomplished an extraordinary feat. Lorang was acknowledged as the only high school wrestler to earn the title of Valedictorian in 2018. In order to become valedictorian, the student needs extreme focus and attention even when away for a sports event.

Lorang started wrestling his freshman year, he attributes much of the reason for starting to Troy Hanes, former wrestler and friend.

“Troy was, and is, a good friend, and I wanted to see where the recommendation would take me,” said Lorang.

“He was strong, he just didn’t really know how to push himself to his breaking point and I always told him he would do well if he could figure it out,” said Hanes.

Starting out, Lorang he wasn’t the best wrestler there was, yet he continued to wrestle in hopes of eventually getting to where he thought he could.

“I wasn’t the best when I started, sure, but I realized I could have been a lot worse,” said Lorang.

The athleticism attributed to wrestling is outstanding, the amount of stress that the body endures is massive. Even though, any wrestler knows that anybody can be a good wrestler, a great one is someone who can go through this pain and still conquer.

“A great part of wrestling is the very moment when your hand is grabbed by the referee and raised upward, not when one is pinning their opponent, or leading in points but when the hand is raised,” said Lorang.

Besides being an accomplished wrestler for Lewiston, Lorang also is one of the 27 valedictorians at LHS. This is an extremely difficult task alone, to accomplish this challenge as a wrestler or any high school athlete is rare. Yet Lorang found a way to succeed.

“It was stressful, admittedly, but I found success in keeping both the elements of wrestling and school in proper balance,” said Lorang.

High school was always a priority for Lorang, yet sometimes he found that wrestling outweighed school. Even though this happened, Lorang continued to complete his schooling with honors.

“It didn›t matter which had a higher priority (school or wrestling), because I was determined to do both to the best of my ability,” said Lorang.

Wrestling is filled with regulation and rules to keep the competitors safe, still, there are times where it can get out of hand, but the referees handle the situation fairly and promptly.

“The sport is like a legalized version of a public fight,” said Lorang, “just with a margin of rules and regulations,” Lorang added.

Lorang plans on going to Boise State University to study and Engineering path. However, he doesn’t have a dead set plan yet.

“My ‘plan’ is to simply go forward and see where my footsteps take me, I have confidence that I’ll figure it all out in college,” said Lorang.

Stronger than a plan is follow-through, Lorang credits it as grit and that is the skill he plans to take with him through college.

“In wrestling, grit is the key to resolve. I plan to find success in whatever form it may take, and I plan to do so with grit,” said Lorang.