Some high school wrestlers have to carefully manage their diet and put in extra time on the treadmill to stay in the lineup.

That’s certainly not the case for Biddeford senior Chris Lantagne.

Late in the regular season, Lantagne was approached by Biddeford coach Steve Vermette and asked to bump up from the 220-pound weight class to heavyweight, which allows wrestlers to weigh as much as 285 pounds.

“He said, ‘I’ll do whatever you want coach,’” said Vermette of Lantagne’s response. “He’s a team player. If I wanted him to go to 195 he would have done that, he was just open to anything and I was proud of him. He’s a real team player.”

The move paid off as both Lantagne and new 220-pounder Trey Burnham would go on to place third at the Class A State Championships.

Lantagne was happy to move up a class in order to help one of his friends get on the mat.

“I was really open for anything because my friend Trey was the one that was going to go 220 and he’s worked hard and I wanted to give him the opportunity, so I was open for whatever coach wanted us to do,” said Lantagne.

Lantagne, who weighed in at around 210 pounds throughout the postseason, would continue his surprising postseason run with a third-place finish at All-States, which qualified him for a trip to this weekend’s New England Interscholastic Wrestling Championships.

“He’s pretty strong mentally. He’s a good kid, he’s a hard worker and he doesn’t have any fear,” said Vermette on how Lantagne got to this point. “He doesn’t have any fear, he just goes out there and wrestles. He doesn’t care if you are 270 pounds or you are 220.”

Lantagne will take the same attitude down to Providence for the New England meet, according to Vermette.

“He’s going down there and he’s not going to be scared to wrestle anybody,” said Vermette, who knows Lantagne will be facing some tough competition. “He’s going to have some speed on some of the guys, but it will be a struggle.”

Lantagne’s run to New Englands is not only surprising because of his lack of size, but even more so because he didn’t really dedicate himself to the sport until late in his high school career.

“No,” said Lantagne on whether he ever thought he would make it to New Englands. “I think I won two or three matches total my sophomore year.”

For Lantagne, giving the sport another chance turned out to be a great decision.

“Sophomore year, I decided if I wasn’t going to do anything, I might as well just try it out … and I loved it,” said Lantagne, who had wrestled in the youth program before taking an extended break from the sport. When Lantagne joined the Biddeford High School team, Vermette didn’t see a trip to New Englands in his future.

“Never, never … he wasn’t into it that much,” said Vermette, who saw something click this year. “He’s always been a strong kid, but this year he really came into his own. He started wrestling tough, practicing more and listening more. He’s aggressive, he’s strong and he’s fast for that weight class.”

Lantagne credits Vermette – and the sport – with helping him grow as an athlete and as a person.

“Coach Vermette definitely helped me mature over the years. Sophomore year, I wasn’t the most respectful kid, and wrestling definitely helped me mature and learn to respect people and things,” said Lantagne. “As a person, wrestling helped me a tremendous amount. At the tournaments, you learn to bond with your peers and talk about things you have in common and meet knew people that you never would have met.”

Lantagne will wrap up his time in a Biddeford singlet this weekend and he is hoping to go out with at least one more victory.

“I want to win a match and make it to Saturday,” said Lantagne, who is not changing his mindset heading into this weekend. “I’ve placed at every tournament so far and I want to continue that.”

No matter what happens in Providence, Lantagne will consider this season a success.

“It feels great. I accomplished so much this year,” said Lantagne.

The senior standout is also happy to extend Biddeford’s streak of sending wrestlers to New Englands to four straight years. “It’s a real boost for the team because if you have all your teammates go out right away at regionals or states, you don’t think that high of your team, but if you have teammates consistently going to New Englands, it raises the self-esteem and it makes you think about how good your program is,” said Lantagne.

Vermette echoed that sentiment.

“It means a lot for our program because we are always being seen. We may not have a lot of kids, but if you have one or two, three kids consistently, your program starts to get known and that’s nice,” said Vermette. “You go to New Englands and other teams know a kid like (former state champion) Dominic Day, it’s nice. It definitely helps the program and kids talk about it in school.”

Lantagne believes the Biddeford wrestling program is finally starting to get the recognition it deserves.

“In the past, wrestling used to be overlooked because of football or basketball … this season going 16-3 and the previous season going 16-9, we’ve had a couple of the best records of any (Biddeford) team, so a lot of people are starting to recognize that,” said Lantagne.

No matter what happens this weekend, Lantagne has helped keep the Biddeford program heading in the right direction – and Vermette quickly came up with a one-word answer when asked to sum up the standout’s senior year.

“Success,” said Vermette.

— Sports Editor Pat McDonald can be reached at [email protected] or at 282-1535 ext. 322. Follow the Journal Tribune Sports Department on Twitter @ JournalTsports.