Lisbon cancels double-dual before break

LISBON - The winter break for the Lisbon wrestling team started a little earlier than scheduled.

The Lions cancelled their practices for Wednesday and Thursday and withdrew from duals against Northeast and Maquoketa Valley at Delhi Thursday night. Lisbon School District Superintendent Brad Laures confirmed the team pulled out of the event.

"There is a student behavior issue that we're looking into right now," Laures said. "In the meantime we have decided not to go to that meet tonight."

Wrestling practice is planned to resume Tuesday, Dec. 27, and no other competitions are expected to be eliminated from the schedule. Laures declined to offer specifics as to the nature of the investigation. Athletics Director Jim Schultz declined comment and referred questions to Laures.

"There is a situation that we're looking into," Laures said. "We just want to make sure we have all the facts and information before we move on with it."

The situation is an in-house issue, but Laures said it could become a legal issue. It remains unclear how many wrestlers may be involved.

"We're still collecting information to find that out," Laures said about who and how many were involved. "I can't answer that one."

There was no immediate information of how the behavior issue was presented to school officials, and Laures declined to comment when the school was informed of a possible problem. Laures said he doubts there will be more cancellations. The seventh-ranked Lions are scheduled to wrestle at Durant on Jan. 5.

"We want to let the investigation be thorough and make sure we get all the facts and get them accurate," Laures said. "I really don't think it will go past that."