Upper Peninsula Qualifies 29 Wrestlers For States

Twenty-nine Upper Peninsula high school wrestlers have qualified for the MHSAA Individual State Finals, which will be held at the Palace of Auburn Hills in March.

Ten of the U.P. wrestlers won regional champions, while 19 others finished in the top four of their respective weight classes and also qualified for the state finals.

The Division Two regionals were held at Bay City Western, Division Three was at Grayling, and Division Four regional was held at Rogers City.

DIVISION TWO REGIONAL RESULTS:
Six U.P. wrestlers qualified for the state finals at Saturday's regi0nal in Bay City.

The lone U.P. champion was Sault Ste. Marie heavyweight Chase Bouschor, who beat Gaylord's Tim Roney, 5-1, in the championship match. Sault's David Gurnee qualified fourth in that weight class.

At 140 pounds, the Sault's Charles Dunton finished fourth, and at 145 pounds, Marquette's Beau Caster finished third. And Escanaba Eskymo Mohammed Hoque finished fourth in the 215-pound weight class, losing to Sault Ste. Marie's Nathan Lajoie, on an 8-0 decision. Both qualify, however, for the state finals.

DIVISION THREE REGIONAL RESULTS:
Four U.P. wrestlers made the state finals on Saturday, all of them from Gladstone.

The lone U.P. champion was Gladstone's Jeremy Kadish, who dominated the 171-pound weight class. Kadish beat Breeze Collins of Standish-Sterling, 7-0, and then he pinned Matt Bringard of Caro in 2:49 in the semifinals. Kadish then beat Eric Litke of Clare in the championship match, 5-0. It will be his second trip to the Palace.

At the 145 pound weight class, Bobby Beauchamp finished third to earn a return trip to the Palace. He pinned Matt Hoffman of Sanford-Meridian High School in the third place match in 2:09. Earlier, he beat Grayling's Fred Fisher on an 8-0 major decision.

At 140 pounds, James Bruce qualified fourth when he lost Grayling's Zach Cheney, 4-2, in the third place match. In an earlier round, Bruce pinned Gladstone teammate Alex Chouinard. And at 215 pounds, Jack Cronick qualified fourth after losing a wild third place match to Steven Esiline of Grand Ledge, 12-11.

Cronick had pinned Esiline in 1:06 during an earlier match.

DIVISION FOUR REGIONAL RESULTS:
Nineteen U.P. wrestlers made the state finals in Division Four, and eight of them won regional championships. Eleven others qualified by finishing in the top four.

Norway had three U.P. champions. In the 140-pound weight class, Cole Gonzalez improved to 40-1 on the season with a 9-2 decision over Canmeron Urban of Rogers City. He won his other matches by 15-0 and 17-3 decisions.

At 152 pounds, Norway's Tanner Gonzalez beat Austin Howard of Whittemore-Prescott on a pin in 3:49. He won his other two matches by 10-1 and 6-5 scores.

At 160 pounds, Norway's Taylor Bonetti won the championship over Chris Gillissie of Elk Rapids on a pin at the 4:23 mark. He won his semifinal match in overtime, 11-8.

Iron Mountain had two U.P. champions.

At 130 pounds, Alex Edwards won his title on three dominating pins starting with one over Atreyu Waldorf of Whittemore-Prescott in 1:05 in the first round. He also pinned Tyler McCallum of Charlevoix in 2:34 in the semifinal, and pinned Vincent Carlson of Westwood in 1:34, in the title match. Carlson also travels to the Palace next month.

At 135 pounds, Corbin Henkel won the championship on a 7-0 decision over Justin Saline of Rogers City in the final. He won his other matches, 8-0 and 15-0.

Gwinn's Alex Anderson won the 119-pound weight class. He beat Tony Moore of Leroy Pine River in the title match, 8-4. Rudyard's Jimmy Spencer improved to 43-1 on the season after winning the 125-pound title over Charlevoix's Camden Alden, 1-0.

At 171 pounds, Munising's Hunter Sadler won the championship by beating St. Ignace's James Cryderman in the final, with a pin in 1:03. Sadler wrestled for the Escanaba Eskymos before moving to Munising at the end of the last semester. Cryderman also goes t0 the Palace thanks to his runner-up finish.

Other U.P. wrestlers to qualify in Division Four:

Ishpeming's Cody Johnson (fourth at 189)
Manistique's Landon Burton (third at 215)
Norway's Dylan Hoffart (fourth at 112)
Newberry's Cameron Symonds (fourth at 119)
Rudyard's David Mommerency (third at 130)
Ishpeming's Jonathon Willey (third at 140)
St. Ignace's Jason Brown (fourth at 140)
Iron Mountain's Aaron Bolo (third at 171)
Iron Mountain's Jacob Weslin (third at 145)
Rudyard's Robert Hronek (fourth at 103).