Thirty-two Upper Peninsula high school wrestlers have qualified for the MHSAA Individual State Finals at Detroit's Ford Field.
The boys had to finish in the top four of their regional tournaments Saturday to qualify, with the higher placing leading to better seeding at the state finals. The regional tournaments were held in Cadillac, Charlevoix, and Kalkaska.
There were seven regional champions from the U.P., led by Kingsford 215-pound senior Eli Rouse in Division Two. He received a first round bye, and then dusted off his two opponents in dominating fashion, getting two pins in a combined 57 seconds. Rouse is the defending state champion in that weight class.
Iron Mountain had three regional champions: Fulton Stroud, Tyler Winch, and Alex Wilson. All three wrestled at Ford Field last year. Bark River-Harris's Lucas Sischo won a regional championship in Division Four, and Cooper Raab, a freshman with the new North Central Jets wrestling team, won a regional championship. His older brothers, Wyatt and Dillon, are both wrestling at Lakeland University.
Three other U.P. Wrestlers lost their championship matches and will qualify second from their region. Another ten Yoopers qualified third, and a dozen more qualified fourth.
The MHSAA state finals are set for March 1-2 at Detroit's Ford Field.
UPPER PENINSULA QUALIFIERS BY THE NUMBERS
Regional Champions: 7
Drew Hansen, Gladstone,
Eli Rouse, Kingsford
Cooper Raab, North Central
Alex Wilson, Iron Mountain
Tyler Winch, Iron Mountain
Fulton Stroud, Iron Mountain
Lucas Sischo, Bark River-Harris
Regional Runners-Up: 3
Phoenix Espinoza, Negaunee
Max Sundquist, Kingsford
Daniel Manier, Iron Mountain
Third Place Qualifiers: 10
Cade Krueger, Escanaba
Austin Solis, Gladstone
Dasan Smith, Marquette
Connor Dalton, Gwinn
Reed DeGroot, Kingsford
Teagan Ray, Kingsford
Dalton Champion, St. Ignace
Jax Lipnitz, St. Ignace
Hayden O'Neill, Newberry
Brandon Walstrom, Iron Mountain
Fourth Place Qualifiers: 12
Will Ohman, Sault Ste. Marie
Trevor Thorbahn, Gladstone
Landon Weber, Manistique
Johnathan Weber, Manistique
Logan Gould, Munising
Joe Kelley, Munising
Di'Angelo Saldana, Iron Mountain
Korbyn Smith, Munising
Giovannie Saldana, Iron Mountain
Gabriel Werkheiser, St. Ignace
Michael Bouche, Manistique
Charles Walker, Bark River-Harris
DIVISION TWO at Kalkaska
132 pounds: Cade Kreuger, Escanaba defeats Cruz Rodriquez, North Branch, in third place match, on a 12-2 major decision.
144: Will Ohman, Sault Ste. Marie, loses third place match on a tiebreaker to Luke Haney of Linden, 2-1, and qualifies fourth
285: Dasan Smith, Marquette, won third place match over Carson Krzeszak of Fenton on a pin at 2:41.
DIVISION THREE at Cadillac
113: Phoenix Espinoza, Negaunee, loses in championship match to Kole Thomas of Hart, on a pin at 5:55.
126: Drew Hansen, Gladstone, wins championship, over Ryan Moreno, Clare, on a 15-0 Tech Fall
126: Reed DeGroot, Kingsford, loses third place match to Jackson Ziegler of West Branch Ogemaw Heights on a 5-4 decision. DeGroot qualifies fourth.
138: Teagan Ray, Kingsford, loses third place match to Cameron Dundas, Kingsley, on a 3-2 decision. Ray qualifies fourth.
150: Austin Solis, Gladstone, wins third place match over Maddox Cline, Shepherd, on a pin in 35 seconds.
165: Max Sundquist, Kingsford, loses championship match to Isaiah Cosgrove, Kingsley, when he was injured 4:00 into the match and had to default. Sundquist qualifies second.
175: Trevor Thorbahn, Gladstone, loses third place match to Austin Humphrey of Remus Chippewa Hills, 15-4 Major Decision. Thorbahn qualifies fourth.
215: Eli Rouse, Kingsford, wins championship, over Tucker Rokosz of Standish-Sterling in 36 seconds. Rouse won his semifinal match on a pin in 17 seconds.
DIVISION FOUR at Charlevoix
106: Landon Weber, Manistique, loses third place match to Mason Hodnett of Roscommon, on a 13-6 decision. Weber qualifies fourth for states.
113: Cooper Raab, North Central, wins championship over Dayne Gillison, Benzie Central, on a pin at 4:54.
113: Dalton Champion, St. Ignace, wins third place match over Johnathan Weber, Manistique, on a pin at 3:29. Both qualify for states.
120: Alexander Wilson, Iron Mountain, wins championship over Benjamin Deridder, Benzie Central, on a pin at 3:38.
120: Logan Gould, Munising, loses third place match to Jhonas Williams of Oscoda on a 10-0 major decision. Gould qualifies fourth for states.
126: Tyler Winch, Iron Mountain, wins championship over Wyatt Hanel of Houghton Lake on an 8-3 decision.
126: Di'Angelo Saldana, Iron Mountain, lost his third place match to Mason Langlois of Houghton Lake on a pin at 1:54. Saldana qualifies fourth.
138: Daniel Manier, Iron Mountain, loses championship match on a medical forfeit to Jacob Gillison of Benzie Central. Manier still qualifies second.
144: Hayden O'Neill, Newberry, beats Korbyn Smith, Munising, in third place match, on a fall at 2:00. Both qualify for states.
150: Gabriel Werkheiser, St. Ignace, loses third place match to Dalton Geetings, Benzie Central, on a 6-1 decision, He qualifies 4th for states.
157: Jax Lipnitz, St. Ignace, wins third place match over Logan Wilks of Charlevoix, on a pin in 1:27. He had lost his semifinal match on a pin at the final buzzer of his match.
165: Fulton Stroud, Iron Mountain, wins championship over Sam Vyner of Whittemore-Prescott, on a 16-3 major decision.
165: Brandon Walstrom, Iron Mountain, wins third place match over Joe Kelley, Munising, on a medical forfeit. Both qualify for states.
175: Connor Dalton, Gwinn, wins third place match over Danny Wallington of Benzie Central on a pin in 1:42.
190: Lucas Sischo, Bark River-Harris, won the championship on a forfeit by Benzie Central's Michale Pfeiffer. He won his other two matches on a pin and a 3-1 decision.
190: Giovannie Saldana, Iron Mountain, lost third place match to Travis Streeter of Charlevoix on a 16-0 Tech Fall. Saldana qualfies fourth.
215: Michael Bouche, Manistique, loses third place match to Ben Matter of Charlevoix, on a 7-5 decision. He qualifies fourth for states.
285: Charles Walker, Bark River-Harris, loses third place match to Adam Streeter of Charlevoix on a 2-1 decision. Walker qualifies fourth.
