MANTON — Benzie Central wrestlers went to work on Saturday and outshined the competition at the Division 4 individual district tournament at Manton.
The Huskies qualified 14 wrestlers for the individual D4 regionals this coming Saturday in Charlevoix with nine of those 14 earning district championships.
Title-winners for Benzie included Michael Pfeiffer at 190 pounds, Lane Sanchez at 215 pounds, Ryan Kincaid at 285 pounds, Dayne Gillison at 113 pounds, Benjamin Deridder at 120 pounds, Jacob Gillison at 138 pounds, Dalton Geetings at 150 pounds, Tyrone Brouillet at 157 pounds, and Dan Wallington at 175 pounds.
“This is the most we’ve ever had in the finals in districts,” Brouillet said. “It’s pretty cool to be a part of that.”
Brouillet did admit it was bittersweet to win in the finals over his teammate, Conner Wenkel.
Brouillet bested Wenkel by just a single point in the title bout, winning a 5-4 decision, but he said he was “bailed out” in the first period when the official missed two points that should have been awarded to Wenkel.
“Full props to him,” Brouillet said of Wenkel. “Those two points probably would have put us in overtime, but it’s still a pretty good feeling to win.”
Geetings, who was ranked fourth in his weight bracket, said the seeding put a chip on his shoulder.
“I was fired up this morning,” Geetings said. “I was like, ‘Are you kidding me? The four seed? I should be one or two, at least.’ But Benzie is not one to just lay down because of numbers. No, I’m going for it all. We’re going for it all, especially my senior year.”
The other five Huskies earning a spot in the individual regionals were Cage Edingfield at 106 pounds, Nathan Higgins at 132 pounds, Joe Morse at 138 pounds, Owen Cruden at 144 pounds, and Wenkel at 157 pounds.
“It was a good day,” Benzie head coach Josh Lovendusky said. “But this is not the mission. We knew we were coming out of here with 14 kids (going to regionals). The goal next week is the same thing. We plan on taking 14 kids to the state finals, and they know that’s been the mission since day one.”
That “just the start” mindset from Lovendusky has certainly trickled down to the wrestlers.
“It’s just the first step,” Geetings said. “We’re pretty confident going into regionals. We’re confident as a team that we can go all the way and send all 14 guys to state individually as well.”
The Huskies have gone from a program that won just two duals during the COVID-19 pandemic-affected season to now a powerhouse in all of Michigan.
“Just a couple years ago, we only had 11 kids and couldn’t even fill up a whole roster,” Brouillet said. “So to have a program that sends every single wrestler to regionals is pretty cool.”
Lovendusky gave all the credit to his wrestlers and his other coaches
“They’re the ones who do the work,” he said. “It’s not only humbling to watch these kids, but it was just me and one other guy trying to build this four years ago. The coaches that we brought in to help are putting in the time and dedication, and these kids are getting better because of that.”
Mancelona’s Jaymes Wildfong ran through the 132-pound weight class bracket to win an individual district championship and move on to regionals.
Other area wrestlers also qualifying for regionals were Frankfort’s Fletcher Anderson at 190 pounds, Manton’s Kavan Weinrick, Mancelona’s Leathel McCarty at 113 pounds, Mancelona’s Aaron McQueen at 120 pounds, Mancelona’s Theodore Parzych at 132 pounds, Manton’s David Mullin at 175 pounds, Manton’s Rylan Lewis at 190 pounds, Frankfort’s Thomas Edwards at 215 pounds, Manton’s TJ Sigler at 285 pounds, Mancelona’s Logan Cockeroll at 106 pounds, Manton’s Jaxon Ely at 132 pounds, and Manton’s Mark Mullin at 165 pounds
WRESTLING DISTRICTS
TC West’s Vaughan claims district title, 100th career win
SAGINAW — Traverse City West’s Brady Vaughan had himself a good day Saturday as the Titan varsity wrestler won a Division 1 individual district championship in the 215-pound weight bracket while also claiming career win No. 100 at Saginaw Heritage.
The win propels Vaughan to the individual regional tournament this coming Saturday along with fellow Titans Matthew Quigley and Trapper Holmes. Quigley suffered his first loss of the year at 113 pounds but finished Saturday in third place. Holmes placed fourth at 158 pounds to qualify.
Traverse City Central regional qualifiers included Gavin Love (190), Michael Risinger (120) and Grady Rousse (150). Both Risinger and Rousse took second place overall in their weight class.
Glads, Stags, Vikings, Trojans earn individual titles
GRAYLING — Plenty of gold was dealt out in Grayling at Saturday’s Division 3 individual district tournament as wrestlers from Traverse City St. Francis, Kingsley, Grayling and Lake City won titles.
The Stags finished with three district champions. Gavyn Merchant (132 pounds), Cameron Dundas (138) and Max Goethals (190) all claimed individual crowns.
St. Francis’ Tyler Sheeran continued his impressive season, picking up three wins and a district title at 120 pounds.
Grayling’s Logan Malonen pinned his two opponents in 17 and 16 seconds, respectively, to win a district title at 285 pounds.
Lake City’s Tyler Brown came in as the top seed and proved why, winning a district title at 144 pounds.
Other Kingsley wrestlers moving on to regionals included Jonathan Pearson (132), Colton Goethals (150), Tyler Unterbrink (157), Isaiah Cosgrove (165) and Caleb Bott (175). St. Francis’s regional qualifiers also included Luke Harper (113), Beau Belanger (165), Matthew Rialson (165) and Cam Sellers (175).
Grayling’s other regional qualifiers were Jake Huspen (190), Danny Bonamie (215), Alex Moore (106), Caleb Baker (113) and Max Huspen (138). Lake City’s Cash Bridson (215), Trenton Stockwell (106), Dayne Wolf (120) and Owen Butkovich (126) also qualified for regionals.
Manistee’s two regional qualifiers were Ean Gueinhardt (190) and Braden Cruz (285). Kalkaska’s lone regional qualifier was Gabriel Buyze-Prieto (132).
Gaylord, Cadillac nab individual crowns
GAYLORD — Three Gaylord Blue Devils and one Cadillac Viking became champions at Saturday’s Division 2 individual wrestling districts at Gaylord.
Gaylord’s Ty Besinger (190 pounds), Caiden Sides (285) and Jaron Besinger along with Cadillac’s Payton Sampson (144) all won titles in their respective weight-class tournaments to advance to regionals.
Other area wrestlers qualifying for individual regionals were Gaylord’s Luka Lehre (106), Jason Cranick (113), Kieren Beach (132), Blake Davis (150), Zane Willobee (157) and Logan Wolf (175); Petoskey’s Adam Goodwin (285), Jackson Jacobs (106), Robert Patrick (138) and Jaden Vanderwall (157); and Cadillac’s Joseph Schafer (120), Dominic Treiber (126) and Luke Phillips (165).
BOWLING
Titans, Sabres win GNHSBC boys titles
TRAVERSE CITY — The Traverse City West Titans claimed the Great Northwest High School Bowling Conference Division 1-2 boys title while the Traverse Christian Sabres earned the D3-4 boys championship Saturday at Lucky Jack’s.
Boys Team Scores: Elk Rapids White JV 26, Traverse City Central Gold JV 4; Elk Rapids Black JV 27, Cadillac Gold JV 3; TC Christian White JV 22, Glen Lake JV 8; Elk Rapids 23, Glen Lake 7; TC West 21, TC Central 9; Cadillac 21, Bellaire 9; Benzie Central 30, Mancelona 0; TC Christian 29, Frankfort 1.
Girls Team Scores: TC Central 26, Bellaire 4; TC Christian 28, Mancelona 2; TC West 28, Cadillac 2.
Boys High Scores: Ethan Ehlert (TCX) 258, 225; Cooper Phillips (TCW) 257; Logan Hewitt (BC) 235, 196; Tyler Brooks (BC) 235, 221; JJ Hintsala (TCC) 225, 204; Donte Reeves (TCW) 217, 201; Danek Szajner (TCC) 214, 212; Cole Doucette (TCW) 212; Alex Szajner (TCC) 211; Spencer Knight (CAD) 208; Tristen Lhamon (TCX) 203; Cam Baker (TCW) 195, 191; Makai Wyatt (ER) 202, 191; Josh Millward (TCX) 189, 184; Jeremiah Wilkinson (BC) 188; Carter Banton (TCC) 184; Keaston Johnson (CAD) 184; Carter Massey (BEL) 183; Reilly Kinnee (GL) 180.
Girls High Scores: Taylor Phillips (TCW) 229, 206; Gwen Oliver (TCX) 215; Jordan LaFleur (TCW) 214, 206; Hailey Kauffman (MNC) 189; Alyssa Tanner (TCW) 186, 177; Rebekah Burch (TCX) 181; Naomi Elenbaas (TCX) 172.
UP NEXT: The end-of-season conference tournament is set for Friday and Saturday at Lucky Jack’s.
Ramblers win conference title
BOYNE CITY — The Boyne City boys bowling team won its conference championship with two straight home wins Saturday at BC Lanes.
Eric Mansfield’s games of 267 and 203 were buoyed by solid efforts from Jonathan Shepherd (213, 189), Liam Dart (196) and Zach Piechan (214, 194) to beat Cheboygan and Grayling. The wins improved the Ramblers to 8-1 on the season ahead of Saturday’s conference tournament at Rogers City.
The Rambler girls swept Gaylord, 30-0, in their first match and pulled out a close 17-13 victory over Rogers City in the second.
High games for the girls came from Lauren LaBute (210), Victoria McGeorge (197), Marlee Fischl (194), Whitney Root (165), Brynn Sero (136), Lillie Bennett (117) and Miranda Knight (96).
ICE HOCKEY
Bay Reps 3
Manistique 0
Bay Reps: Grant Lucas 3 goals (now holds the Bay Reps’ single-season points record with 54 and most career goals with 81); Ethan Coleman 3 assists (including 100th career point); Carter Denoyer 1 assist; Ryan Lannen 1 assist; Mason Elliot 1 assist; Tyler Boynton-Fisher 8 saves.
UP NEXT: The Bay Reps (15-6-2) travel to Sault Area on Friday.