2012 TVC WRESTLING CONFERENCE MEET
1 Birch Run 229.50, 2 Caro 188, 3 Bullock Creek 156, 4 Swan Valley 124, 5 Freeland 93.50, 6 Carrollton 83.50, 7 Alma 77, 8 Hemlock 70, 9 Garber 64, 10 St Louis 62, 11 Millington 59, 12 MLS 57.50, 13 Frankenmuth 48, 14 Shepherd 47.50, 15 Ithaca 38, 16 Chesaning 37, 17 North Branch 32, 18 Valley Lutheran 26, 19 Bridgeport/Ovid Elsie tie 4, 21 Merrill.
What a day of wrestling at Carrollton High School on Saturday, February 4th! Birch Run showed their teeth and depth by running away with the title with 2 Champions and 13 total placers while perennial powers of the league watched and admired! The three separate divisions of the Tri Valley Conference gathered to wrestle in the annual mega conference championship. Fun and great wrestling was had by all!
Wrestling started at 103 with Jerry Fenner of Birch Run beating Shane Herrmann of Caro in the final 3-0. This weight class provided some great action with 12 entries from the 20+ schools. Freshman, Damian Castillo of Alma made his first showing at 103 and beat Freeland’s Graham Fitkin to prove he is gonna be someone to reckon with during the upcoming MHSAA state tournament. Keith Wirostek of Chesaning bested Jose Hernandez of Swan Valley to round out the top 6.
At 112 the action was paced by the top 5 teams who had the top 5 placers in this weight class of 20. Cody Hall of Caro dominated the field winning by major decision over Swan Valley’s Dylan Ewald 17-3 in the finals. Freeland’s Josh Schlack beat Birch Run’s Kyle Kelsey 14-9 for the 3rd and 4th place match while Bullock Creek’s James Torres won by 3 over Hemlock’s Justin Honsinger to place 5th and 6th.
The 119 pound weight class provided an awesome finals match where Hemlock’s Chance Lisek lit up Caro’s Marshall Conley. This was a very exciting match showcased by a flawless standy granby roll by Lisek to take a commanding lead only to see Marshall fight his way back to a 18-7 final score. Millington’s Travis Phillips who made his debut at 119 this weekend gave Lisek’ his toughest match of the day during the semi’s losing 8-4 bested Bullock Creeks Nick Torres by fall for 3rd and 4th while Josh Hobson rounded out the action by beating Shepherds Dillon Sponseller 4-2 for 5th and 6th place respectively.
20 wrestlers at the 125 pound weight class saw Swan Valley’s Zack Rothlisberger pin his way through the competition. Coach Darryl Burchfield excitement for Zack was evident as he smiled and said “Zack is peaking at the right time!” Freeland’s Glenn Fitkin wrestled well, taking 2nd for the Falcons. Birch Run’s Preston Hogan beat a tough Jared Weisenberger for 3rd and 4th by a decision of 9-5 and Dan Rocheleau of Caro beat “the creeks” Brody Noykos by fall for 5th place in this TOUGH class!
An exciting 130 pound final saw Bullock Creek’s Chris March storm out to a 5-0 lead over Birch Run’s Lake Bennett but Bennett stormed back to lose by the slimmest of margins 6-5. Shepherd senior Mike Cline claimed 3rd place by pinning host scholl Saginaw Carrollton’s Severino Agular in one minute and 26 seconds and Charlie ferens of Freeland rounded out the action beating Garber’s Lawrence Florida 3-1.
At 135 top seaded Leon’Tay White of Swan Valley fell to a tough Damian Johnson of Birch Run 8-5 in a highly contested final while Alma High School’s all time win leader Bruce Hubbard beat Carrollton’s Bryce Baase by a nickel for 3rd and 4th place. Freeland’s Cavin Compton doubled up “the creek’s” Brett Green 8-4 for 5th and 6th.
The 140 lb. weight class saw Bullock Creek’s John Finney dominat a field by thumping Birch Run’s Jared Elliot in the finals 9-2. Wes Asel pinned Taylor Braman of Shepherd in the consolation final while Alma’s Justin Jerome handled St Louis’s Jed Abott 11-6 for 5th place.
The 145 pound weight class showcased a rematch between Hemlock’s Justin Tomasek and Bullock Creek’s Scott Flowers. Tomasek beat Flowers at the recent Saginaw County Tournament 2-0 to hand Flowers his first defeat of the year and it must have put a “BAD TASTE” in Scott’s mouth because this rematch was a different story and we saw Flowers put on a clinic in front of a packed gym at Carrollton! 17-5 was the final score for Scott to avenge his loss. This weight class was loaded!!! Mike Borzy of Swan Valley beat a strong Ben Fowler of North Branch for 3rd and fourth while Nick Bierlein squeeked by Caro’s Skyler Ley for 5th and 6th.
Two of the states best paired up in the 152 pound final, Swan Valley #1 ranked Mith Mallott faced off against Birch Run #2 ranked Caleb Slavik. These two studs went at it and all in the gym had to admire these great wrestlers go at it. Malott won the match 5-2 but Slavik never quit and I would imagine that these two may square off again sometime in the near future. Brandon McCann of BC beat Kyle Trisch of Caro for 3rd place 5-3 and Carrollton’s Calvin Boyd beat Hemlock’s Mitch Kenney by fall for 5th and 6th.
Two all staters met in the finals at 160 pounds. Caro’s returning state runner up faced Alma’s all state junior Liam Widman in a match with a bit of history. Last year Widman bested Jaster in a early match only to see Jaster get revenge at the Palace and go on to place 2nd while Widman fell to an 8th place finish. In this match there was only 1 winner as Widman handled Jaster 3-0 but the score was closer than the match as Widman’s pace was too much for Jaster on this day. Jared Putz from MLS showed his capabilities as he thumped Chesaning stud Jerry Mahar in the consolation finals and Tyler Sova of Birch Run finished with a fall over ben McCann of Bullock Creek for 5th and 6th.
The 171 pound class was loaded with wrestlers from the 3 individual conferences and saw a tournament high 24 wrestlers land here. St Louis all state Wayne Beach showed he has the endurance to beat a large field as he handled a very strong Jeremy Decker from Caro in the finals match. Zeke Shifflet of North Branch beat a very strong Mason Geno of garber for the consolation prize and Valley Lutheran saw their senior stud beat cross town rival Ben Holm from Carrolton for the 5th and 6th place match.
The upset of the day was at 189, as the home crowd from Carrolton saw their undefeated, Justin Fabin lose his first match of the year in the semi’s. Fabin did come back and finish 3rd but it opened the door for Caro’s Kendall Betteridge to win the championship over Millington’s Joe Yeo who bested Fabin 9-2 in the upset from the semi’s. Chris Adam’s of St Louis was 4th while Birch Run’s Forrest Conners beat ithaca’s Travis Wetzel for 5th and 6th.
Ithaca’s undefeated Josh Capen won the 215 pound weight over Birch Run’s highly ranked Hunter Emery. Capen was flying under the radar but i think people will start to notice this stud from Ithaca that if you add his wrestling and football record together has over 60 wins in a row!! Sam Deschaine from Frankenmuth beat Garber’s Joe Foret 10-4 for 3rd and fourth while Valley Lutheran’s Jacob Kaufman beat Caro’s Nate Gossen for 5th.
Heavyweight saw MLS Matt Gulick beat Frankenmuth #1 seed Jesse Micho by pin in 3:00. MLS, coach Bode said “the win was well earned” by a hardworking Gulick! Jared Pitts of Freeland pinned Birch Run’s Kyle Spencer for 3rd while Jacob Govine of Millington beat Caro’s Cammrin Phillips for 5th place.