DIVISION 2
@BAY CITY WESTERN
Semifinals matchups: Greenville vs. Gaylord, Bay City Western vs. Escanaba.
Led by five individual district champions, Greenville is the team to beat at Western. The Yellowjackets, ranked fifth in the state in Division 2, qualified 11 wrestlers total for the individual regional and are peaking at the right time. Jordan Thomas (189) led the way at the individual district while Mike Schmidt (103), Alec Ward (125), Luke Gilmore (160) and Kaleb Bell (171) also captured district titles.
Bay City Western has enjoyed a resurgence this season but faces a tough test from the Upper Peninsula in Escanaba. Escanaba qualified seven wrestlers for the regional tournament including a pair of district champions. Western qualified five wrestlers for the regionals led by Jacob Wibert (119), Mickey Gosselin (135) and Tyler Kuch (145) who all placed second.
@GOODRICH
Semifinal matchups: Croswell-Lexington vs. Clio, Lapeer West vs. St. Johns.
The Redwings are the overwhelming favorite to capture this district. St. Johns put on a clinic at the individual districts where 10 Redwings won district titles and a total of 13 wrestlers qualified for the regional. Combined, the three other teams at the district accounted for 13 wrestlers qualifying for the regionals. The Redwings will get a challenge from a tradition-rich Lapeer West team that has a total of six regional qualifiers in its lineup. Look for a close battle in the other semifinal match between a talented, young Clio team and Croswell-Lexington.
@LOWELL
Semifinal matchups: Lowell vs. Grand Rapids Northview; Wyoming Rogers vs. Fruitport.
Like at Goodrich, Lowell is a huge favorite to dominate its own regional. A total of 14 Red Arrows qualified for the individual regional last weekend and like St. Johns, Lowell crowned a total of 10 individual champions. The three other teams at this regional combined to send a total of 14 wrestlers to the regional. Lowell defeated conference rival Northview during the league season and should face Fruitport in the finals but will have little trouble in punching its ticket to Battle Creek.
@ALLEGAN
Semifinal matchups: Allegan vs. Byron Center, DeWitt vs. Hamilton.
It will be a battle of top ten teams in the semifinal between Allegan and Byron Center. Host Allegan is ranked fourth in the state in Division 2 while Byron Center is ranked eighth. Allegan qualified 11 wrestlers for the regional tournament including four district champions. Senior Taylor Simaz (145) led the way as he improved to 48-1 for the season while junior Austin Kelley (119) improved to 49-2. Byron Center counters with a senior-laden lineup that produced eight regional qualifiers.
Look for a close match between DeWitt and Hamilton. Both teams qualified five wrestlers for the individual regional tournament and each team had one district champion. DeWitt is led by senior Nate Knauf who improved his record to 43-4 as he won the 189-pound district title while senior Nick Baker upped his record to 43-9 as he placed second at 135.
@LINDEN
Semifinal matchups: South Lyon vs. Lansing Eastern, Fowlerville vs. Mason.
The young Lansing Eastern squad has enjoyed a resurgence this season. The Quakers followed up a second-place finish at the CAAC Blue tournament by winning a district title. Eastern totaled seven regional qualifiers at the individual district tournament led by juniors Aaron David (125) and Elijah Dennis (160) who both won individual district titles. South Lyon comes in with a squad that totals three regional qualifiers.
The marquee match of the evening will be between Mason and Fowlerville. Mason enters the regional ranked 10th in the state. The Bulldogs totaled nine regional qualifiers at the district tournament including a pair of district champs led by senior Nick Starzec (152) who ran his record to 39-1 and sophomore Rylen Droscha (140) who upped his record to 34-6. Fowlerville has plenty of talent of its own as it qualified 10 wrestlers for the regional. The Spartans had a trio of district champions led by junior Adam Coon who ran his record to 42-0 enroute to winning the 285-pound title with a 3-2 victory over Mason’s Adam Robinson. Freshman Brian Moran won the 215-pound title and improved to 39-3 while junior Austin Cottongim won the 145-pound title.