Pommerenke, Sobeck to compete at state finals
by Angie Asam, Staff Writer
Five Huron wrestlers traveled to St. Ignace Saturday to compete in the individual regional tournament after qualifying by finishing in the top four at districts. Sophomore Devin Pommerenke (285) would finish first while freshman Joey Sobeck (103) placed fourth qualifying both young men for the state finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills March 12-14.
Pommerenke would pin Chen Martinez of Montague in 50 seconds and Cody Wolever of Hesperia in 1:16 earning him a chance at the regional title. In the finals against Adam Kent of Iron Mountain who Pommerenke had beat for the district title a week earlier he would again win by pin in 48 seconds to earn the regional title. Pommerenke is now 55-0 on the season and has set a new record for consecutive wins in a season after passing Andy Keller?s mark of 54.
?Devin Pommerenke walked through the competition. Pinning his opponents all in the first period to win a regional championship. He is now 55-0 on the season with 44 pins and 11 forfeits. So in essence the young man has scored the maximum number of points every time he has stepped on the mat. He set a new school record for most consecutive victories with 55 and counting and he is getting very close to setting a school record for most team points, he is ten points behind right now. Chances are he will achieve that before the season is over. I have used every adjective I can think of to describe Devin?s performance this year so I don?t really know what else to say except that he is doing an exceptional job and he is an exceptional young man. He deserves all the accolades that he gets,? said coach Pat Lamb.
Sobeck would pin Terry Fedewa of Farwell in 54 seconds before falling to Shawn Rosecrans of Hesperia 5-7. Sobeck would battle back defeating Tommy McDade of Onaway 9-7 to earn a trip to the state finals. In the match for third place Sobeck would lose 4-9 to Alex Holmes of Pine River to place fourth.
?Joey wasn?t feeling up to par on Saturday. He wasn?t about to use that as an excuse though as he wrestled to a fourth place finish. We are just awaiting the matchups to see who he has in the first round. There is no doubt in my mind that Joey if feeling well can go down to the Palace and place and do quite well down there. I was just happy to get him through the day and get the fourth place finish,? said coach Lamb.
Three sophomores also competed for the Hurons but came up just short of qualifying for the state finals. Daniel Marx (135) would lose by pin to Josh Chartier of Mio then battle back to defeat Ryan Odell of Mancelona by pin in 4:52. In the match to get into the final round Marx would fall to Chuck Edwards of Iron Mountain by pin in 2:08 endi
At 130 pounds Greg Tulgestke and Keegan Urban would both fight to the bitter end but like Marx ended their seasons just shy of qualifying for the finals. Tulgestke lost to Jordan Bates of Hesperia 1-9 then battled back defeating Cameron Longstreth of Clare 4-1 before losing to Eric Brown of St. Ignace 2-14 ending his season with a record of 30-26.
Urban would fall to Matt Crowder of Hart 2-7 before defeating Sam Federoff of Pine River 12-5. Urban then squared off against Dylan Carr of Iron Mountain and would lose 6-4 ending his season with a record of 26-17.
?Keegan, Greg and Daniel each won a match during the day and proved not only to themselves but this coach and everyone in attendance at the meet that they are all sophomores and are all going to be a force to be reckoned with in the future. They wrestled extremely well on Saturday and I was very proud of them. The only thing that would have made me anymore proud was if they would have qualified,? said coach Lamb.