Four Cardinal medal at Ithaca wrestling tournament; NMC this weekend

Four members of the Onaway High School wrestling team earned medals Saturday at a 16-squad tournament at Ithaca that featured some of the top Division 4 talent in the state.

Joe Traynham led the way, going 3-0 and winning the tournament championship at 112 pounds. Matt Tollini was fourth at 171 pounds, Casey Watson was fifth at 189, and Frankie Ramos was seventh at 215.

Traynham pinned 2013 state medalist Davian Gowans of Hesperia at the 1:52 mark in his semifinal match, then defeated Tom Savage of Portland, 7-0, in the 112 championship.

Tollini pinned Julius Underwood of Saginaw Heritage at 3:26 in the round of 16, then pinned Freddy Vanderstelt of Hesperia at 5:16 in the quarters before dropping his next two matches.

Watson pinned Grayling’s Austin Robison in the round of 16, lost in the quarters, but bounced back to pin Nate Jones of Central Montcalm and defeat Clayton Howd of St. Louis, 11—5.

Ramos dropped his first match, but bounced back to pin Bo Manke of Marlette at 3:25 and Greg Cook of Ithaca with just one second left in the bout.

Jamal Porter won his first match of the day, but dropped his next two and did not medal. Jesse W

atson, Juan Janeczek, Troy Klein, and Mike Hull also competed at the tournament.

Last Wednesday, the Cardinals split a pair of matches at Rudyard, falling to Sault Ste. Marie, 57-24, but defeating the host Bulldogs, 31-30.

Traynham, Tollini, and Isaac Nave recorded pins against SSM, while Jesse Watson won by void. Casey Watson won by pin against Rudyard, Traynham won by decision (8-1), Nave won by major decision (10-1), and TollinI and Porter won by void.

Traynham’s win in the latter came against two-time state medalist Jimmy Spencer – his first win against Spencer after multiple matches.

The Cardinal wrestlersare scheduled to compete Saturday in the highly-competitive Northern Michigan Championships in Gaylord, always perhaps the toughest tourney of the regular season