Regional wrestling set for Rogers City

 

Rogers City is hosting a Division 4 individual regional wrestling tournament Saturday and Presque Isle County will be well-represented in the tournament with nine Hurons and two Cardinals competing.

Those finishing in the top four of each weight class Saturday will move on to the individual state tournament March 3-5 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Saturday Rogers City was in Munising for individual districts. The tournament start was delayed from the morning to the afternoon due to some bad weather and once action got started the Hurons had a good day.

Senior Justin Saile (145), junior Tristan Baller (125) and sophomore Sam Sobeck (103) all won district titles.

Saile pinned Rudyard’s Tyler Spencer in 38 seconds in the semifinals before having to face off with his teammate in the finals. Saile faced junior Max Kowalewsky in the finals and won by pin in 10 seconds.

Kowalewsky reached the finals after pinning Lynn Urmanski of Gwinn in 49 seconds and Dylan Stevenson of Manistique in 5:27.

Baller pinned Jaeden Martinez of Gwinn in 31 seconds in the semifinals and defeated Cedric Nora of Ishpeming Westwood 18-3 in the finals.

Sobeck pinned Alysse Bentley of St. Ignace in 14 seconds in the semifinals before pinning Ishpeming Westwood’s Nathan Brewer in 3:44 in the finals.

Senior Quintin Kelly was second at 189 pounds. Kelly pinned Manistique’s Matt Wood in 3:19 to start his day. In the semifinals he defeated Kevin Roberts of Gwinn 15-3.

In the finals against Munising’s Hunter Saddler, who is ranked second in the state, Kelly fell 11-0 to finish second.

Senior Tom Vogelheim was second at 119 pounds. Vogelheim pinned Manistique’s Catherine King in nine seconds and St. Ignace’s Hally Halberg in 2:54 to reach the finals. In the finals he fell to Nick Miles of Munising 12-4.

Senior Casey Szatkowski was third at 215 pounds. Szatkowski pinned Ishpeming Westwood’s Seth Tackman in 3:07 before falling to Manistique’s Burton Landon by pin in 33 seconds.

Szatkowski then defeated his teammate, senior Chandler Beland 4-3. In the match for third place Szatkowski defeated Trevor Kirpatrick-Bray 3-2.

Freshman Austin Cook was third at 112

pounds. Cook won a thrilling 9-7 match over Larry Laponsie of Rudyard to start his day. He then fell to Zach McGowan of Munising by pin in 1:07 before pinning Ishpeming’s Roland Richards in 1:41. He then took on Laponsie again and this time won 6-3 to finish third.

Junior Andrew Haselhuhn was fourth at 130 pounds. He fell in the semifinals to Michael McNeill of Newberry by pin in 3:26 and was pinned by Newberry’s Richard Nalette in 2:47 in the consolation finals.

Beland fell to Hunter Collins of Newberry 13-3 before pinning Andre Walsh of Ishpeming in 1:38. His loss to Szatkowski ended his day.

Junior Juan Beltran and senior Jon Molzan each went 1-2 at 160 pounds.