FOWLERVILLE – High School wrestling teams from across the state of Michigan traveled to their respective regionals this past Saturday looking to book their individual trips to the biggest stage of wrestling in the state of Michigan, the Michigan High School Athletic Association (MHSAA) Individual state finals to be held at Ford Field March 6-7.
Lenawee County will see a total of 31 wrestlers moving on to Ford Field from eight different schools along four divisions, including three divisions in the boy’s state finals and one divison in the girls. In order to give each wrestler their much-deserved time in the spotlight we here at The Daily Telegram will split up the results from Saturday’s regional round of wrestling into three different stories, individual stories covering Divisions 2, 3 and 4 and their results.
The following recap will cover just the Division 2 wrestling programs here in Lenawee County, which includes wrestling programs from Adrian and Tecumseh.
Adrian qualifies three for MHSAA state finals, Blaker claims 113-pound regional crown
A total of three Maples have booked their ticket to Ford Field in Detroit for the MHSAA individual state finals with a top four finish in their respective weight classes.
One Adrian grappler battled his way to gold at the regional level, as Micah Blaker (36-4) secured a pair of tech falls and a major decision to win gold at 113-pounds. To kick off his run to the top of the podium Blaker defeated Hudson Powell of DeWitt via a 16-1 tech fall, which was quickly followed by a semifinal match versus Rene Gonzalez of Mason. Blaker dominated yet again, defeating Gonzalez by a 17-1 tech fall, setting up a regional title match with Jameson Onstott of Eaton Rapids. While Onstott proved to be a challenge, Blaker was not to be denied, taking home the dominant 14-5 major decision, giving him the 113-pound regional title and a trip to Ford Field in Detroit.
Two other Maples earned a spot on the podium and thus advanced on to Ford Field, including John Breckel at 190-pounds and Jace Miller at 157.
Breckel (41-4) battled his way to the championship match thanks to a 16-0 tech fall in the quarterfinals, followed by a razor thin 6-5 decision over Donny Hoyt of Eaton Rapids in the semifinals, placing Breckel in the championship to face the previously undefeated Brady Meyers of Portland (48-0). Breckel battled but ended up falling via pin fall to Meyers in 5:23, giving himself a very respectable second place finish.
Also earning a top four finish and a spot at the state finals for Adrian will be Jace Miller (31-10) who finished in third place at 157 pounds.
Also wrestling for Adrian at the regional competition was Aaron Saunders at 165 pounds (31-16) and Lee Nieto Jr. at 126 pounds (28-16).
Tecumseh’s Torres punches ticket to Ford Field
Three Tecumseh grapplers traveled to Fowlerville on Saturday looking to book their ticket to Ford Field for the MHSAA State Finals, however only one of the three was able to finish inside the top four as Cruz Torres finished in fourth place at 175.
Torres (37-17) dropped his first match of the day, a tough decision loss to Brock Foster of Charlotte, before rattling off two big wins to assure himself a podium spot. Torres battled hard but came up short in the third-place match, falling via a 15-1 major decision to Gavin Sebastian of Eaton Rapids (43-11).
Also wrestling for Tecumseh but coming up short of a podium spot was Maximus Walker (27-22) at 120-pounds and Ben Shirk (30-19) at 132-pounds.
Stay tuned to The Daily Telegram for updates on the seedings for the individual state finals and who each of Lenawee County’s wrestlers are paired with when it is announced.
This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Division 2 wrestling sees Adrian qualify 3, Tecumseh 1 to MHSAA State
Reporting by Troy Tennyson, The Daily Telegram / The Daily Telegram
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
