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Five Chip Wrestlers Medal
at Invitational
SCOTTVILLE — Manistee News Advocate staff
report. Five different Manistee High School wrestlers won medals at an
eight-team individual invitational at Mason County Central on Saturday.
Caleb Bailey (119), Tyler Fogarty (140), Travis Bulerski (160) and
Trevor Schwandt (189) all won third-place medals, while Alex Meyers
(103) medaled for a fourth-place finish. “It was a great day,” said
Manistee coach Chris Codden.
Of the eight teams at the tournament, Manistee placed sixth in
points. Allendale took the top spot with seven first-place finishers,
followed by Shelby, Fremont, Benzie, Mason County Central, MHS,
Frankfort and Traverse City St. Francis.
“Allendale is a powerhouse,” Codden said. “Their kids looked like
they’ve been lifting weights for years.”
Bailey entered the invitational undefeated at 9-0 this season, but
lost his first match of the day on points in overtime. Codden disputed
the referee’s call and said Bailey should have won the match. “It was a
very controversial call,” he said. “Unfortunately, it went against us.”
However, Bailey rebounded to win his next three matches and finish the
day 3-1, putting him at 12-1 for the season. |
Fogarty also lost his first match on a decision that Codden questioned
as well, but won the rest of his matches, including a victory over the
wrestler he lost to, finishing 3-1. Bulerski also finished 3-1 and
impressed Codden with his win over a Shelby wrestler. “He did a
fantastic job,” Codden said. “He used all technique. It was a well
thought out win.”
Schwandt went 3-1 and surprised Codden by being in better shape than
his coach thought. “He had some really good wins,” Codden said.
Meyers finished 2-4 for fourth place, while Travis McKenney (112),
Tucker Bruce (130) Jesse Kelley (145), Jon Hujiev (152) and Cody Polcik
(215) all went 1-3. Nick Carter (125) and Raul Torres (heavyweight) both
went 0-2. “They did really well,” Codden said of his wrestlers,
who got a taste of some of the competition they will face as new members
of the Mid-Michigan Wrestling Conference. “It’s going to be interesting
when we meet Benzie in the conference.”
The Chippewas have enough wrestlers that they’re now able to field a
complete junior varsity team. Manistee was invited to take part in a
team tournament at Grant, and Codden said he thought it was a JV event.
When assistant coach Dale Kniss took the JV wrestlers there he found his
squad was actually going up against varsity wrestlers, and was pleased
that the Chippewas went 1-3 on the day with a win over Ovid Elsie.
“They had some really good wins,” Codden said. “They showed a lot of
character.” |