By Greg Gielczyk
KALKASKA — Grayling’s wrestling team won its fifth straight Lake Michigan Conference title on Saturday, Feb. 4 at Kalkaska. The Vikings finished the regular season 5-0 in conference duals to get a leg up on the competition.
It was the Vikings’ mission to win the tournament to complete a perfect conference season and solidify their dominance. But it was a little close for comfort as Charlevoix led most of the day until the Vikings pulled away in the later rounds.
Five individuals came away with league championships, making them First Team All-Conference. Two others placed second in their weight classes, which gave them Honorable Mention status.
Andrew Hopkins brought home a gold medal at 119 pounds. It was the junior’s third straight league title. He’ll vie for his fourth in a row next year. Max Halstead, a freshman, won the title at 125. Another championship was recorded at 130 pounds by junior Cole Hibbard and Reece Ferrigan dominated the field winning all his matches by pin falls in the 189-pound weight class. Zach Kelly also went 5-0 at heavyweight.
Second places were recorded by sophomore Logan Joseph at 160 pounds, losing in the title match, 14-10, and sophomore Eli Settle at 171 pounds. Settle has been had a rough go in his weight class this year. Tyler Withers, a junior, tied for second place at 215.
“We take pride in being a dominant team in the conference,” Moore said. “In practices coming up to the meet the kids were really focused on making sure we won the tournament. Grayling has a few streaks and that was one of them the kids didn’t want to break.
“I think we stand good to keep that streak going for a few more years, anyway. We’re young, which is good for our future. The other streak we have is a state qualifier streak. We have a handful of kids, upperclassmen and a freshman who are capable of doing that.”
The Vikings tuned up for the LMC tournament by competing in the Northern Michigan Championships meet at Gaylord and came away with nine individual medalists out of a field of 29 teams.
Two of those were second places, one garnered by Reece Ferrigan at 189 pounds and the other earned by 125-pound wrestler Max Halstead. Tyler Withers picked up a third place at 215 pounds, Logan Joseph came in sixth at 152, heavyweight Zach Kelly also was sixth.
Junior varsity wrestlers also did well, with Justin Bodkins and Felipe Escalante each finishing second. Gabe Ervin had a third place. It was a decent day for the Vikings wrestlers all the way around.
“It was a great tournament,” Grayling wrestling coach Andy Moore said. “We saw a lot of teams that will be in our district. This was a good measuring stick of how we could do in the postseason. But, you never can really tell how that will go.
“Reece and Max continue to lead the team on the mat. Both wrestled tough all day. Tyler wrestled well, getting to the semifinals before losing. Logan wrestled well in a tough weight class. He almost upset the number one seed in the second round.”
Moore added that the heavyweight class was loaded with good wrestlers and Kelly faced some wrestlers that aren’t in the Vikings’ division. All the Vikings got some valuable mat experience, which they sorely needed.
Grayling wrestled in the team district tournament at Boyne City on Wednesday where the Vikings face the Ramblers first. In the other semi-final Gladstone takes on Charlevoix. The two winners meet in the championship. The individual district is Saturday at Grayling.
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