By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
wprice@mihomepaper.com
INDEPENDENCE TWP. — Clarkston Varsity Wrestling opened the winter season with two wins in their first dual last Wednesday with victories over Lapeer and Bedford.
“It was good,” said Brian Gibbs, head coach. “Obviously it’s early in the year, nobody’s at either full strength or exact weight they want to be. But, it’s always good to get a good test in the beginning of the year especially from a team like Bedford, who happens to be my alma mater, who is always primarily known as being a tough strong physical team, good in the hand fight, good upper body.
“It’s a team that’s going to expose you if you’re not ready,” he added. “Even though we came out with the win, we got exposed and it’s going to help us out throughout the year knowing what we have to work on. Being early in the year, I am happy with how the team performed. We have a good mix of upperclassmen and underclassmen this year. I think everybody showed up and was ready to go.”
The Wolves opened the night with a 48-15 win over Lapeer.
The dual began with a back and forth battle with the Lightning taking the first match in the 165-pound weight class with a 9-2 decision for Lapeer’s Mason Kirby.
Clarkston won the next match in 175-pound weight class with a technical fall by Trey Setter over Gregory Imerzel-Ward, 23-6.
Ethan Zak (215) had a 12-7 win over Brody LaBar and Joseph Hahn (106) grabbed the lead with a fall over Antonio Cosme with 53.9 seconds left in the first period, putting the score 14-9.
The Wolves built onto the score with pins from Noah Vogt (120) over Ava Kingston in the first period; Nate Carter (150) over Lucas Byrd with 43.4 remaining in the first period; and Ayden Mutter (157) over Dane Curtis 34 seconds into the match.
Archer Anderson (132) and Preston Lefevre (138) won by technical falls. Anderson marked his technical fall over Conner Haslett at 2:22 with a 16-1 score. Lefevre marked his technical fall in the first period over Aiden Lambrix, 15-0.
Gavin Culloty (126) won his match with a void.
Clarkston finished the night with 37-30 win over Bedford.
“We started at 175-pound and it was a back and forth duel for eight to ten matches,” Gibbs said. “Then, coming down the stretch I knew at 132-pound, 138-pound and 144-pound we had Archer, Preston, Nate not only close us out, but put us in position to win the duel. We knew heading into that stretch that bonus points are going to be big, and put us in the position to have either Marco (Marino) or Ayden (Mutter) close us out. Ayden got a major decision for us to seal the duel. Those are the guys that we’re going to rely on. It’s always nice to have those guys in your back pocket especially to close the dual out. It’s big for us.”

Wins for the Wolves were: Setter over Connor Hall, 15-11; Chase Olson (190) over Simon Montrie, 1-0; Hahn over Grayson Vaillant with a fall; Culloty (120) over Griffin Tibai, 6-1; Anderson over Nolan King with a fall; Lefevre over Caden Merritt with a fall; Carter (144) over Noah Benore with a fall; and Mutter (157) over Micah Dillabaugh, 10-2.
Gibbs added he was happy with their leaders, Anderson, Lefevre and Carter right now, going 2-0 for the night winning by falls and technical falls.
“We’re going to rely heavily on those guys for bonus points this year,” he said. “So it’s is nice to see them go out, attack, score, and help the team out. Freshman Joey Hahn went 2-0 with two pins. Freshman Noah Vogt went 1-0 with a pin. It’s good to get those freshmen in the lineup get some experience. We set Austin Wisterman against a returning state placer so good to get those guys experience. Trey Setter went 2-0 and had a win against a regional qualifier.”
The Wolves competed in the Herm Wilkinson Classic on Saturday. The JV team brought home the team title as 20 wrestlers competed and 16 finished as champions. The overall record was 53-7 for the day with 44 pins.
The varsity team finished the day as team champions, 59.5 points ahead of the second place team. They had five wrestlers finish as champions in their weight class with Lefevre and Carter receiving “Outstanding Wrestler” accolades.
“We get to see some competition that we won’t see the rest of the season,” Gibbs said going into the meet. “Being tested in our first duel meet, some of those guys that might have taken a loss Wednesday night will be able to see some competition that they can kind of get in a rhythm with. I think individual tournaments are pretty unique because you’re going to have your mix of competition so you can find your rhythm, find what’s working and also find out what you know what you need to work on.”
The Wolves head to Howell on Wednesday, 5:30 p.m.
They compete in the Oakland County Championships on Friday and Saturday.
“Detroit Catholic Central is sending their 18 this year,” Gibbs said. “You have Rochester Adams that has a lot of good kids. Oxford obviously has a lot of good kids. Us as well. I think it’ll be a really fun county tournament. There are some powerhouse teams around the county, and every team seems to have two or three really good individuals that make the weight classes very good. It’s something we are looking forward to.”
The county meet is at Lake Orion High School. The session on Friday begins at 4 p.m. and the session on Saturday, 9 a.m.

  Clarkston Athletics, Wrestling