By Wendi Reardon Price
Staff Writer
wprice@mihomepaper.com
LAKE ORION — Clarkston Varsity Wrestling finished in the top three of their last three tournaments.
The Wolves took on the top of the county and finished in second place as a team at the 2024 Oakland County Championships at Lake Orion High School, Dec. 13-14.
The Wolves finished with 257.5 points out of 34 teams. Detroit Catholic Central finished as champion with 294.5 points.
“It was a good showing from our team,” said Brian Gibbs, head coach. “It’s always nice to have DCC’s starting lineup there. It makes for a more competitive, more fun environment. We had seven in the finals as did they. It was a pretty close race. They ended up with a couple more placers than us so they got us in the end in the team race. Our guys performed really well. We had nine placers and all of them were in the top three – definitely happy with that.”
The nine placers were Archer Anderson (126) and Ayden Mutter (157) in first place; Joseph Hahn (106), Gavin Culloty (120), Preston Lefevre (132), Nate Carter (144) and Cayden Neumann (285) in second place; Noah Vogt and Marco Marino (150) in third place.
Anderson (126) went 4-0 for the tournament. He had three wins on the second day over Stoney Creek’s Isaac Fandakly with a technical fall, 20-3; Brother Rice’s Richie Davis by a injury default; and Detroit Catholic Central’s Wyatt Lees, 12-3. He defeated St. Mary Prep’s Preston Kalasho with a fall, 26 seconds on the first day of the tournament.

“Typically they hand out outstanding wrestler awards, this year they did not, but Archer would have been my vote and probably a few others,” said Gibbs. “He had beat Lees from CC who is a very good wrestler, a two-time state champ. He beat him 12-3. He controlled the match. It was good to see him go up against some good competition and excel.”
Mutter (157) went 5-0 in the county tournament. He defeated Rochester Adams’ Elia Thomas, 17-7; Detroit Catholic Central’s Jayse Nagy, 10-1; West Bloomfield’s Christian Ausi, with a technical fall, 16-1 on the second day. He had wins on the first day over Notre Dame Prep’s Pauli Aiello with a fall, 38 seconds; and Groves’ Joshua Riesenberger with a technical fall, 18-2.
“He just dominated the field,” said Gibbs. “He is undefeated this year and kind of on a tear. He hasn’t had a close match yet. It’s nice to see him jump levels this year.”
Hahn (106) went 3-1 for the tournament. He had wins on the second day over Groves’ Kolya Reemer by a fall, 1:46; Brother Rice’s Chris Eschrich with a technical fall, 16-1 on the second day. He defeated Rochester’s Jonathan Abrishaman with a technical fall, 15-0.
Culloty (120) went 3-1 for the tournament. He had on the second day with wins over Rochester Adams’ John David, 2-0; and Waterford Kettering’s Jayden Barnes with a fall, 4:25. He had a fall over Stoney Creek’s Ben Barkham on the first day, 1:04.
Lefevre (132) went 4-1 for the tournament. He opened the tournament with falls over Troy’s Pavan Lingampelli, 24 seconds; and Lake Orion’s Jason Little, 1:15, on the first day. He defeated Royal Oak’s Andy Allen with a technical fall, 15-0; and Detroit Catholic Central’s Meyer Murray with a technical fall, 18-1, on the second day.
Carter (144) went 3-1 for the tournament. He had one match on the first day, winning with a fall over Berkley’s Ethan Musgrove, 1:29. He defeated Oxford’s Connor Stokes with a technical fall, 20-2; and West Bloomfield’s Julian Brenner with a fall, 2:33, on the second day.
Neumann (285) went 3-1 for the tournament. He had two wins on the second day over Stoney Creek’s Noah Gjocaj by a fall in 36 seconds; South Lyon’s Nathen Main by a fall in 26 seconds. He defeated Oxford’s Liam Sambowski on first day with a fall, 2:34.
“Even though he was a runner up Camden had a really fun, entertaining match at heavyweight, back and forth. It’s cool to see him go out and wrestle,” Gibbs said.
Vogt (113) went 7-1 for the tournament. He went 5-0 on the second day with wins over Rochester Adams’ Chris Spresney, 15-11; Bloomfield Hills’ John Yousif with a fall, 2:38; Lake Orion’s Johnny Adragna, 4-1; South Lyon’s Derek Ward with a fall, 4:18; and Stoney Creek’s Nazar Kadi, 8-1. He had two wins on the first day with falls over Groves’ Griffin Lorenz, 3:02; and Rochester’s Sayani Palomet, 55 seconds.
Marino (150) went 4-1 in the tournament. He defeated Notre Dame Prep’s Sami Barawi with a fall, 3:48; Milford’s Griffin Hudechek with a fall, 1:59; Novi’s Bovi Freeman, 12-9 on the second day. He had two bye rounds on the first day and defeated Groves’ Caden Filthaut with a fall, 3:38
Joel Carter (165) went 2-2 with wins over Notre Dame Prep’s Nicklaus Creek with a fall, 3:13; and St. Mary Prep’s Evan Michaelis with a fall, 1:54, on the first day.
Trey Setter (175) went 2-2 with both of his wins on the first day with falls over Avondale’s Mustafa Alkeilani, 3:06; and Notre Dame Prep’s David Lanfear, 1:30.
Chase Olson (190) went 1-2 on day one with a fall over Rochester’s Wade Youngblood, 1:10.
Gavin Peruski (138) went 1-2 with a win over Royal Oak’s Brody Jackson with a technical fall, 17-1.
Gibbs shared competing in the county meets will help the athletes as they compete in the next few months.
“A lot of our league is in the county so we see those match ups and see how we gauge individually with those people and those match ups. It gives us a little bit of confidence,” he said. “DCC has been essentially the top team in the division for a long time so for us to be neck and neck with them heading into the finals its a good confidence booster for them and prove to the team where we are at and where we can be in the time we have left to continue to build to the end of the year.”
The varsity team defeated Westland’s John Glenn High School on Dec. 20, 47-22; and the JV team left the away meet with a 71-20.
The Wolves finished in third place at the Medina Invitational Tournament out of 53 teams with 156 points, Dec. 27-28. Gavin Culloty (113), Preston Lefevre (132) and Nate Carter (144) finished as champions in their weight classes. Archer Anderson (126) finished in second place.
Clarkston finished in third place in the Detroit Catholic Central Invitational on Saturday with 125 points.
The Wolves had six wrestlers finish in the top six. Preston Lefevre (132) Camden Neumann (285) finished as champions in their weight classes. Gavin Culloty (113) and Archer Anderson (126) finished in third place while Nate Carter (144) and Ayden Mutter (157) finished in sixth place.
Lefevre (132) went 4-0 with technical falls over Dakota’s Blake De Stefano, 16-0; Romeo’s Tristan Holt, 17-1; Detroit Catholic Central’s Meyer Murray, 15-0; and Detroit Catholic Central’s Nathan Walkowiak, 17-0.
Neumann (285) went 4-0 with wins over Bronson’s Sam Tappenden with a fall, 21 seconds; Rockford’s Alex Stewart with a fall, 29 seconds; Jenison’s Anton Barynas, 10-9; and Lapeer’s Jase Fuller, 3:07.

Culloty (113) went 3-1 with wins over Marian Central High School’s Austin Hagevold twice, 15-14, and 13-10; and Romeo’s Justin Rizzo with a fall, 3:39.
Anderson (126) went 4-1 with wins over Goodrich’s Jonathan Davis with a technical fall, 20-5; Romeo’s Bryce Holt with a technical fall, 19-3; Dundee’s Bryan Sterling, 12-4; and Detroit Catholic Central’s Mack Moscovic, 14-0.
Carter (144) went 3-3 with wins over Bronson’s Caleb Harvey with a technical fall, 19-3; Detroit Catholic Central’s Xavier Wey with a technical fall, 17-1; and Dundee’s Avery Lane with a fall, 1:35.
Mutter (157) went 3-3 with Grosse Pointe South’s Daniel Linnel with a technical fall, 18-2; Detroit Catholic Central’s Jack Moore with a technical fall, 15-0; and DCC’s Jayse Nagy, 6-1.
The top five teams out of 27 included Dundee in first place with 190.5 points; Detroit Catholic Central Blue, second, 184.5; Davison, fourth, 116.5; and Marian Central, fifth, 105.
The Wolves head to Rochester for a OAA Dual on Wednesday at 5 p.m. They host the Clarkston Duals on Saturday, 9 a.m They host Senior Night during the OAA Duals on Wednesday, Jan. 15, 5 p.m.

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