When the six minutes were done for junior Chris Calvano and senior Scott DeVos claimed championship titles in their respective weight classes at the MHSAA Individual Regionals, Saturday.
Nine from the Clarkston Varsity Wrestling team went to the tournament and five qualified to go to the state finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills next week – Calvano (171), DeVos (289), junior Nick Vandermeer (152), senior Ethan Frick (189), and sophomore Cameron Wilkie (119).
“It is a pretty tough region. They did really well,” said Coach Derek Moscovic.
Calvano defeated three wrestlers in his weight class, Davison’s Ryan Thick, 1-0; Midland’s Krute Hoffman, 5-3; and Hartland’s Justin Charneski, 7-3.
“He grabbed the lead right away against Hartland,” said Moscovic. “He wrestled a smart match and right down to the whistle to get a takedown with ten seconds left. I was proud of him.”
DeVos also had three wins against Saginaw Heritage’s Ray Delgado, fall 3:20; North Farmington, Majd Mokbel, fall 1:27; and Walled Lake Central Ildo Luca, 4-0.
“Scott is really pushing to pace the heavyweights and trying to open matches up,” said Moscovic. “He is doing a nice job with each one of his matches.”
Vandermeer, Frick and Wilkie finished in fourth place to take the final spot to go to the state finals.
“Cameron upset a kid from Davison to move on,” Moscovic added about Wilkie’s win over Derek Humphrey, 4-3 in the third round. “It was a big accomplishment for him. He did a nice job of keeping his head in the match and keep wrestling. The last second reversal to win the match moved him on.”
DeVos, Frick and Vandermeer are making their second consecutive appearance at the state tournament. DeVos and Vandermeer both finished at All-Staters.
The team lost to Hartland in the MHSAA Team Regionals for the third consecutive year, 44-24.
“We went out there and wrestled well,” Moscovic said. “At the end they were just a well-coached team. We fell a little behind and weren’t able to catch up. They a good team. You are going to have to really compete to beat them.”
Wins came from Jake Dionne (130) with a pin over Devon Shalut; Mike Cardinale (135) defeated Marcus Lopez, 8-5; Calvano defeated Justin Charneski. They won in the 119- and 285-pound weight classes by voids.
The boys defeated Birmingham Seaholm, 53-21, finishing the season 20-10.
The five Wolves heading to Auburn Hills now prepare to compete for the championship crown.
“I am looking forward to competing next week,” said Moscovic. “We are going to have a good tournament.”
The tournament begins March 1 at the Palace of Auburn Hills with the Grand March at 2 p.m. and the first round starts at 2:15 p.m. with the 189-pound weight class.
It continues into March 3, with the championship rounds beginning at 4 p.m.