INDEPENDENCE TWP. — Clarkston Everest Collegiate has launched its first wrestling varsity team and participated in its first competition against Shrine Catholic and Ferndale, Dec. 18.
Benjamin Czach had two wins. He defeated Ferndale’s Muse Thaxton with a 20-2 technical fall in the 106-pound weight class; and Shrine’ Christian Coletta with a 18-0 technical fall in the 113-pound weight class.
Andrew Gagho won by falls over Ferndale’s Brennan Ashford in the 150-pound weight class; and Shrine’s William Ridley in the 165-pound weight class.
David Dale (190) had a fall over Ferndale’s Zain Al Khabi and won by void against Shrine.
The program began as a club sport during the 2023-2024 academic year.
“After training as a club team during the 2023-2024 school year, Everest has seven wrestlers in its inaugural year of varsity competition,” Coach Greg Reichert shared. “Foundational to the program’s formation of student athletes are five central principles and four core values. The seven principles are strong conditioning, a fundamentals focus, insistence on being students in the classroom and of the game, an aggressive approach, and mental toughness. The core values of discipline, courage, tenacity, and sacrifice serve as buttresses to these team principles.

“Prominent on the sleeve of the team’s new warm ups is the citation for the Biblical verse Ephesians 6:12. For we wrestle not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. This verse will serve as a strong reminder for EC’s wrestlers that the disciplined sacrifice that is inherent to the sport of wrestling serves a greater purpose – that of forming men with the faith and the courage to be witness to Christ in today’s world.”
Everest has a wide offering of athletic opportunities for students of all ages. When students have an interest, the athletic department work to provide students with the opportunity to compete if at all possible. Through co-op arrangements with local schools, high school students are currently able to participate in over 15 different sports as well as club sports.

  Everest Collegiate Athletics, Wrestling