Seventh year sting

After six straight seasons of holding onto the Oakland County trophy, Clarkston grapplers came in third place, losing it to Lake Orion.
Going into the second day of the tournament, Dec. 22, Lake Orion had two advantages going for them. The second part of the tournament was held at their high school for a home advantage against the other 49 teams. Also, they were already in first place after scoring 137.5 points the previous night.
Clarkston followed closely with a 1.5 point difference going into the second day.
By the end of the day long tournament, Lake Orion scored 295.5 to put themselves in first place. Novi’s Detroit Catholic Central followed in second place with 288.5 points. Clarkston was next with 255 points earned by the team.
‘We did well ? we had a shot,? said Coach Joe DeGain about their placement.
‘We did well getting third place out of 50 teams that participated in the tournament. We were not quite strong enough to walk away with championship.?
Taking first place titles for Clarkston were Matt Dietz (125), Alex Popp (135), and Adam Lauzun (171). This was Lauzun’s second year winning a first place title.
Other wrestlers that placed for Clarkston were Bryant Craft (189) in third place, Erik Butterfield (160) in fifth place, and Sloan Hadsall (215) in seventh place.
Clarkston needed more wrestlers to place to balance out the points, said DeGain.
The tournament marked the beginning of a midseason break for the team.
During the break, the Wolves will be able to work on getting ready for the second half of the season with less pressures.
‘I think it will be good to have this break,? said DeGain. ‘With the down time, they can grow a little bit.?
Also, they will be ready to put on their game faces.
Clarkston grapplers first competition of 2008 will be Wednesday, Jan. 9.
They will travel to Troy High School, 4775 Northfield Parkway, to compete in a double dual against Rochester and Troy. The dual will begin at 5:30 p.m.