Wolves pin down success in district rounds on mats

By Wendi Reardon Price
Clarkston News Sports Writer
Champions is one word to describe how the week went for Clarkston Varsity Wrestling for their first week in the post season – winning the team district championship and having ten qualify during the individual district meet on Saturday.
The Wolves opened the week with a 46-33 win over Bloomfield Hills in the MHSAA Division 1 Team Wrestling District 107 Championship at home for their 17th consecutive district title win, Feb. 9.
“Bloomfield Hills came out and hats off to them – they fought,” said Brian Gibbs, head coach. “They got some good wins on us. It is a good prep for Saturday.”
He added the night was a good reminder to the team the postseason will be tougher as the Wolves win over the Blackhawks earlier in the season wasn’t as close, 53-15.
“It doesn’t matter what happened in the past, everybody is 0-0,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what you’ve done. It doesn’t matter what they have done. It’s about putting out effort every single match and take it one match at a time. You can’t take any for granted because everybody wants to take it from you, and you have to work hard in the match.”
Auggie Anderson opened the night with a fall over Jonathen Abrams in the 144-pound weight class with 13 seconds left in the second period.
Cayden Strong (150) won his match over Seven Hannah with a fall 40 seconds into the match.
Brock Trevino (175) also had a fall over Roman Kalaj, 1:42 into the match.
Ethan Lefevre (157) won his match with a 17-1 technical fall over Ameen Haq, with eight seconds remaining in the first period.
Nathaniel Carter (132) won his match with a 19-3 technical fall over Anthony Najjar, 4:21 into the match.
Tyler Le (106), Archer Anderson (113) and Brady Vogt (126) won their matches with voids.

Clarkston Varsity Wrestling celebrates winning their 17th consecutive district title, Feb. 9. Photo: Wendi Reardon Price

The Wolves followed it up with qualifying ten at the MHSAA Division 1 Individual District 2 meet on Saturday at Birmingham Groves.
“It’s great,” Gibbs said. “We have two top five teams, us and Hartland, and a pretty good field outside of that. We have two freshmen, a couple of sophomores and some juniors going as well. We have a lot of underclassmen going. It was a great day for us especially since the crossover with the other districts we went 7-3 in our placement round that sets us up nice for next weekend.”
Vogt (120), Carter (126), Auggie Anderson (138) and Strong (144) finished the day as champions.
“They all did very well,” Gibbs said.
Vogt went 3-0 for the day with wins over West Bloomfield’s Christopher Coleman with a fall; West Bloomfield’s Corey Coleman with a fall; and Hartland’s Dallas Korponic, 6-1.
“Very happy with Brady,” said Gibbs. “He continues to just be a workhorse for us.”
Strong went 4-0 for the day with a fall over West Bloomfield’s Nathan Herbert; a 17-2 technical fall over Bloomfield Hills’ Abrams; 12-2 major decision over Lakeland’s Seth Zimmerman; and 7-0 win over Milford Grant Stec for the championship.
“It’s Cayden’s first district title and he’s a senior – that’s cool to see,” said Gibbs. “He dominated his way through.”
Carter went 3-0 for the day with falls over Waterford Mott’s Micah Koop; Birmingham Seaholm’s Alex Tappan; and Milford’s Kamia Fielder in the championship.
“Nate had a great match in the finals,” Gibbs said. “He pinned his way through the tournament and pinned a No. 3 wrestler in the state in the finals. He’s a wrestler that’s fun to watch. He’s a young freshman. Every time he steps on the mat, the other guy is in danger. He has put things together to make a good run at the end of the year. Very happy with him.”
Auggie Anderson went 4-0 for the day with a fall over North Farmington’s Daniel Kelly; a fall over Waterford Mott’s Nolan Moorer; a 15-0 technical fall over Walled Lake Northern’s James Moore; and 14-3 over Hartland’s Liam Wiitanen.
“Very happy with Auggie and Cayden,” Gibbs said. “They continue to be the senior leaders.”
Preston Lefevre finished second place in the 113-pound weight class. He had byes for the first two rounds and went 1-1 for the day with a 17-2 technical fall over Hartland’s Jake Gillespie.
E. Lefevre (150), Brock Trevino (175), Archer Anderson (113) finished in third place.
E. Lefevre went 3-1 for the day with falls over Birmingham Groves’ Joshua Riesenberger; Milford’s Ryan Ternes; and West Bloomfield’s Anthony Coleman.
Trevino also went 3-1 with falls over Birmingham Groves’ Zafir Simmons; Walled Lake Northern’s Ben Peterson; and West Bloomfield’s Seth Weissman.
Archer Anderson went 3-1 with wins over Birmingham Groves’ Eli Haenick with a fall; Farmington’s Jacob McKimmons with a 17-2 with a technical fall; Hartland’s Gillespie with a fall.
Anthony Cach (190) and Le (106) finished in fourth place.
Cach went 3-2 for the day with wins by falls over Walled Lake Northern’s Jeffrey Daniels; Lakeland’s Tyler Grabczynski; and North Farmington’s Charnie Edwards.
Le went 2-2 for the day with a fall over Waterford Mott’s Ethan Bell; and 13-0 win over Lakeland’s Jackson Rogers.
“I am excited to see those guys next weekend,” Gibbs said.
The Wolves head to West Bloomfield for the MHSAA Division 1 Regional 102. They compete against Birmingham Seaholm on Wednesday at 5 p.m. The final is against the West Bloomfield/Hartland winner at 6:30 p.m.
The individual regional is at Hartland against the winners from the Lapeer district on Saturday.
The girls compete in their regional on Sunday.

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