The Wolves started the holidays by taking their opponents to the mat and finishing in third place at the Oakland County Wrestling Tournament, Dec. 21.
‘We had a good performance,? said Clarkston Varsity Wrestling Coach Derek Moscovic. ‘Oakland County is pretty tough. You have some competitive teams with some great individual wrestlers. After some disappointing losses in the semis, we pulled together as a team to come back and took third. We are proud of them.?
Clarkston finished with 177.5 points and nine wrestlers placing in the top eight in their respective weight classes. Novi Detroit Catholic Central took first place with 307 points and Oxford finished in second with 247.
Senior Cameron Wilkie led the Wolves taking third place in the 125-pound weight class with a 6-0 win over Collin Campbell from Oxford.
Fourth place finishers were: Bret Foltz (130) after a 5-1 loss against Waterford Kettering’s Brandon Conrad; senior Jake Dionne (135) after a 7-4 loss against West Bloomfield’s Matt Gudeneau; and sophomore Nate Troutvine after a 8-0 loss to Oxford’s Ben Line.
Senior Greg Miller (112) took fifth place with a pin on Walled Lake Central’s Kaleb Marion with four seconds left in the first period.
Connor Ryan (119) finished in sixth place after a 8-1 loss to Detroit Catholic Central’s Parker O’Brien.
Sophomore Nolan Eriksen (152) took seventh place with a 16-1 technical fall against Birmingham Seaholm’s Reed Cortright.
For eight place, sophomore Kyle Masters (145) lost to Troy Athens? John Staron, 10-0; and junior Kas Waitkus (171) lost to Waterford Kettering’s Zak Carter, 2-0.
‘Everyone wrestled extremely well and competitive,? Moscovic said. ‘Kyle, Nolan and Nathan stepped up and it was a pretty big thing to do as a sophomore to place in Oakland County. Bret, Cameron, Greg, Connor and Kas performed very well. They might not have placed where they wanted to but they came back and wrestled well to help their team out.?
The boys return from holiday break this Saturday as they head to Brighton for the Manning Vieau Invitational.
‘This is the first time we haven’t had a holiday tournament because of our schedule,? Moscovic said. ‘We gave them a couple of days to recover for a holiday rest and have them ready to go for the second half of the season with tough competition with the DCC Super Duals and the Oakland County/Macomb County duals.?
He added the Oakland County tournament helped the team out with seeing where they are at as well as what they need to work on.
‘It is a great gauge,? Moscovic said. ‘Oakland County has a lot of state champs and a lot of returning state placers. If you want to be in the state tournament those are the kids you will see and need to beat. It makes it a great gauge this early in the season. It lets you know right away what you have to work on to get there.?
The tournament begins begins at 9:30 a.m. at Brighton High School, 7878 Brighton Rd in Brighton.