Ethan Frick and Nick Vandermeer conquered the OAA Red/White tournament on Saturday, finishing as champions in their respective weight classes.
Wolves from the Clarkston Varsity Wrestling team finished overall in third place in the 12-team tournament behind foes Oxford and Rochester.
“They wrestled really well,” Coach Derek Moscovic said about their effort. “The kids that were in the finals wrestled really well. They avenged some losses.”
Vandermeer beat Jacob Peasley from Oxford with a pin in the 152-pound weight class. He lost to Peasley earlier in the season.
“He is starting to wrestle at a higher level than he did before,” said Moscovic. “He is correcting a lot of things that cost him points before. He is correcting it and using it to his advantage. As soon as he starts doing that he can be dangerous.”
Frick (189) defeated North Farmington’s Kevin Miller, 8-5.
“Ethan did a nice job,” Moscovic added. “He lost to a kid a couple weeks ago from North Farmington, who is ranked high in the state. He wrestled a smart match and beat him.”
Taking second place were Cameron Wilkie with a 7-2 loss against Ross Bahro from West Bloomfield in 119-pound weight class; Chris Calvano to Cody DeVoe from Rochester in 171-pound weight class, 5-2; and Scott Devos to Nick Gajdzik from Stoney Creek in 285-pound weight class, 7-4.
“Even the kids who lost kept wrestling,” said Moscovic. “Chris lost but he did a nice job of competing until the end of the whistle. That is where we want to be at this time of year and compete all the way to the final. Everybody did that. Cameron and Scott did a great job.”
Adam Myers (215) defeated Cody Badgero from Avondale with a pin for a third place finish.
Greg Miller pinned Farmington Harrison’s Michael Volyanyuk in the 103-pound weight class for a fifth place finish.
Lucas Carroll (125) and Jake Dionne (130) also finished in fifth place. Carroll won his round by a forfeit and Dionne defeated Mike Williams from North Farmington, 8-1.
“They are mentally where we want to be right now for this upcoming push into the state tournament,” said Moscovic.
The boys lost to Davison in their last home match for the season, 45-28.
“Davison is a good team,” Moscovic noted. “They have some really incredible wrestlers. Having said that our guys went out there and competed. We didn’t let them come in and intimidate us at all. Guys went after it and a few guys got pins. They were behind in the match but found a way to get ahead and pin those kids. A lot of teams will put their shoulders up around their ears and be intimidated and we weren’t. It is something to be proud of.”
Vandermeer was the first to score for Clarkston and put them one point behind the Cardinals after his 14-5 win.
Davison won the next match with a pin in the 160-pound weight class but Calvano kept the Wolves close by winning the next match with a pin with :50.6 left to go.
Frick brought the boys into the lead, 16-11, with his pin with 32 second left in his match.
Myers also won with a pin with 1:06 remaining in the second period after already capturing a 4-0 lead. Devos finished the streak with a win by void.
Davison fought back and won the next seven matches to take the win.
The boys head to Waterford Kettering on Thursday for the MHSAA Team District competition, they start at 5:30 p.m. against Waterford Mott. The winner moves on to the final round against the Kettering/Pontiac winner.
“We look good,” added Moscovic.
“If everyone wrestles to their potential we should have a good night.”
The boys head to Hartland on Saturday for MHSAA Individual District match, the top four wrestlers from each weight class will move on to regionals next week.
“The level of competition always takes a step up no matter what,” said Moscovic. “People wrestle to keep wrestling and it makes a huge difference. We are ready. Our guys are focused. They are excited to compete.”