On Friday, March 1st the wrestling Redwolves competed in the MHSAA Individual State Championships held at Ford Field.  Clinton had nine state qualifiers competing for state championships during the weekend.  Starting with senior Faith Blackburn competing at 135 pounds, she opened her tournament with a pin over Kennedy Stine from Battle Creek Lakeview in 3:03.  In the girls division they are not split into divisions by school size.  So our girls compete against everyone from all sizes of schools.  With that win that put Faith into the quarterfinals against  Paisley Denault of Clarkston.  Faith dropped this match and would have to start battling back in the consolation rounds.  And Faith did just that as she pinned Allegan's Dawn DeGood in just 49 seconds to advance to Saturday's portion of the tournament and earned her fourth all state honor as a Clinton Wrestler.  

Nate Arntz competed at 106 pounds and started his tournament by pinning Jack Reyes of Algonac in 2:27.  In the quarterfinals Nate dropped his match to Ayden Ringler of Grand Rapids Catholic Central 9-2.  But Nate bounced back just like Faith did with a pin over Jude Rosas of Blissfield in 4:39 and advanced to Saturday and earned all state honors for the first time in his career.  

Senior Wyatt Hicks battled at 215 pounds and started with a 12-5 win over Harvey Grove of Gladwin to put himself in the quarterfinals.  Wyatt unfortunately lost to Jack Ward of Belding and lost his final match to Jaden Edington from Corunna to end his state run.  This senior was a captain and one of the vocal leaders of our team on the mat and on the football field.  I look forward to what his future holds.  

Hamza Rafferty competed at Heavyweight and the junior was making his first appearance at the state tournament but fell short of placing as he lost to Matt Misch of Richmond and to Isaac Casey of Belding to end his season.  A season of commitment, leadership, camps and weight room could propel this senior to be in the future.  Great season Hamza.  

At 150 pounds sophomore Cliff Jones qualified to the state tournament for the first time in his career.  In his opening match Cliff fell short 4-2, losing to David Clemmons of Algonac in a match that could have gone either way.  Cliff bounced right back and defeated Maddox Cline of Shepherd 6-4 in overtime.  But in his match to place Cliff lost to Eli Roe of Beaverton 7-3 to end his tournament.  This sophomore has a ton of potential and with some off season training, camps and leadership we are looking forward to a big junior year on the football field and mat.  

 At 126 pounds Braylon Long opened his tournament with a 12-0 dominant major decision over Ree Degroot of Kingsford.  In the quarterfinals Braylon lost to Wyatt Burns of Dundee 2-1.  Long stepped up right away in the next match by defeating Kersten McClelland of Yale 6-2 and earned his third all state honor as a junior.  

At 132 pounds Connor Younts put together some great matches on his way to his fourth all state honor.  In the opening round Connor defeated Reece Teer of Meridian Early College HS with a 20-5 technical fall.  In the quarterfinals Younts wrestled a very tactical match and defeated Lucky Gartin of Algonac 3-2 and advanced to the semifinals against a familiar opponent.  Connor took on Gavyn Merchant of Kingsley in the state semifinals.  Last year Younts dropped his match to Merchant, but not this time.  Connor was smart and wrestled with a lot of Grit to take the match 1-0 and advance to his second finals match of his career on Saturday.  Senior Maucice Ames competed at 138 pounds and started out his day with a 9-5 loss to Cole Workman of Ovid-Elsie HS.  But Maurice showed great poise and competitive spirit as he battled back to earn his second all state honor.  In his second match Maurice won by major decision 15-2 over Tegan Ray of Kingsford.  In his third match Maurice faced an opponent that had beaten him back in regionals, but Maurice was on a mission and focused.  He defeated Koltin Gross of Constantine 8-3 and was in control of the match from start to finish and advanced to Saturday.  

Sophomore Bryce Randolph competed at 175 pounds and opened his day with a major decision win over Jackson Lacek of Richmond 12-1.  In the quarterfinals Bryce defeated Holden Hollingshead of Clare with a pin in 3:44.  In the semis Bryce wrestled Anthony Schultz of Central Montcalm and won with a 16-2 major decision advancing to his first state final of his career.  

More details of the results from Saturday's portion of the tournament, following these wrestlers incredible journey.