On Friday, Feb. 3rd the varsity boys wrestling team competed in the LCAA conference tournament at Dundee.  Clinton finished in 2nd place behind Dundee, but ahead of Hudson who was third.  Clinton compiled 182.5 points on the day behind 8 finalists.  Wyatt Hicks was the champion at 215 pounds after defeating Kenny Sledge of Hudson by pin, then defeating Collin Eggelston of Blissfield by pin.  Hamza Rafferty won the heavyweight championship by pinning Chris Galloway of Ida, then pinning Matthew Houtiker of Blissfield in the finals.  Braylon Long finished runner up at 113 pounds behind a first round pin over his opponent from Blissfield, then picked up a 14-1 major decision of Christian Millican of Columbia Central before dropping his finals match.  Connor Busz finished runner up at 120 pounds as he pinned James Overton of Onsted before dropping his finals match.  Connor Younts finished in second at 126 pounds by defeating Tucker Miller of Hudson 3-1 in the semi finals before dropping his match in the finals.  Zak Shadley finished third overall at 132 pounds.  Zak pinned Cameron Harvey of Onsted in his first match, before dropping his semi final match.  Zak bounced back with a 5-0 win over Anthony Mingione of Blissfield, and pinned Trevor Konieczny of Ida in the third place match.  Maurice Ames pinned Josh Herring of Hillsdale before pinning Austin Marry of Hudson in the semi finals.  Maurice dropped his finals match to finish in second place at 138 pounds.  Clifford Jones finished third overall at 144 pounds.  Cliff won by technical fall 19-4 over Jordan Barns of Hillsdale to open the tournament, before dropping his semi final match.  Cliff picked up two wins in a row, pinning Josh Rose of Ida, and defeated Geraldo Martinez of Blissfield 5-2 in the match for third.  Ethan Younts finished in second at 150 pounds after defeating Jacob Pickford of Hudson 5-1, then dropping his finals match.  Bryce Randolph finished as runner up at 157 pounds after pinning Adam Stuzman of Blissfield in 13 seconds, then defeated Aden Barrett of Hudson 6-2.  Bryce dropped his finals match to finish second.  Landon Lakatos competed at 190 pounds and finished in third place, as he dropped his opening match 3-7, before coming up with a big pin over Noah Marks of Blissfield.  Clinton's last three matches of the day were pins by Lakatos, Hicks, and Rafferty that propelled the team ahead of Hudson to finish second behind nationally ranked Dundee.  The boys competed well today and we are very proud of their effort. 

Another group traveled to Madison on Saturday, Feb. 4th for a varsity tournament and freshman Brenden Benschoter placed 5th overall at 120 pounds.  Brenden lost 2-7 in the quarterfinals, but battled back for three straight wins.  Benschoter picked up two pins and an 11-0 major decision to finish fifth.  Tanner Bolton competed at 132 pounds and went 2-2 on the day.  Tanner picked up a 5-2 decision and a pin on the day.  Aiden Johnson competed at 150 pounds and picked up a pin over Ben Martinez of Athens, but fell short of placing.  Both Austin Putnam (138) and Luther Fultz (Hwt.) competed but were unable to place.  

Our Girls Varsity Team made the long haul to Midland for their regular season finale, before they attend the girls regionals.  Faith Blackburn finished her day in second place at 130 pounds.  Raven Aldridge earned third place at 135 pounds.  Michelle Arntz competed at 110 pounds and went 2-2 on the day behind two pins, but fell short of placing.  Leanne Mercier competed at 155 pounds and went 2-1 before having to stop for the day due to an injury.  Gabbi Pearce (125) and Kierra Fivenson (145) both competed well but fell short of placing.  The girls will compete again at the girls MHSAA Regional Tournament on Sunday, Feb. 19th for a chance to wrestle at Ford Field for an individual state championship.  

Next up for the wresting team will be the MHSAA Team Districts hosted by Clinton.  Wrestling starts at 5:30pm on Thursday, Feb. 9th.  Clinton will wrestle Stockbridge in the opening round and with a win will wrestle the winner of Blissfield and Madison directly after for the District Championship.  Come out and support your wrestling Redwolves as they start their post season.  On Saturday, Feb. 11th the team travels to Williamston for the MHSAA Individual Districts that start at 9am and the top four in each weight class will advance to the Individual Regional at Madison on Saturday, Feb. 18th.