The Clinton Wrestling Team traveled to Williamston for the annual Williamston Classic Tournament.  There were 22 schools in attendance and Clinton took 5th overall as a team.  The tournament started at 106 pounds, but not before several rat tail matches. In a 16 person bracket tournament there needed to have extra matches just for wrestlers to earn a spot in the tournament.  So two of Clinton's wrestlers had to win a rat tail match just to get into the 16 person bracket.  Isaac Keibler competed at 144 pounds and lost his opening rat tail match so was eliminated, but was a great support for the team throughout the day. Tanner Bolton won his rat tail match at 150 pounds to earn his way into the tournament with a 10-5 win.  In the first round Tanner suffered a loss but bounced back with a 15-0 technical fall, but dropped his match to place.  Hudson Miller competed at 106 pounds and dropped his first match before earning a 16-0 technical fall.  But Miller lost his match to place that ended his day.  Clinton had two entries at 113 pounds and Zach Taylor finished in 5th place overall, after going 3-1 with three pins.  Wyatt Cooley was unable to place as he had to wrestle Zach in the match to place and lost.  But Wyatt picked up two pins and an 8-2 win along the way, but fell short of placing.  At 126 pounds Brock Worden opened with a 20-10 major decision then dropped his second match. Brock picked up another major decision win 12-2, but lost his match to place to finish his day.  At 138 pounds Jaxon Phillip finished his day with a pin, but dropped his other two matches.  At 157 pounds Cliff Jones opened with a 17-1 technical fall win, followed by a pin in the quarterfinals.  In the semi finals Cliff picked up a 15-4 major decision to propel him into the finals.  In the finals Cliff dropped his first match of the year against a tough opponent to finish his day as Runner Up.  John Keibler dropped his opening match at 165 pounds, but came right back to earn a pin in his next match. But dropped his third match and put him out of the tournament.  At 175 pounds Bryce Randolph picked up two pins before earning a 15-4 major decision in the semi finals.  In the finals Bryce earned a 19-3 technical fall over another all state wrestler and earned the tournament championship.  Along with winning the tournament Bryce was named the upper weight most valuable wrestler for the tournament.  Gradyn Whelan competed at 190 pounds and picked up an opening round pin before dropping his next two matches and ending his day.  Landon Lakatos also competed at 190 pounds loosing his opening match 6-11, then earning a pin in just 18 seconds.  Landon's last match he lost 0-10 to finish his tournament.  Hamza Rafferty was the last competitor for the Redwolves at Hwt. and he placed third overall.  An opening round win in the quarterfinals with a pin after a first round bye pushed him into the semi finals.  Hamza lost his semi final match, but won his final match in ultimate tie breaker 3-2, which is triple overtime.  Overall the competition was amazing and our young team needs to find another gear down the stretch to continue to advance when it matters most.  The team hosts Birch Run in our final home match of the year on Wednesday, Jan. 22nd at 5:30.  Then we will travel to Adrian College on Friday night for the Lenawee All Star meeting starting at 5pm on Jan. 24th.  The wrestlers that qualified are: Zach Taylor, Cliff Jones, Bryce Randolph, Gradyn Whelan, Landon Lakatos, and Hamza Rafferty.   We also have six girls that qualified as well:  Khloie Miller, Autumn Gibson, Annabelle Howard, Kierra Fivenson, Raven Aldridge, and Mollie Clark.  Good luck to everyone.