Four RC wrestlers compete at The Palace this weekend
Senior Justin Kelley, sophomore Dylan Centala, and juniors Josh Christ and Chris Rhode will competed this weekend at the Division IV individual wrestling finals at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Kelley will compete at 135 pounds, Christ will wrestle at 275, Rhode 189, and Centala at 125. The event is the largest high school wrestling tournament in America with 14 weight classes in each of four divisions totaling 896 wrestlers from more than 300 schools.
Christ and Rhode placed first in their weight divisions at regionals in Hart and faced a fourth-place wrestler from another region in their Thursday opener. Christ is the only undefeated Huron heading into the final day Saturday. He pinned senior Mike Edge (35-11) of New Haven in 29 seconds and followed that with a pin of John Burt in 20 seconds. In the third round, Christ pinned Jamie Llerenain 4:16. ?He can beat anybody,? Lamb said of his heavyweight state title hopeful. Some of the wrestlers who could stand in the way of a state title medal.
On the other side of the bracket is number one seed senior Brian Leighton (55-0) of Gobles. Christ?s only loss was to the UP heavyweight champ Adam Sutter of Gladstone. That match was marred by Sutter delivering a head-butt to Christ, sending him to the mat where the Huron was pinned. Christ was well on his way to coming back on the scoreboard.
Centala placed second at regionals. His state opener will be against one of the four seeds who placed third at 125. Dylan?s been hampered by an ankle injury the last 10 days. The coaches had him on crutches so he would keep his weight off it. Centala took a 12-3 decision over junior Aaron Gates (35-12) of White Pigeon in his first match. He lost 10-5 to Nathan Gonzalez (46-6) of Springport in the second round. He defeated Kyle Judy, of Homer, 20-10 in the first consolation round. The coach had hoped more wrestlers from his roster would have qualified for the finals, but some were hampered by injuries.
KELLEY, CHRIST, and Centala are returning state qualifiers with Centala the only wrestler to place. He became the first freshman in the history of the RCHS wrestling program to place third. Kelley lost 9-4 to junior Travis Bernheisel of Springport in his opening match.
?He is more focused than I?ve even seen him,? Lamb said of the repeat state qualifier.
He won in the firs consolation round, 10-1 over Erich Everett, of M
Rhode got off to a good start by pinning senior Bryan Coleman (28-21) of Breckenridge in 3:08. The junior won district and regional crowns and has been unstoppable. Chris ?has really been going after people,? coach Pat Lamb said. He lost to 14-2 to Brandyn Jones, of Blissfield. He came back to win an 11-4 decision over Andrew DeGroot of Kent City. The only undefeated wrestler at 189 is senior Neal Kemp of Lutheran Westland. Lamb believes senior Aaron Stewart (49-2) of Dansville will be a force to be reckoned with.