Hurons will be all business the rest of the way, after placing fourth at Ithaca

From here on out, the Rogers City Hurons will be all business on the wrestling mats. When they travel to Gaylord this weekend for the Northern Michigan Wrestling Championships coach Pat Lamb has set the goal of winning the tournament. The same goes for tonight?s duals against St. Ignace and Rudyard. Last week, Lamb set a goal for the Hurons heading into the Ithaca Invitational. It was to wrestle loose and aggressive, and have fun. He said they accomplished one of three goals in placing fourth. ?I think we enjoyed ourselves, but we did not wrestle loose and aggressive,? said Lamb.

The coach expected better. Hesperia (251 points) has senior-laden squad and placed first, more than 50 points ahead of second place Chippewa Hills (196.5). The Hurons were 13.5 points from finishing in second.

FINISHING AHEAD of Rogers City, though, was New Lothrop, whom the Hurons finished ahead of at Marquette last month by quite a few points. ?It did not go very well,? said Lamb, in assessing the weekend results. ?We, for the most part, did not wrestle very aggressively. We looked, believe it or not, like we were out of shape. ?I don?t know if it was exams or having the day off in the middle of the week and not having a dual on Thursday. I don?t know what it may have been, but I believe we should have been in second place.?

He said there were matches that slipped away, which normally are victories. ?I don?t think I had them mentally or physically prepared for the challenge of this invitational this year,? said Lamb. Nine Hurons placed, including T.J. Sobeck (103 pounds) and Chase McLennan (171), who both finished at the top of the podium.

SOBECK WAS dominant on his way to first. Carrying the number one seed through the bracket, he had a bye, two pins, and won an 8-2 decision in the finals. McLennan pulled out a 6-5 decision in the semifinals and came back from being down 4-0 in the finals, to earn a 14-9 decisio

n. Brent Freel (125) and Tharin Wilk (130) made it to the finals, but settled for runner-up honors. Freel lost a major decision, 16-3, while Wilk was edged 3-1. Placing third was Alex Matthews (130). He lost his second match of the day 3-0, but came back with four consecutive victories in the consolation bracket. He was seeded fourth, so Lamb was extremely pleased he finished ahead of his seeding. Dustin Hein (145) placed two positions ahead of his seeding. He upset the number two seed, Cody Malone of Grayling, early in the day, 11-7, but faced him later in a battle for third. Malone avenged the earlier loss, 10-0.

JEROME GAPCZYNSKI (160) also competed for third place, but dropped a close, 9-8 match. Michael Vogler (119) took a fifth, while Mike Mierzwinski placed sixth. Up next on the schedule will be a pair of duals at St. Ignace, as the Hurons look to improve on their 18-2 record. That will be followed by the 28-team tourney Saturday at Gaylord. Wrestling on five mats begins at 10 a.m. There will be medals for the one through sixth placers, the most pins, as well as MVP honors for the upper and lower weights.

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