Hurons take third at Gaylord, conference tournament set for Saturday

by Angie Asam, Staff Writer

Saturday the Rogers City Hurons varsity wrestling team traveled to Gaylord for the ever-challenging Northern Michigan Championships and finished in third place with 126 team points. Gaylord won the meet with 146.5 followed by Escanaba with 141. Nine of the eleven Hurons participating in the meet, with a few out due to illness or injury, placed in the top eight at the meet, which included 29 teams from Northern Michigan and the upper peninsula.

Junior heavyweight Devin Pommerenke was the lone Huron champion on the day as he improved to 45-0 on the season and now has 157 career wins. Devin Pommerenke pinned Cody Thomas of Traverse City West in 14 seconds, pinned Gladstone?s Jake Hadel in 30 seconds and Kyle Lajoie of Escanaba in 55 seconds to advance to the finals. In the finals against Roscommon senior Matt Compo who came into the meet with a 30-1 record, his only loss coming to Devin at the Roscommon Duals in December. Neither wrestler would score in the first period and as the second period began Devin Pommerenke had the choice, took the top and worked a pin at the 2:48 mark. Devin Pommerenke has now won 104 consecutive matches as he notched consecutive win number 100 in Cheboygan last Wednesday on his 17th birthday.

Freshman Evan Lamb (125) qualified for the finals after defeating Zack Bragdon of Traverse City West 12-4, pinning Benzie Central?s Jared Fekete in 5:52 and defeating Chase Gendron of Iron Mountain 12-3. In the finals match, Lamb would be slammed to the mat by Nathan Winkoop of Ogemaw Heights and had to injury default the match, finishing second. Junior Keegan Urban (130) and sophomore Joey Sobeck (112) were 2-2 on the day to place fourth. Junior Daniel Marx (135) and senior Ben Tulgestke (160) were each 3-1 on the day to finish fifth.

Sophomore Alex Bidlake (103 was 2-2 on the day and placed sixth. Junior Greg Tulgestke (140) was 4-1 on the day and placed seventh while senior Jacob Reisener (171) went 2-2 and placed eighth. ?I just thought with only 11 wrestlers competing on Saturday due to illness and injury that we wrestled extremely well. Nine of our guys placed in the top eight and some of those came from seeds that were way down. For example Greg Tulgestke, a 15th seed, ended up taking seventh. I believe Ben Tulgestke was seeded 10th and took fifth,? said coach Pat Lamb.

Fre

shman Caleb Pommerenke (189) was 1-2 on the day and senior Brandon Haneckow (152) was 0-1 on the day. ?I am so proud of their efforts. It was unbelievable the way they wrestled all day. Many coaches came up to me and said you know your guys wrestle hard and they wrestle tough, but they wrestle with great sportsmanship and they are first class. You know I feel the same way about our guys. They just go out there and pour their hearts out on the mat. But off the mat they are just gentlemen and they are a great bunch of guys to be around. I am extremely proud of them for their efforts on Saturday,? said coach Lamb.

LAST WEDNESDAY IN Cheboygan for the final Straits Area Conference quad meet of the season, the Hurons defeated Mio 48-12 and Cheboygan 54-18 to improve to 24-8 on the season. Double winners for the Hurons were Sobeck (112), Lamb (125), Urban (130), Blaise Ryan (135), Ben Tulgestke (160), Reisener (171), Caleb Pommerenke (189) and Devin Pommerenke (285). Haneckow (152) and Greg Tulgestke (140) were 1-1 on the day. SATURDAY IN ROGERS CITY the Hurons will host the Straits Area Conference meet beginning at 10 a.m. The regular season has come and gone for the wrestlers as they will be participating in the post season tournament beginning with team districts next Thursday in Newberry and individual districts next Saturday in St. Ignace.