Wrestlers earn 30th district title
by Angie Asam —Staff Writer
The first week of the postseason started well for the Rogers City Hurons wrestling team. Last Thursday in Onaway the Hurons captured their 30th district title with a 54-29 win over Charlevoix. The team traveled to Manistique Wednesday (after press time) for team regionals where they took on Norway. The winner advances to the regional final against the winner between St. Ignace and Ishpeming Westwood.
“Tommy Vogelheim started us off and got our momentum going. Justin Saile came out and wrestled up a weight class doing very well. We wrestled very well to win a district title. I am very proud of my team. Wednesday will be a barn burner, our matchups are very well with all the teams, but it will be one of the closest team regionals I have ever seen,” said coach Pat Lamb. Vogelheim started off the match with a pin at 103 pounds and the Hurons never trailed.
Saturday the Hurons were in Ishpeming for individual districts where senior Evan Lamb earned not only his fourth consecutive district title but earned his 200th-career win.
Lamb is now fourth all-time in Rogers City High School wrestling wins behind Duane Woloszyk (205), Devin Pommerenke (210) and Dylan Centala (220). Lamb reached the milestone in the district finals at 135 pounds when he pinned Jonathan Willey of Ishpming in 1:25. He advanced to the district final after pinning Toivo Hendrickson of Ishpeming Westwood in 15 seconds and Jason Brown of St. Ignace in 1:29.
“You know I have been thinking a lot about a word that can describe Evan. I think consistent has to be it. He consistently goes out there and gives you 110 percent 110 percent of the time. To do that as a young man coming up as a freshman and wrestling for four years like he has is amazing. I can’t think of many instances where he didn’t go out and just give us the very best that he’s got. He is probably one of the most consistent wrestlers I have ever coached. Of course I could use a lot of other adjectives to describe him but I am just so proud that I was able to coach him throughout his high school career. He’s just a pleasure to coach and a pleasure to be around,” said head coach Pat Lamb.
“In order to get to 200 wins you have to remain relatively healthy and Evan has battled through a lot of minor injuries and sickness in his wrestling career, however, he’s only missed three matches and that was because I made him go to the doctor to have his knee checked out or he would have wrestled those too. He is just one of those kids who can’t stand to miss an athletic competition whether it be a wrestling meet, football game or baseball game; he feels that if he is on the team he is going to be there representing his team,” said coach Lamb.
With individual regionals at home Saturday Lamb and the rest of the regional qualifiers will be looking to finish in the top four and qualify for the individual state finals. Lamb (46-2) is currently ranked No. 3 at 135 pounds in Division IV and will take on Brady Long of Pine River a sophomore with an 18-19 record to start regional action.
Senior Caleb Pommerenke (189) also captured a district title defeating Cheyene Shave of Manistique by pin in 26 seconds in the semifinals and defeating Casey Watson of Onaway 9-3 in the finals.
“Caleb coming through and winning a district title in his senior year is just awesome. He was pretty dominant on the day. He has wrestled Watson over and over again this season, that makes it difficult. But Caleb did a good job slowing down the pace a little bit to score some points. The sky is the limit for what he can accomplish from here on out,” said coach Lamb.
Caleb Pommerenke (40-5) is currently ranked fifth at 189 pounds and will take on senior Tom Miller of Pine River (34-15) in the opening round Saturday.
Sophomore Jacob Sobeck (125) earned his second consecutive district title as he defeated Katie Parker of Newberry by pin in 35 seconds and Dakota McLennan of St. Ignace by pin in 37 seconds to advance to the finals. In the finals he put on a show as he defeated Cayleb Winkler of Norway by technical fall 17-0 early in the second period.
“Jacob was like a machine in the finals. To go out there and just go from pinning combination to pinning competition to tech the kid was awesome. I think his opponent was happy to get off the mat,” said coach Lamb.
Sobeck (44-6) will take on Herman Velasquez of Hart a senior with a record of 23-25.
Sophomore Cameron Urban (119) placed third. Urban defeated Austin Cesaro of Charlevoix by pin in 1:07 before falling to Alex Edwards of Iron Mountaini 20-7. Urban then pinned Zac Carter-Powell of Rudyard in 1:40 and Trevor Swanson of Ishpeming Westwood in 1:31 to finish third.
“Cameron wrestled extremely tough. He is a force to be reckoned with at 119,” said coach Lamb.
Urban (38-9) will face Zach Schaub of Traverse City St. Francis, a junior with a record of 27-7 in the first round.
Justin Saile (103) a freshman, had a good day to finish third. Saile fell to Onaway’s Isaac Nave by pin in 4:48 before pinning his teammate Vogelheim in 42 seconds and Emily Myers of Ishpeming in 54 seconds to place third.
“Justin wrestled fantanstic on the day, he really closed the gap with Nave in that match and I think if he brings the same intensity he wrestled with on Saturday this weekend he has a good shot at going to state,” said coach Lamb.
Saile (22-12) will face No. 8 Davian Gowens of Hesperia a freshman with a record of 31-11.
Junior Jack Ryan placed third at 140 pounds. Ryan defeated Dylan Givchin of Ishpeming 13-3 before falling to Cole Gonzalez of Manistique 9-2. He then won 12-6 over St. Ignace’s Robin Chargo and won by injury default to take third.
Ryan
Sophomore Austin Bober (145) was the final Huron to place in the top four and stamp his ticket to compete in individual regionals in Rogers City this Saturday as he finished fourth. Bober defeated Ishpeming’s Jordan Tousignant 8-6 before losing to Manistique’s Mat Gonzalez 2-0. He then defeated Jesse Halberg of St. Ignace 4-3 before falling to Charleviox’s Jake Novotny 3-0 to place fourth.
Bober (23-16) will face senior Cash Bolles of Hesperia (33-7) to open his run at the state finals.
Also competing at individual districts were Autumn Blanchard (119), Grant Popour (135), Jared LaFleche (171), Corey Schaedig (215) and Sage Sawyer (285).