Wrestlers face tough competition at Hudson Super 16 Tourney

Jacob Shelby gets tough on the mat at the Hudson Super 16

Last week's wrestling started with a dual meet at Vandercook Lake on Wednesday, Jan. 17 and the Dutch went 2-0 on the night, with a 48-27 victory over Addison and an incredible 77-0 decision over the Vandercook grapplers.

Reese Fry celebrated a career milestone with 150 varsity wins at last week's Vandercook dual meet.

The big news of the night, however, was two Dutch wrestlers reaching milestone wins: Reese Fry (112) got his 150th career varsity win, while Charlie Depp (215) celebrated his 100th. These are great wrestling accomplishments, and both teammates are deserving of congratulations for their hard work and determination.

On Friday and Saturday, the historically-challenging Hudson Super 16 tournament was the scene of some great wrestling for the Dutchmen. On Friday night, first-place finishers included Josh Bunn, Jacob Kurgin, and Derek Gunther. Second place winners were Grant Tungate and Simon Lato; while Adam Pringle and Phoenix Waters reached third-place status. In fourth place was Jake Buono, and in fifth, Max Wagner, Travis Withrow, and Alik Farmer placed in their respective classes. Skylar Zink got a sixth-place finish.

"The Super 16 is probably the toughest in-season tournament," said parent Stacy Fry. "It is a great accomplishment to not only be selected to compete in the Saturday run, but it is huge to place. These are some of the best kids in the divisions."

Five Dutchmen made the Saturday run, and three of them placed. Manchester respectably ended up in the top half of the lineup for the weekend, placing 12th out of 31 total teams participating.

Drew Gebhardt (103#), Reese Fry (112#), Jacob Shelby (119#), Blake Belaire (130#), and Charlie Depp (215#) were the five Manchester wrestlers who faced tough competition in Saturday's matches.

Fry, who was undefeated coming off of his 150th career win prior to the tourney, was seeded number one, and faced Vincent Perez of Tecumseh in the championship match. The match came down to a 5-1 decision with Fry taking home the second-place medal for the day.

"It is hard to lose, but this competition is needed in preparation for the state run," said his mother, Stacy. "This is just a reminder to push harder."

Gebhardt brought home a fourth-place medal in his weight class, losing in the semifinal round in a decision to Matthew Curtis of Oxford.

Shelby, wrestling at 119#, won in the first round, then lost by decision in the quarterfinal to Wireman of Ida. After winning over his first two opponents in the consolation rounds, he fell short by a major decision to Oxford's Liam Hillary.

Both Belaire and Depp lost in the consolation semifinals to tough opponents from larger schools.

Manchester will travel to Napoleon on Wednesday, where wrestling begins at 6 pm. On Saturday, the team will be at the Leslie Invitational, starting at 9 am.

Charlie Depp was another wrestler who reached a career milestone last week with 100 wins.

Jacob Kurgin pulled off a win against his Vandy opponent.

Grant Tungate gets the best of his opponent in last week's Vandercook dual meet.

 

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by Marsha Chartrand

Marsha Johnson Chartrand, a founder, writer, and copy editor with the Manchester Mirror, is a 50-year resident of Manchester. She has a long history of volunteer and community involvement.