Wrestling team falls in regionals; will send 10 individuals to state competition

The Manchester Dutch wrestling team fell short on a regional championship, but cashed in big with 10 individual state-level qualifiers this year. State Finals will be held March 2-3 at Ford Field.

On Wednesday night, they Flying Dutch wrestlers headed north to Burton for their Division 4 regional tournament. There they faced regional competition from other District champions Burton-Bendle High School, Memphis High School, and local rival Clinton High School.

In the first round, Clinton overcame Bendle, 68-15 and Manchester shut out Memphis, 78-0. But when it came down to Clinton vs. Manchester in the second round, the Dutch were edged out of competition by Clinton wrestlers by a score of 42-18. Manchester had a great showing to end a great season for the Dutch Wrestling team.

But there were still individual regionals to come, on Saturday at New Lothrop High School. And that turned out well for the Dutchmen.

Of the 14 wrestlers who qualified for regional play, 10 of them subsequently qualified for the State Tournament to be held March 2-3.

Sophomore Drew Gebhardt, wrestling at 103#, coming in with a 42-7 season record, ended up in second place after holding a 7-1 decision against AJ Baxter of Clinton in the final round.

At 112#, team standout Senior Reese Fry, boasting a 52-1 record for the season, maintained his winning streak throughout the day ending with a 9-0 decision against Zachary Goss of Vassar.

Jacob Shelby, a sophomore, who wrestled at 119#, earned his third-place medal and qualification for state, following a 7-1 decision over Logan Wolford of New Lothrop.

Wrestling at 130#, Junior Grant Tungate earned a hard-fought 4-0 decision to reach third place, leaving his Clinton rival, Anthony Stockdale, a senior.

Two teammates had qualified at the 135# weight class–Junior Josh Bunn and Senior Blake Belaire. Belaire, with a 41-11 record going in, ended up in second place after posting two falls earlier in the day, but on the short end of a tight 4-2 decision at the final round to come in as regional runner-up to Ryan Wehner of Bad Axe. Bunn fell to William Dow of Mayville in the final round, to end up with a fourth-place medal for the day.

In the 140# weight class, Jacob Kurgin faced Riley Jeffrey of Clinton in the consolation round, and ended the day with a fourth-place medal. Kurgin, a sophomore, still has two more years of competition to move up in the standings!

Derek Guenther, also a sophomore, wrestling at 152#, wrestled well throughout the day, but in the final consolation, took a quick 39-second fall to his opponent, Jacob Horst of Sandusky. Guenther ended the day in fourth place.

At 160#, Sophomore Collin McCaffrey won a 10-0 decision in the first round, and prevailed in consolation to bring home a third-place medal after a close 5-4 decision put him ahead of Senior Eric Peters, of Cass City, for the second time that day as they both appeared in the consolation finals.

Rounding out Manchester’s day was another Regional Champion at 215#, Senior Charlie Depp. Going into the day with a 46-8 record, Depp picked off each of his regional competitors as the day went on, ending up with another tight decision, 1-0, over Logan LaBean of Mayville.

Four other regional competitors also wrestled hard, and although they came home empty-handed, remain armed with high hopes for the future. Sophomores Simon Lato and Nick Phillips, along with Juniors Travis Withrow and Max Wagner, will all have another year–or two–to reach the pinnacle of the individual wrestler’s success: State Tournament at Ford Field.

Good Luck to the Dutch 10 in two weeks!

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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.