Prep Roundup: Many area wrestlers heading to regionals; St. Francis' Napont records 1,000th career point in win over Oscoda

Brendan Quealy, The Record-Eagle, Traverse City, Mich.
Updated ·6 min read

Feb. 12—GRAND HAVEN/MANTON — Saturday proved to be a fruitful day on the mats for dozens of northern Michigan wrestlers as they competed in individual district tournaments and qualified for regionals.

Traverse City Central and Traverse City West competed at Grand Haven where Central's Dutch Ballan took runner-up at 144 pounds and West's Trapper Holmes placed fourth to qualify for regionals in the same bracket.

Also qualifying for regionals out was Central's Remy Soper, who won the consolation bracket and took third place in the 215-pound bracket, and fellow Trojan Gray Rousse, who took fourth at 132 pounds. West's Jon Palmer also finished fourth in the 138-pound bracket to qualify for regionals.

At the Manton district tourney, Traverse City St. Francis' Ethan Morgan in the 285-pound bracket, Tyler Sheeran at 113 pounds and Josiah Schaub at 138 pounds along with Benzie Central's Lane Sanchez in the 190-pound bracket and Landen Pangborn at 132 pounds all won district titles.

Other regional qualifiers included Benzie's Owen Cruden (144), Dalton Geetings (150), Tyrone Brouillet (157, runner-up), Cael Katt (165, runner-up), Michael Pfeiffer (175), Wyatt Noffsinger (175), Liam Jones (215), Dayne Gillison (106), Benjamin Deridder (113), Mason Childs (120), Nathan Higgins (126) and Jacob Gillison (138); St. Francis' Cameron Sellers (165); Frankfort's Fletcher Anderson (215); and Mancelona's Jaymes Wildfong (120).

WRESTLING DISTRICTS

Gaylord's Stradling wins district title, remains undefeated

GAYLORD — Defending state champion Louden Stradling moved one step close to another title after winning a district championship at 144 pounds to move to 45-0 on the season.

Petoskey's Trevor Swiss also won a district title and kept his season record pristine at 150 pounds, moving to 43-0.

Gaylord's Brayden Gautreau (175) and Riley Hush (215) also won district crowns.

Other regional qualifiers: Petoskey's Brendan Swiss (144), Jaden Vanderwall (144), Connor Grebe (175), Robert Patrick (132); Gaylord's Gus James (150), Zane Willobee (157), Ty Bensinger (190), Caiden Sides (285), Jaron Bensinger (106); Cadillac's Luke Phillips (165), Justin Paszkowski (190), Matt Rienerston (106), Joseph Schafer (113), Joey Cummings (120), Maveric Hoffert (126).

Stags qualify 13, Rayders 10 for regionals

GRAYLING — The Kingsley varsity wrestling team qualified 13 for the regional tournament with five Stags leaving with district championships Saturday.

Gavyn Merchant (126 pounds), Jon Pearson (132), Isaac Grahn (138), Kyan Fessenden (165) and Maximus Goethals (175) all won titles at Grayling.

Other Stags qualifying included Cameron Dundas (132), Colton Goethals (138), Justin Grahn (144), Tyler Unterbrink (144), Isaiah Cosgrove (157), Caleb Bott (165), Samuel Goethals (190) and Raymond VanDyke (285).

Other qualifiers coming out of Grayling included Lake City's Tyler Brown (144); Grayling's Logan Malonen (285), Caleb Baker (106), Alex Moore (106); Boyne City's Mason Riccinto (106); and Kalkaska's Gabriel Buyze-Prieto (120), and Diego Buyze-Prieto (126).

At Manistique, the Charlevoix Rayders qualified 10 wrestlers and crowned three district champions.

Brady Jess at 175 pounds, Trevor Streeter at 215 pounds and Sam Fry at 138 pounds all captured district titles.

Other qualifiers for Charlevoix were James Parrish (144), Ellery Smith (150), Mason Cunningham (157), Justin Whisler (165), Landon Swanson (190), Adam Streeter (285) and Jackson Fry (106).

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Napont hits 1K in victory against Oscoda

OSCODA — Maggie Napont didn't get the opportunity to reach the 1,000-career-point milestone in front of a home crowd, but the Traverse City St. Francis senior at least hit the mark in a big road win Saturday.

Napont scored 28 points and grabbed two rebounds to go along with six steals as the Gladiators blew out Oscoda by a 73-27 final, giving St. Francis its 15th win of the season and fourth straight victory. The Glads' last four wins have all come on the road as they find themselves in the midst of seven straight contests away from home.

Gwyneth Bramer had 21 points and eight boards. Helen Myler collected six points, five rebounds and two steals. Brooke Meeker finished with four points, six rebounds and two steals. Adrianna Spranger tallied four points, three steals and assists. And Mary Kate Carroll had 4 points, four rebounds and two steals.

The Gladiators are now 15-2 with a 10-1 mark in the Lake Michigan Conference. They travel to Charlevoix on Tuesday for a 7 p.m. tipoff.

DeWitt 54

TC Central 37

Traverse City Central: Cate Heethuis 16 points; Ashlen Hill 9 points.

UP NEXT: The Trojans (13-5, 6-1 Big North) travel to Alpena on Tuesday.

St Francis JV 45

Oscoda JV 34

Traverse City St. Francis (16-1, 10-1 Lake Michigan): Riley Collins 14 points; Harper Nausadis 8 points; Sidney Peters 8 points; Zoey Jetter 5 points; Reese Muma 5 points.

DeWitt JV 48

TC Central JV 35

Traverse City Central (9-5): Marlie McGregor 9 points.

TC Central frosh 39

Brethren JV 18

Traverse City Central (8-4): Audrey Williams 11 points.

BOYS BASKETBALL

TC Christian 60

Benzie Central 56

Traverse City Christian: Reece Broderick 18 points; Levi Schultz 18 points; Austin Miller 12 points; Jake Weirda 10 points.

Benzie Central: Miles Pritchett 21 points; Jaxon Childers 15 points; Andrew Gray 12 points.

UP NEXT: The Sabres (11-5) head to Suttons Bay on Monday. The Huskies (9-6, 8-3 Northwest) host Big Rapids on Tuesday.

BOWLING

TC West girls win 13th straight GNHSBC championships

TRAVERSE CITY — Make it a baker's dozen for the Traverse City West varsity girls bowling team.

The Titans captured their 13th straight Division 1-2 championship in the Great Northwest High School Bowling Conference with a 25-5 victory over rival Traverse City West at Lucky Jack's on Saturday. The Traverse City Christian Sabres won the varsity girls championship in Division 3-4 with a 22-8 win over Glen Lake.

High games for the girls included from TC West Taylor Phillips (201, 181), Jordan LaFleur (185) and Alyssa Tanner (182, 172), from TC Christian Ava Wendel (193, 170) and Rebekah Burch (183), and from Glen Lake Taylor Semple (172) and Chloe Crick (169, 167).

On the boys side, it was the Titans completing an undefeated season for the D1-2 title with a 27-3 victory over Benzie Central, but it would be the Huskies winning the D3-4 championship.

High games for the boys included from TC Central Brian Wilkerson (243, 189), Carter Banton (192), Noah Frank (190), JJ Hintsala (189) and Danek Szajner (188), from TC West Cameron Baker (213, 192), from TC Christian Luke Rasmussen (209), Josh Millward (206), Ethan Ehlert (188) and Tristan Lhamon (186), from Bellaire Carter Massey (211), Brady Hoogerhyde (201, 189) and Milan Astie (193), from Benzie Central Dominic Lopez (198, 180), and from Glen Lake Isaac Bancroft (188).

The GNHSBC conference tournament takes place this coming Friday and Saturday.

ICE HOCKEY

Sault Area 3

TC West 0

Traverse City West: No stats reported.

UP NEXT: The Titans (7-15-1, 4-5-1 Big North) host Big Rapids in their regular-season finale on Friday.