A trio of local teams was among the 16 entrants in this year’s Southwest Michigan Classic as dozens of wrestlers flocked to Allegan High School on Saturday, Dec. 14.
Wolverine Conference rivals Otsego and Plainwell joined the host Tigers at the annual event.
Allegan had the best showing of the area squads, placing 10th with 73 points to finish one stop ahead of Otsego (65.5 points). Plainwell was 13th with 61 points.
Whitehall took home the team championship with 182 points, followed by Stevensville-Lakeshore (158.5) in the runner-up slot and Grand Haven (140) in third.
Second-year Allegan coach Phillip Joseph was encouraged by what he saw from his athletes against some tough competition.
“I’m happy with how tough we competed, especially without some of our guys in the lineup for the tournament,” Joseph said. “We still have a lot of work to do overall as we progress through the season, but this tournament is always a good benchmark of where we are compared to where we need to be by postseason.”
Allegan had one wrestler make it to the finals in his weight class, as Tyson Emmons won his first three matches at 135 pounds. Emmons squared off with Lakeshore’s Shane Williams in the title match, dropping an 8-5 decision.
Teammate Tristan Mohrland won a pair of matches to advance to the semifinals at 160 pounds, where he met Plainwell’s Owen McDaniel, with McDaniel winning a 15-4 major decision. Mohrland then took part in the third-place match, falling to Byron Center’s Austin Ottow 11-9.
“I think Tyson Emmons and Tristan Mohrland both had an exceptional tournament, even though they both fell short of winning it,” Joseph said. “I see a lot of progression in their wrestling and it helps to bring the level of the entire team up to where we need to be.”
Other placers for Allegan included Zak Foster (fifth at 215), Tyson Mead (sixth at 152) and Ben Powers (sixth at 189).
Otsego produced the lone local champion of the tournament, as Josh Sunnerville earned top honors at 119.
Sunnerville’s victory in the finals—a 4-2 decision over Lakeshore’s Aaron Lucio—capped a 4-0 day that saw Sunnerville win his first match via technical fall (15-0) and his next two by major decision (11-2 and 12-0).
Fellow Bulldogs Gavin Gregory (140) and Jake Slater (285) each wrestled in the third-place match of their respective weight classes. Gregory won his third-place match by way of a pin in the second period, while Slater suffered a loss by way of a pin in the second period of his match to place fourth.
Noah Carradini was the other placer for the Bulldogs, taking sixth place at 125 pounds.
For Plainwell, McDaniel followed up his semifinal win over Allegan’s Mohrland at 160 with a loss to Grand Haven’s Trevor Rademaker in the finals to take the runner-up slot.
Other top performers for the Trojans included Trammel Robinson (fifth at 119), Drake Blackmun (sixth at 130) and Luke Lyons (sixth at 171).
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