An early-season quad hosted by Glen Lake brought area wrestlers to the mat, including Mancelona, Benzie Central, and Frankfort Wednesday.
Mancelona junior Micheal Southwell (14-1) earned a second-period pin over Glen Lake’s Blake Aylsworth to win his 14th of the young season.
“We worked hard for it tonight,” Southwell said.
The Ironmen would win seven matches in a row to defeat Glen Lake 60-18.
Mancelona defeated Frankfort 60-24 during the first match.
Mancelona is powered by its motto “Unfinished Business” after coming off a loss to Roscommon to go to states last year.
“No matter what, through every loss, we are going to push forward and go for the next win,” Southwell said.
The Ironmen had eight wrestlers win two matches: Michael Clingan (106); Aaron McQueen (132); Theo Parzych (138); Southwell (157); Don Harcourt (175); Jaden Grutsch (190); Hunter Stuck (215); Gavin Woodcox (285).
Glen Lake winners versus Mancelona: Abraham Feeney; Dylan Morgan; Isaac Schinella.
Mancelona traveled to Boyne City today for an assembly dual match against Boyne City, before traveling for an individual tournament Friday, also at Boyne City.
Mancelona has a large team with 37 boys and a small girls team that fills a full varsity and junior varsity teams, which creates a more competitive atmosphere for the program.
Benzie Central’s second half pulled away from the Lakers in the first match of the night 46-30.
“We want to continue to be aggressive, going after their opponent, not letting up, and wrestling for six minutes,” Benzie Central Wrestling coach Jim Thompson said.
Benzie winners included Dayne Gillison; Jared Smith; Lane Sanchez; Aiden Youmas; Cyrus Frost; Mason Childs.
“When someone lost a match, we didn’t lose energy; we always kept that energy up to you and our teammates,” Sanchez said, and Gillison added. “It seemed like everybody’s pushing through. There’s a lot of sickness on the team right now, and we are pushing through it and wrestling tough.”
Both wrestlers admit there is work needed on technique if they want to compete with the best this season and beyond.
The Huskies defeated Frankfort 53-18 to end the early-season quad.
Frankfort winners against Mancelona and Benzie included: Tessa Weeks; Adrianna Weeks; Tylor Shepard; Gabe Keyes; Bella Compton; Sydney Brozofskey; Matt Lane.
