Advertisement

Ten more grapplers from Sanilac County will try to stake their claim in Michigan prep history this weekend at the MHSAA Individual Finals at The Palace of Auburn Hills. Will another champion or two rise up? Competition begins late Thursday afternoon, goes all day on Friday and then concludes with the final rounds and the championship matches on Saturday.

Marlette’s Jon and Jordan Hayward, Brown City’s Andre Sanson and Croswell-Lexington’s Donnie Corby all own one of the op records in the state in their respective weight classes and, at the least, are strong contenders for a medal.

In Division 3, the Pioneers’ Corby, a junior with a 54-3 record this season, is among many quality wrestlers at 140 pounds. Corby, who earned a third place medal at State a year ago, has a first round match with Bryan Alfieri of Gladwin (37-14). Looming on his side of the 16-man bracket is Richmond’s Kyle Dupuis, a familiar foe from Richmond of the BWAC. In the opposite bracket are Brian Hittle (54-1) of Durand, who suffered his only loss of the season to Corby at the Regionals, and Corey Robinson of Caro (54-5), who has split a pair of narrow decisions with Corby this year.

“One-forty is just solid,” said CV-L coach Joe Lilly on Corby’s weight class. “We’ll just try to focus on one match at a time. All that separates us from (several of these wrestlers) is about a point or two.

Lilly will be keeping en eye on three other Pioneers grapplers - junior Adam Palleschi (29-12), the Regional champ at 215 a week ago who is making his second appearance at State, plus senior Josh Kettlewell (145, 43-8) and junior Zach Fabian (152, 18-13).

Palleschi, with an imposing rippled physique, opens with Juan Enriquez of Grant (42-8). Top challengers could be Jimmy Rowe (51-8) of Dundee and Marcel DuBose (28-2) of Highland Park. DuBose was the State champion at 189 pounds last winter.

Kettlewell’s weight class has a pair of undefeated wrestlers in Anthony Jones of Highland Park (43-0) and Jacob Johnson of Reed City (53-0). Meanwhile, Fabian, making his first trip to the finals, as well as Kettlewell, has a rugged first round draw with Flat Rock’s Lester France (55-0), who was second at State at 145 a year ago.

Lilly is simply hoping his four State qualifiers just wrestle well. “If you come off the mat, and you’ve given it your best, that’s all I can ask for.”

Hayward cousins, Jon and Jordan, have a ton of wrestling experience behind them and will be figured as major title contenders in Division 4. Jon (55-1), a junior 119 pounder, had placed third (112) as a freshman, and seventh (119) last year. He has a first round match against Scott Noble (42-11) of Clinton.

“It’s definitely tougher on the other side of bracket,” acknowledged Coach Cal Hayward, Jon’s father. “I like his chances of getting through the quarterfinal.” Hayward’s lone loss this winter came when he wrestled up a weight class.

“It’s up to Jon to lose,” added the coach/dad. “That’s the way it is. He’s wrestled well.”

Meanwhile, Jordan Hayward (56-1) a sophomore who was a State runner-up at 125 a year ago, has a task ahead at 135 in what may be the most talent-rich weight class in the division. His opening opponent is Brandon Douglass (45-14) of Addison. Also in the upper bracket of the class is Cody Dunn (47-4) of Leslie, one of the top ranked wrestlers in the State, and Curtis Huntoon (53-2) of Ithaca. In the lower bracket, six of the eight competitors have 40 or more victories.

Coach Hayward noted, “To be honest, both (Jon and Jordan) got real good draws.”

One of Sandusky’s three State qualifiers, Bernie Marx, is also in that 135 pound weight class. A sophomore, Marx (18-5) was not eligible to wrestle until the second semester because he transferred from Marlette, where he was a qualifier for the State finals in 2006.

Brown City’s Sanson has been to State twice without bringing back a medal. The Green Devil junior (40-1) has a great opportunity to change that this time around as one of the top seeds at 130 pounds. Sanson begins his bid on Thursday with a match against William Hodge (34-10) of Bangor. There are, at least, three others in the weight class that medaled at State last year - Mark Ackerberg (49-10) of Hesperia, Brian Burk (38-2) of Reading and Riley Ewalt (36-4) of Carson City-Crystal.

Along with Bernie Marx, Sandusky coach Mike Stoliker has two other medal hopefuls on hand at The Palace. Senior Chris Mason (34-20), at 215, was a qualifier last season while senior Chris Marx (39-14), at 145, is making his debut.

Mason’s record is a bit deceptive because he has wrestled often at 285, also. He will get a firm first round test with Manton’s Brandon Norman (42-2). If he wins there, Mason could be on a path to a rematch against New Lothrop’s Roger Emmendorfer (46-1), runner-up at 189 last winter. At Regionals, Mason had to default in a rough match with Emmendorfer after he suffered a lacerated tongue. He came back to win another match to clinch a spot at State.

“He was giving Emmendorfer all he could handle and then he had that freak thing happen,” said Stoliker. “He wants another shot at Emmendorfer.”

Stoliker added that the 215 weight class, though, is loaded throughout the bracket.

Chris Marx gets his first taste of State tournament action against Nate Beilby (54-2) of Climax-Scotts. His coach feels he can medal at State as long as he settles down and wrestles his style.

“If he has any nerves, I hope it’s the first match,” Stoliker said.

“I really expect us to bring three medals back,” continued Stoliker. “If the nerves don’t get them, and they wrestle the way they can, I think we can have three in the top four. That’s been a goal all year.”