Spear Takes 6th; Heller 8th; In States At Palace  The Michigan High School Athletic Association's wrestling state finals wrapped up on Saturday at the Palace of Auburn Hills. Eskymo 285 pounder Dalton Spear (pictured below on the podium, third from left) won his first two matches, but then lost his last three matches. Spear ended up finishing sixth in the state. Esky sophomore Travis Heller (pictured at left with his medal) won two of his first three matches, then lost twice on Saturday and finished eighth at 135 pounds. CLICK HERE to see Spear's results. CLICK HERE to see Heller's results. Gladstone's Josh Kadish won one match and lost two others, and did not place.

Local Wrestlers Earn Trip To State's At Palace  The MHSAA Individual Regional Wrestling Tournaments were held across the state on Saturday, and some U.P. wrestlers finished in the top four in their weight classes to qualify for the state finals on March 1st at the Palace of Auburn Hills. At the Division Two meet in Mt. Pleasant, Escanaba sophomore Travis Heller made it to the championship match at 135 pounds before losing. He qualified for states, as did heavyweight Dalton Spear. Spear lost in the semifinals, but he won his third place match. Pictured: Travis Heller wrestles in Mt. Pleasant Saturday. (Linda Bockman photo) KADISH, GONZALES BOYS QUALIFY---At the Division Three meet in Farwell, Gladstone Braves 140-pounder Josh Kadish finished fourth and qualified for states. Manistique 145-pounder Mat Gonzales won all three of his matches and was a regional champion, and 130-pounder Cole Gonzales won his third-place match in overtime to also qualify. CLICK HERE  to see Gladstone's results. CLICK HERE  to see Manistique's results.

Braves Drop An Emotional Regional Final, 38-32                      The Gladstone High School wrestling team bolted to a 28-0 lead Wednesday, but the Roscommon Bucks rallied to post a 38-32 win in the Division Three regional championship match in Manistique. Chris Walters (171), Jack Kronick (215), Tommy Bailey (285), and Jake Kujala (103) all posted pins, and Jake Kronick (189) posted a major decision win as the Braves built that 28-0 lead. After Roscommon took a 32-28 lead, Braves freshman Keenan Barron won a 9-1 major decision from Bradley Briggs to tie the match at 32-32. That left a trip to Battle Creek on the line for the final two matches. Brandon Gagnon battled hard before losing a 10-8 decision to Matt Morley at 152, and then Cameron Spencer lost to James Richards, 14-10, to seal the championship for the Bucks. Pictured above: Gladstone's Keenan Barron gets a big four-point win for the Braves. Above left photo: Braves' Chris Walters battles Roscommon's Nick Anderson at 171. Gladstone beat Benzie Central, and Roscommon topped Kingsford in the semifinal matches earlier Wednesday. (See details, photos, and videos, further down this page) WATCH GLADSTONE BRAVES vs ROSCOMMON VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS CLICK HERE  to see Gladstone Braves 103-pounder Jake Kujala win on a pin. CLICK HERE  to see Gladstone's Keenan Barron get two points during his big win. CLICK HERE  to see Gladstone's Jake Cronick get two points during a major decision. CLICK HERE  to see Gladstone's Jack Cronick win his match by pin at 215 pounds.                     Gladstone's Josh Kadish vs Roscommon's Drake Lewandowski Wednesday night.

Esky Wrestlers Beat Bay City; Fall to Greenville  The Escanaba High School wrestling pulled out an emotional 39-36 victory over Bay City Western in the Division Two Regional semifinals Wednesday night in Bay City. Eskymo senior Jake Drage won the match by pinning his opponent with his team trailing by three points. Sophomore Travis Heller had another Eskymo highlight by winning a marathon match that went into triple overtime. But in the end, the wrestling powerhouse Greenville eliminated the Eskymos again in the final, 49-6. Heller had Escanaba's only victory. Individual regionals are on Saturday.

Kingsford Wrestling Season Ends In Semifinals               The Kingsford High School wrestling team got off to a good start Wednesday night, taking a 24-3 lead over the Roscommon Bucks in the Division Three regional semifinals in Manistique. But the Bucks had too much firepower and the Flivvers had to give away a few forfeits, and Roscommon won the semifinal match, 51-24. Pictured above left: Kingsford's Cullen Testolin battles Roscommon's Nathan Thornton in the 215-pound semifinal. Above right: Kingsford's Jim Stafford against Bucks' 103 pounder Amanda DeWitt. Below: Flivver Tyler Jones wrestles Caleb Jernigan. WATCH FLIVVERS vs BUCKS VIDEO HIGHLIGHTS CLICK HERE  to see Kingsford heavyweight Sam Carr pin Bucks' James Brotherton. CLICK HERE  to see Kingsford's 103-pounder Jim Stafford pin Buck's Amanda DeWitt

Gladstone Tops Benzie In Wrestling Semifinal                    The Gladstone Braves got six pins and posted a 45-33 win over the Benzie Central Huskies in the Division Three regional semifinals Wednesday night in Manistique. Chris Walters (171), Jake Kronick (189), Jack Kronick (215), Tommy Bailey (285), Sam Taylor (135), and Josh Kadish (145) all earned six points. SEE BRAVES-HUSKIES VIDEOS CLICK HERE  to see Chris Walters pin. CLICK HERE  to see Jack Cronick pin. Pictured above: Bailey pins Benzie's Tim Smith. Left photo: Josh Kadish and Benzie Central's Jermario Raglin.

Ten Gladstone Wrestlers Qualify For Regionals  The Gladstone High School wrestling team will send ten boys to next week's Division Three individual regional after Saturday's individual district meet in downstate Kingsley. Braves 140-pounder Josh Kadish was second in his weight class. Teammate Brandon Gagnon was second at 152; 171-pounder Chris Walters and heavyweight Tommy Bailey also took second. Also qualfying: Jake Kujala, Jared Syverson, Jeremy Kadish, Jake Wydra, Jake Cronick, and Jack Cronick. CLICK HERE  to see the Braves wrestling results.

BR-H Wrestler Labadie Qualifies For Regionals Bark River-Harris High School started its wrestling program this school year, and became the smallest program in the Upper Peninsula. The team lost to powerhouse Iron Mountain in the first round of the MHSAA team districts last week, but there was still the individual district tournament to be held over the weekend in Munising. And BR-H freshman Curtis Labadie became the school's first-ever regional qualifier by finishing fourth overall in his weight class at districts. Labadie will represent himself, and his school, at the Division Four Individual Regional tournament next Saturday in downstate Manton.

Seven Eskymo Wrestlers Advance To Regional The Escanaba High School wrestling team will send seven boys to next week's Division Two individual regional meet, the most in school history. The boys all qualified during the district tournament on Saturday in Gaylord. Amongst the winners: Travis Heller, who beat three wrestlers from Bay City to win the title and improve his record to 41-4. Dalton Spear (pictured at left) pinned all three of his opponents to improve his record to 41-1 and win a district championship. Other boys who qualified: Mike Dombrowski, Kaleb Rahoi, Zach Priebe, Devon Slaga, and Eddie Terres. CLICK HERE  to see all of the Escanaba Eskymo wrestler results. CLICK HERE  to visit our Escanaba Eskymo wrestling team page.