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2 Groves Wrestlers Eliminated Early At Individual Wrestling Regionals

The Falcons two district qualifiers fail to get through to state finals on Saturday at L'Anse Creuse.

HARRISON TOWNSHIP – It was an experience to build on for the Groves High School wrestling team.

Sophomore Logan Mendleson and junior Ben Robinson competed at the individual regional finals on Saturday at L’Anse Creuse. Both wrestlers dropped their first two matches, failing to qualify for the state finals.

The top four wrestlers in each weight class all move on to compete at The Palace of Auburn Hills in two weeks.

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“We did pretty good, I was happy with them making it here,” Falcons coach Joseph Jones said. “I was hoping they’d get a little further, but I’m satisfied.”

After losing a major decision in the opening bout, Robinson (171) had a chance against Detroit Jesuit’s David Obia in the consolation bracket.

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Obia had a near fall in the first round to go up 3-0, but Robinson prevented his opponent from gaining advantage the rest of the match. The problem for the junior was he couldn’t execute any offense of his own. He ended up dropping the match 3-0.

Mendleson (189) lost 7-3 decisions in both his matches.

Tough Competition

The L’Anse Creuse regional wasn’t lacking in top competition.

“There’s not a bad wrestler here; this is a really tough site,” Rochester High School coach Frank Lafferty said. “It might be one of the toughest (sites) in the state.”

It makes what his team and Oxford accomplished all the more impressive. The schools won more than half of the regional titles up for grabs on Saturday.

All six Falcons wrestlers made it to the regional finals in their respective weight classes. Rochester was only a takedown away from bringing home six regional championships. 

Kaelan Richards (135), Dean Vettesse (140), Aaron Morgan (145), Justin Kim (103) and Shwan Shadaia (189) all won regional titles.

In overtime, Falcons senior Cody DeVoe lost in the championship match to Utica Eisenhower’s Charlie Myers in a 3-2 decision. The 171-pound finals bout was probably the closest match of the night.

“Great day, great day, better than we expected,” Lafferty said.  “Best we’ve ever done.”

Oxford brought 11 wrestlers to the Division 1 regional and all of them are headed to the state finals. It won four regional championships.

The two undefeated wrestlers in the regional stayed that way. Oxford senior Prescott Line (42-0) won the 215-pound bracket and Stoney Creek senior Nick Gajdzik won the heavyweight division (285).

Last year in the state finals, Line and Gajdzik wrestled for the championship in 215-pound bracket.

Gajdzik moved up a weight class this year and they avoided each other in the regionals. Gajdzik’s teammate Serge Andreou wasn’t so lucky. Line pinned Andreou (1:47) in the regional finals.

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