Escanaba Tops Shorthanded Gladstone To Win GNC

ESCANABA--The Escanaba Eskymos and Gladstone Braves are the two best wrestling teams in the Upper Peninsula this season. That has been proven all winter long, although the St. Ignace Saints and the Iron Mountain Mountaineers may beg to differ.

But in the Great Northern Conference, the two Delta County teams are clearly the top two, both on the team level and on the individual level. And heading into Saturday's Great Northern Conference Championships in Escanaba, the Braves were the favorites, having won the U.P. Finals last week and beaten the Eskymos twice in dual meets.

On Saturday, however, the Eskymos rose to the top and upset the Braves, 223-203, to win the GNC Championship trophy. Marquette was third and Kingsford fourth.

Gladstone was without top wrestlers Brandon Gagnon, Josh Kadish, and Tommy Bailey.

Marquette's Per Rahm (left) and Escanaba's Corey Chenier (right)

All of them had nagging injuries, and Coach Jesse DeBaker decided to sit them, with the district tournaments coming next week.

But when two other Gladstone wrestlers did not make weight on Saturday, the Braves were left extremely shorthanded for the meet.

Escanaba took full advantage of the situation, leading in all four rounds and winning the c0nference championship with 223 points. Gladstone trailed in second place wth 203.

Eskymo junior Travis Heller won, as usual, at 160 pounds, pinning Gladstone's Chuck Hughes in 2:30 in the conference final match.

Escanaba's Teddy Peippo (pictured at top of this page) won the 145-pound title with a 15-0 win over Menominee's Justin Kaster in the final.

The Eskymos' most impressive win, however, came from sophomore Kaleb Rahoi in the 135-pound bracket. Rahoi defeated Menominee's Chris Briar on a 5-4 decision.

Briar won the U.P. Championship and the Marquette Challenge titles back in January.

Gladstone got GNC championships from Jack Simison (103 pounds), James Bruce (112), Jeremy Kadish (140), and Jake Cronick (189).

Gladstone's Keenan Barron took 2nd at 145 pounds against Kingsford's Yury Hammer.

Marquette got GNC championships from Hunter Moore at 130 pounds, Austin Johnson at 152, Curt Calovecchi at 171, Joe Iwanicki at 215, and Rainger Rossway in the heayweight division.

But despite having five individual champions, the Redmen finished third in the team standings because of a lack of overall depth.

Kingsford's lone champion was Keaton Parent in the 125-pound class. Menominee did not have a conference champion. Three Maroons did finish second in their brackets.

Thanks to Sheila Olsen for these photos.

Date	Time	Opponent	Score	Record

12/6	6:00 PM	at Marquette Redmen	55 - 13 (W)

12/6	7:00 PM	at Negaunee Miners	75 - 6 (W)

12/13	6:30 PM	Escanaba Eskymos	43 - 21 (W)

1/3	6:00 PM	Norway Knights	69 - 6 (W)

1/3	7:00 PM	Kingsford Flivvers	77 - 0 (W)

1/31	7:00 PM	at Escanaba Eskymos	41 - 19 (W)

2/2	10:00 AM	at Escanaba Eskymos	203 - 223 (L)

2/13	7:00 PM	Grayling Vikings	44 - 25 (W)