Braves Win U.P. Wrestling Title; Eskymos Second

MARQUETTE---The Escanaba Eskymos had four individual Upper Peninsula wrestling champions. The Gladstone Braves had two U.P. champions.

But the Braves had more boys reach the podium throughout their line-up and ended up as the U.P. Team Champions at the daylong event Saturday in Marquette. Gladstone scored 229 points, while Escanaba was second with 184.5. Saint Ignace took third with 177.5, Sault Ste. Marie was fourth (146) and Marquette took fifth (125 points).

Gladstone's Brandon Gagnon defeated Menominee's Justin Brilinski to win the 160-pound championship. Braves teammate Jack Cronick pinned Sault Ste. Marie's Nathan Lajoie in 3:25 for the championship at 189 pounds.

Escanaba's Segei LaMarche beat Menominee'a Haley Cruz in the final at 103 pounds, and Travis Heller pinned Negaunee's Tyler Lajoie to win the 152-pound U.P. title.

Escanaba's Zach Priebe won a tense 12-11 decision over Norway's Cayleb Winkler to take the 125 pound U.P. title.

And in an all-Delta County battle, Escanaba's Kaleb Rahoi got by Gladstone's Jeremy Kadish, 4-2, in the 140-pound championship match.

Escanaba's Hunter Sadler (130 pounds) and Devin Olsen (215 pounds) also made the finals, before losing in the championship match. Sadler was pinned by Richard of St. Ignace, while Olsen fought off recent injuries to make it to the finals before losing to Marquette's Joe Iwanicki, 9-2, in the championship match.

Gladstone had numerous guys finish either third or fourth in their weight classes, which helped the team to win the trophy. James Bruce finished third at 112 pounds, pinning Gwinn's Alex Anderson in the consolation match. Gladstone's Jake Cronick finished third at 171 pounds with a win over Rudyard's Shane Aney.

Braves heavyweight Tommy Bailey took third place by beating Marquette's Rainger Rossway, 4-2. Gladstone's Sam Taylor pinned Sault Ste. Marie in 3:30 to take third place at 135 pounds.

And Braves 145-pounder Josh Kadish also took third place, beating Marquette's Austin Jackson, 4-1, in the consolation final.The Braves' Jared Syverson finished fourth at 125 pounds.

Bark River-Harris finished 15th amongst the 18 teams, with 31 total points. Broncos 215-pounder Curtis Labadie pi nned Gladstone's Cody Malonoski in 1:16 to take third place in his weight class.

Bronco teammate Eli Oswald won two matches at 189 pounds and heavyweight Kyle Dowd won one match. Neither boy placed, however.

Manistique finished 10th overall as a team, with 54 points. Cole Gonzalez made it to the 135-pound championship match before being pinned by Menominee's Chris Briar in 2:53. Mat Gonzalez also made it to the championship match at 145 pounds, but he lost a close 7-6 decision to Sault Ste. Marie's Steven Kymes, 7-6.

Thanks to Sheila Olsen for the photos. See more in the ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS box at the top of this page.

U.P. Finals Scores	PTS
1. Gladstone	229
2. Escanaba	184.5
3. St. Ignace	177.5
4. Sault Ste. Marie	146
5. Marquette	125
6. Norway	110.5
7. Iron Mountain	96
8. Menominee	93.5
9. Rudyard	67
10. Manistique	54
10. Negaunee	54
12. Munising	36
13. Kingsford	35
14. Ishpeming	34
15. Bark River-Harris	31
16. Gwinn	30
17. Westwood	25
17. Newberry	25

U.P. Wrestling Finals Individual Champions	Class
Sergei LaMarche, ESC, def. Haley Cruz, MEN, 16-8	103
Alex Edwards, IMT, pinned Bill Bentgen, STIG, in 3:20	112
Jared Gauthier, IMT, def. Jimmy Spencer, RUD, 10-0	119
Zach Priebe, ESC, def. Cayleb Winkler, NWY, 12-11	125
Richard Bentley, STIG, pin Hunter Sadler, ESC, in 1:00	130
Chris Briar, MEN, pinned Cole Gonzalez, MSTQ, in 2:53	135
Kaleb Rahoi, ESC, def. Jeremy Kadish, GLAD, 4-2	140
Steven Kymes, SSM, def. Mat Gonzalez, MSTQ, 7-6	145
Travis Heller, ESC, pinned Tyler Lajoie, NEG, in 2:56	152
Brandon Gagnon, GLAD, def. Justin Brilinski, MEN, 8-4	160
Galloway Thurston, STIG def. Curt Calovecchi, MQT, 6-1	171
Jack Cronick, GLAD, pinned Nathan Lajoie, SSM, 3:25	189
Joe Iwanicki, MQT, def. Devin Olsen, ESC, 9-2	215
Joe Ostman, STIG, pinned Tyler Fountain, SSM, in 0:58	Hvy