HART — The Hart Pirates defended their home mats Saturday by earning first place at the Mark Bosse Memorial Invitational, scoring 205.5 points.
Hart’s victory was especially noteworthy because of the caliber of teams it was able to outscore to earn the top spot. Lakewood, who finished second in the meet with 192.5 points, holds the No. 4 ranking in Division 3, and Whitehall, who was third with 182 points, is ranked No. 6. (The Pirates moved up to No. 7 in the rankings this week.)
Five Pirates took first place in their weight classes, including Sawyer Boos, who was wrestling for the B team and whose points at 113 pounds did not count towards Hart’s team win. However, Boos’ performance was no less impressive, as he overcame a No. 10 seed entering the tournament to take the win. Boos was dominant in the bracket, scoring a technical fall and a 10-3 decision win in his first two matches before finishing with two pins, including a takedown of Whitehall’s Robert Belinger in the finals, the latter’s first loss of the season.
Hart veterans Kole Thomas (126), Logan Jorissen (144), Haegan Hansen (175), and Adrian Lara (285) also earned first-place finishes. Thomas made mincemeat of his bracket, scoring three consecutive pins to reach the top of the podium. His finals victory over Grant’s Cameron Espinoza was Espinoza’s first defeat of the season.
Hansen also rolled through three pin victories, beating Lakewood’s Vincent Risk in the finals to improve his season record to 8-0. Jorissen had to work a bit harder, picking up a technical fall in his first match and then winning two more by decision. He edged Tri-County’s Xander Antor in the finals, 6-3.
Lara earned a close decision win in the semifinals in between two pins, including a victory over Ravenna’s Mason Carringer in the championship round.
Halen Boos also made the finals at 150, earning second place. Boos picked up a pair of pins before dropping the finals match to unbeaten Ke’yaun Bradford of Muskegon.
Two other Pirates earned top-3 finishes. Caden VanGelderen was third at 138, going 3-1 with a a pair of pins and a major decision, and Jordan Thies finished third at 113, scoring a pair of pins en route to a 2-1 day.
“I think we wrestled well Saturday in most areas, but have room for improvement,” Hart coach Rocky Smith said. “It was a great tournament victory.”
Smith added that Hart will face another big test Saturday at the Freeland tournament, which includes the top three ranked teams in Division 2 - Lowell, Three Rivers and Freeland - as well as two other ranked opponents - Division 4 No. 2 St. Louis and Division 3 No. 9 Ogemaw Heights.
Shelby finished in sixth place at the tournament, scoring 124 points. Three finalists highlighted the Tigers’ individual performances.
The Tigers’ two returning state qualifiers, Brody Fessenden and Jaylin Henderson, each finished in second place at 157 and 165 pounds respectively, moving their season records to 7-1. Fessenden scored a technical fall in his first match and controlled a 7-1 decision in his second, then fell just short of a championship in a hotly contested finals battle of unbeatens against Lakewood’s Bryson Boucher. The match went to overtime before Boucher was able to score four points and earn a 5-1 win.
Henderson pinned each of his first two opponents to reach the 165-pound finals and wrestled a competitive match against Whitehall’s Liam Leeke, who also entered the match unbeaten. Leeke came away with the win, 15-10.
Antonio Cano wrestled his first two varsity matches of the season for Shelby at 106 and also picked up a second-place finish. Cano received a bye to the semifinals and pinned his semifinal opponent, falling to Lakewood’s Dakota Harmer in the championship.
Cesar Cedena added a third-place finish for Shelby at 120, going 2-1 on the day. Cadena fought his way to a 6-4 decision in his quarterfinal match, and after a close decision defeat in the semis, defeated Hart’s Michael Chavira 10-1 in the third-place match.
