From left, Carter Johnson and Wyatt Spalo are among the area's wrestling state qualifiers.
Courtesy photoREED CITY—Reed City has three wrestlers advancing to the MHSAA State Championships at Ford Field. Bryson Hughes was 3-0 at weight class 190 and was regional champion. His season record is 46-2.
Wyatt Spalo was 2-1 and was runner up at weight class 285 and his season record is 44-7. Carter Johnson was fourth at weight class 106. He was 2-2 on the day and has a 42-12 season record.
Elijah Lentz also was 1-2 and finished with a season record of 36-13.
Steig was also voted Michigan Wrestling Association Regional Wrestling Coach of the Year and received a plaque.
Evart
Out of four regional qualifiers, Evart ended up having three guys qualify for the State tournament.
“Alex Burhans avenged his loss from last week and pinned his way to a regional title at heavyweight,” coach Ben Bryant said. “Cole Hopkins continued his undefeated season bringing home his third straight regional title. Ethan Conk wrestled well and took third at 113 pounds. He has really improved physically, mentally and technically in the last month.
“Joseph Kunin wrestled tough, but came up one match short of qualifying in a very competitive 150-pound bracket.”
Pine River
Pine River advanced 7 of its 8 regional qualifiers to the state finals.
“Our boys wrestled great,” Pine River coach Terry Martin said. “We had big wins throughout the day and wrestled really well in some close loses with highly ranked kids.”
Ryder Holmes (144) was champion and heads back to the state tournament looking to build on his fourth-place finish from last season.
Jordan Nelson (120) was second and pinned his way to the finals, including a huge pin when he was down by points. Andrew Baldwin (215) was second.
Bryant Wing (106) and Jericho Holmes (126) were third while Damien Jackson (132) and Caleb Gepford (285) were both fourth.
