Eleven area wrestlers will begin today’s Michigan High School Athletic Association Individual State Wrestling Finals at The Palace of Auburn Hills with one goal.

Winning a state championship.

Niles has five wrestlers in the hunt for a championship, while Brandywine and Buchanan each have a pair. Dowagiac, Cassopolis and Edwardsburg each had one state qualifier.

The Chieftains’ Jacob Worthington will be unable to compete this weekend.

Overall, southwest Michigan sent 62 wrestlers from 25 schools to Auburn Hills for the three-day tournament, which begins with the Grand March at 2 p.m. and wrestling at 2:30. You can watch the tournament live on MHSAA.tv.

The tournament continues Friday morning at 8:30 and continues throughout the day, concluding with the championship semifinals at 7 p.m.

Wrestling resumes Saturday at 8:30 p.m. with the consolation finals scheduled for approximately 11:30 and the championship finals at 4:45 p.m.

Leader Publications will keep updating results throughout the tournament on its websites and on its Facebook page.

State qualifiers

* Regional champion

Division 2

EDWARDSBURG (1) – Mike Kempton (130)

NILES (5) – Brenden Meek (103), Casey Burandt (135),

Donte Stevens (145), Fritzel Findiesen (152), Ryan Casey (189)

Division 3

BUCHANAN (2) – Jeff Mucha (135), *Gage Hutchison (215)

DOWAGIAC (1) – Jacob Worthington (119)

Division 4

BRANDYWINE (2) – Victor Moranchel (103), Chanc Ravish (130)

CASSOPOLIS (1) – Dominic Forbes (189)