By Staff
Travis Reith won a 7-1 decision in the championship round of the Southwestern Michigan Invitational Saturday at Sturgis to claim Buchanan's only individual title. Reith beat Bronson's Anthony Klinger in the 125-pound weight division.
David Medlin and Jim Connors made it to the finals, but fell in their matches. Medlin lost 18-1 to Dowagiac's Jeromy Northrup at 145 pounds. Conners also fell to a Chieftains' wrestler, dropping a 5-4 decision to Dowagiac's Shawn Rawson at 189 pounds.
The Chieftains opened the season by winning the Vicksburg team tournament. On Saturday, Dowagiac captured the championship under an individual format.
Dowagiac rolled up 189 points to edge Kalamazoo Central, which finished with 187 points.
Bronson finished third with 162 points, while Buchanan was fourth with 129 points. Gull Lake finished fifth (104.5), Sturgis sixth (78.5), White Pigeon seventh (49), Vicksburg eighth (42.5), Brandywine ninth (37) and Quincy 10th (26).
The Chieftains had four individual champions on a day that every wrestler won at least one match and 11 out of the 13 wrestlers who participated placed.
Winning championships for the Chieftains were Jeromy Northrop at 145-pounds, Kyle Bennett at 171-pounds, Shawn Rawson at 189-pounds and Matt Behnke at 215-pounds.
All four wrestlers were 3-0 on the day.
Finishing third for the Chieftains were Nathan Long at 125-pounds, Keith Prak at 130-pounds, Terry Prowoznik at 135-pounds, Austin Lawrence at 140-pounds and Tony Stewart at heavyweight.
All of those wrestlers were 3-1 on the day.
Finishing fourth were Justin Desjardin at 152 and Elijah Caldwell at 160 with 2-2 records.
Also competing but not placing after going 1-2 on the day were Justin Richter at 103-pounds and Richie Hutchinson at 119-pounds.
Dowagiac returns to the mat on Wednesday when its "B" team heads to Berrien Springs.
On Thursday, Dowagiac travels to Benton Harbor to open up its Big 16 Conference West Division on Thursday.