By By SCOTT NOVAK / Vigilant/Argus
The Southwest Michigan Invitational will be held on Saturday at Lakeshore High School in Stevensville.
Bringing together nearly all of the teams in southwestern lower Michigan, the tournament features some of the top wrestlers in the area.
Competing on Saturday will be Bangor, Benton Harbor, Buchanan, Cassopolis, Coloma, Covert, Dowagiac, Hartford, Lakeshore, Lawton, Niles, River Valley, South Haven and Watervliet.
Wrestling is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. Cost is $5 for adults and $2 for students.
Lakeshore won the championship for the fourth straight year with 218.5 points.
Niles was second with 187 points and South Haven third with 186. Dowagiac and Cassopolis rounded out the top five.
Defending champions are Kyle Hammermeister of Lakeshore, Josh Duebner of Cassopolis, John McCoy of Cassopolis, Darrick Parker of Bangor, Drakkar Klose of South Haven, Matt Wittmann of Lakeshore, Jesse Martin of Coloma and Tony Stewart of Dowagiac.
Here is a breakdown by school of some of the top wrestlers who are expected to compete on Saturday:
(records as of Friday)
Bangor
Parker (26-1), Brandon Shull (30-2), Kyle Dornan (29-2), Hector Solis (28-3), Jake Skinner (26-5) and Dustin Burrows (21-6)
Benton Harbor
Monteeze Johnson (4th at the Berrien County Meet)
Buchanan
Travis Reith (20-2), Dave Medlin (17-2), Nick Wheatley (22-3), Auston Ferris (20-3), Todd Taylor (20-4), Dave Knisley (17-5) and Jim Connors (18-6)
Cassopolis
McCoy, Joey Sobieski, Josh Westphal, Duebner, John Wirick
Coloma
Martin (22-1), Matt Kiser (22-6)
Dowagiac
Nathan Cottrell (27-5), Mike Kasper (26-6), Stewart (26-6)
Hartford
Coty Marcoux (25-6)
Lakeshore
Wittmann (28-0), Hammermeister (25-1), Alex Bolt (23-7), Brad LeValley (22-7)
Niles
Jake Glueckert (28-2), Mason Stephenson (26-4), Todd Scansen (25-4), Ben Brandstatter (25-5), Jake Groves (22-5), Bryce Flannery (21-5), Nate Allison (20-6)
River Valley
John Stein (21-2), Tim Morrissey (21-3), John Coniglio (21-4)
South Haven
Kamron Jackson (26-1), Klose (26-1), Michael Jackson (25-1), David Harding (25-3), Andress Alcauter (23-4), Ruben Zuniga (22-5), Adam Bastow (17-5)
Watervliet
Ben Isbrecht (25-1), Brad Wing (16-4)