By By SCOTT NOVAK / Niles Daily Star
NILES - Brandywine's Adam Simons and Buchanan's Travis Reith picked up opening day wins at the Michigan High School Athletic Association Individual Wrestling Finals at The Palace of Auburn Hills on Thursday.
Simons and Reith advanced to the championship quarterfinals, which were scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. today.
Simons pinned Lutheran Westland's Jacob Tuomi-Galindez in 2:47 in his opening round bout at 189-pounds in the Division 4 finals.
Reith decisioned Frank Knickerbocker of Vassar in the opening round at 130-pounds of the Division 3 finals.
Brandywine's Jeremy Hechtl was pinned (4:38) by Ryan Erickson of Leroy Pine River at 215-pounds, while Aaron Edquist was pinned (1:47) by Wes Schroeder of Addison at 275-pounds.
Also in Division 4, Cassopolis' John McCoy was pinned (3:22) in his opening round match by Ryan Confer of New Lothrop.
Over in Division 3, Buchanan's Todd Taylor was pinned (3:00) by Mark Weber of Goodrich at 112-pounds, while Nick Wheetley was pinned (3:34) by Andrew Novak of New Boston Huron at 125-pounds.
Buchanan's Jim Connors was pinned (1:27) by Steve Shields of Whitehall at 189-pounds.
Also in Division 3, Dowagiac's Tony Stewart was decisioned by Lionel Julian of Mt. Clemens, 3-1, at 275-pounds.
The consolation first round began at 8:30 this morning with the consolation second round scheduled for 2 p.m.
The championship semifinals are slated to get under way at 7 p.m.
On Saturday, the third round of consolation will begin at 8:30 a.m. with the consolation semifinals to follow at approximately 10:10 a.m.
The consolation finals (seventh, fifth and third place matches) will begin at noon.
The Grand March will begin at 4:30 p.m. with the finals scheduled to follow at 4:45.