DOWAGIAC — The Dowagiac Wrestling Club hosted its annual “Rumble in the Jack” youth wrestling tournament last Sunday. 

The tournament was hosted at the Dowagiac Middle School.  A total of 34 teams with 343 wrestlers were registered for the Rumble in the Jack. There were individual awards and team trophies. 

Several Dowagiac Wrestling Club members earned medals, and the Dowagiac Wrestling Club placed second overall.

The Three Rivers Wildcats took first place with 206.5 points. Dowagiac was second with 173 points, Niles Wrestling Club third with 160.5 points, and Constantine Falcon Wrestling was fourth with 148 points. 

Several community donors have supported the Dowagiac Wrestling Club. The Michigan Army National Guard’s Charlie Company soldiers, based at the Dowagiac Armory, have been a big supporter of Dowagiac wrestling, including the high school wrestlers. Lt. Justin Miller and SSG Taylor Phillips — a former Dowagiac wrestler — helped to organize an honor guard to present the U.S. and Michigan flags for the national anthem in the morning and afternoon sessions. Miller helped by presenting four special awards called the “Warriors of the Rumble.” The kids were nominated for hard work, effort and attitude during their matches. 

The morning session, winners were Ashton Richardson, of Coloma, and Maiah Perez, of Hartford.  The afternoon session warriors were Ethan Case, of Lakeshore, and Michael Chase, of Three Oaks. 

Winning 13 championships for the Dowagiac Wrestling Club were Ryker Phillips, Oliver Olmedo, Rooney Olmedo, Brody Brewer, Maddox Szymonski, Jenna Bradford, Jacob Villegas, Rowan Bradford, Roman Paredes, Lawson Bailey, Cody White, Jerome Haines and Israel Villegas. 

Placing second for Dowagiac were Nolan Marshall, Ava Gillesby, Isaac Phillips, Cinthia Villegas, Jesse Szymonski and Cal Chapman. Third-place wrestlers were Brody Livingston, Cameron White and DJ (Darnell) Rimpson. Jackson Gillesby and Markus Ottinger earned fourth-place medals.

Ryker Phillips, Cameron White and Noah Phillips earned the coaches’ nominations for hard to

achieve Gladiator Awards. Dowagiac wrestlers won 65 matches with 52 total pins on the day.

Camilla Marcella, of Lawrence, performed the national anthem. 

The Dowagiac Wrestling Club competes primarily in youth tournaments under the MYWA/NUWAY associations but also brings in middle school and high school-aged athletes in the offseason. The youth program had more than 65 wrestlers sign up this season. The program has grown every year over the last few years and has encouraged boys and girls of all levels of experience from the Dowagiac area to join. 

The Dowagiac wrestlers have competed in 13 tournaments so far this season, with approximately 885 matches wrestled. 

The season has one more regular-season tournament before the regional competition, followed by the individual MYWA state finals.