The Manchester Enterprise
A Heritage Newspaper
Weekly Publication
Elite eight march on to Palace
School record eight Dutchmen heading to Auburn Hills
By Ed Patino, Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: March 1, 2007
For eight members of the Manchester varsity wrestling team, it's time to storm the Palace.
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The Flying Dutchmen crowned one champion and qualified seven more for states last Saturday during the Division 4 individual regional tournament at Riverview Gabriel Richard High School.
Dan Lobbestael captured the regional championship at 215 pounds for Manchester. Jimmy Hamilton, Coyle Render, Cevin Walker, Mike Garrison, Bill Cloke, Jason Alber and Kyler Ritter also advanced to the state meet, which takes place March 8 through 10 at the Palace of Auburn Hills.
Addison finished with the most points in the 20-team event, scoring 198. The Dutchmen were second at 133.5, while Hudson was third with 128.5. Springport, which lost to Manchester in the team regionals last Wednesday, scored 112 points for fourth.
The eight state qualifiers is a school record for Manchester.
"We knew regionals would be a lot tougher than districts, and I was concerned about a mental letdown," Manchester coach Steve Vlcek said. "After wrestling started, it was evident there wouldn't be a letdown. All the kids came out and wrestled hard."
Both Lobbestael and Ritter qualified at 215 pounds. Lobbestael went 3-0 on the day, pinning Springport's Chris Sanford (0:48) and Adrian Madison's Ryon Barker (1:52) before facing Ritter in the finals. Lobbestael scored a 13-8 decision over his teammate for the championship.
Ritter advanced to the 215 finals with a technical fall over Hudson's Joe Beaubien and pinfall of Addison's Tim Reichel (5:44).
Lobbestael is 55-1 on the season and is making his fourth trip to the Palace. He is the second Manchester wrestler in school history to qualify for states four times.
Two other Dutchmen placed second in their respective weight classes.
Cloke (152) defeated Leslie's Bob Rose (pin, 3:41) and Pittsford's Chase Weber (decision, 6-5) before falling to Addison's Corey Kratzer in the finals.
Alber (160) was defeated 7-2 in the finals by Springport's Nathan Kulas. Alber advanced with victories over Derek Martin (Reading) and Gage Marshall (Addison).
Render and Walker qualified for states with third-place finishes. After a loss to Hudson's Kevin Vanderpool in the second round, Render (112) recovered by pinning Kurtis Brackman (Pittsford) in 2:38 and Chris Delaney (Morenci) in 4:59.
Walker (119) came back from a second-round loss to beat A.J. Constable (Sand Creek) and Scott Noble (Clinton) by major decisions to place third.
Jimmy Hamilton (103) and Mike Garrison (125) both placed fourth for the Dutchmen to qualify for states. Both went 2-2 on the day.
"Jimmy continues to impress in his freshman season," Vlcek said. "Mike was the sleeper of the team and people weren't really looking for him to come out of regionals, but he surprised many by wrestling well."
Scott Conway (130), Mike Steenson (171) and Will Rickert (171) also competed in the regional meet, but didn't qualify for states. Conway and Steenson each went 1-2 on the day, while Rickert dropped two tough matches.
"Will made huge improvements over the half season he was out for us, and he'll be a force next season," Vlcek said. "Scott had a tremendous season and Steenson is definitely one of our most improved wrestlers on the year."
The first round of the state meet is March 8 at 2:30 p.m.
"Overall it was a great day for the kids," Vlcek said. "The Manchester fan base was strong with many new faces."
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