High School Weekend Preview

A lot of really tough tournaments this weekend, with New Lothrop HOF being the premier individual tournament, and the DCC, Clarkston, and Rockford Duals leading the way in terms of team tournaments. The Fowlerville Duals will also feature multiple ranked teams. We break down each of those tournaments. Check back in early next week for a recap on these tournaments, plus tournaments like the Bad Axe Invite, where we should see D1 #9 Oxford and D4 #3 Manchester.

DCC Super Duals

DCC's annual Super Duals will have a slightly different look this year, as it's a quad with two Ohio squads and Dundee. The Michigan teams are both ranked top-30 in the country, while the Ohio teams are ranked #1 in D2 (Bishop Watterson) and #10 in D1 (Olentangy Liberty). Because of the two match rule to not be considered a tournament, Dundee and DCC will not see each other as of now. If nationally ranked Mitchell Younger is in the lineup for Bishop Watterson, he will see Grayson Fuchs at 144 and/or Blake Cosby at 150 in those two duals, and those would be the premier matches of the day. We like both Michigan teams to go 2-0 on the day against solid Ohio competition.

Clarkston Duals

Pool A: D1 #5 Clarkston, D2 #8 Bay City John Glenn, D1 Grandville, D1 Romeo

Pool B: D4 #1 Hudson, D3 #3 Algonac, D1 Hudsonville, D1 Dakota

Two really tough pools at the Clarkston Duals, so everyone will get their three duals in their pool before the top two teams crossover to a championship pool. We are giving the On Papers for the ranked duals in each pool. Grandville, Romeo, Hudsonville, and Dakota are all top-15 teams just outside the rankings in D1, so any of them could pick up an upset and reach the championship pool. Using the lineups below, we could also see Clarkston/Hudson, BCJG/Algonac, or a few other stacked duals.

Outlook: Clarkston will be the favorite in Pool A, with Bay City John Glenn having the slight edge for the #2 spot. They are coming off a big dual win over D2 #3 Freeland, so they will be climbing the D2 rankings this upcoming week. There are quite a few potential top-10 matches, including at 106 and 113. With Anderson, LeFevre, and Carter in the middle weights and Olson and Neumann up top, Clarkston likely has too much, but BCJG has a tough lineup all the way through.

Prediction: Clarkston +15

Outlook: Hudson is the favorite in the other pool, and Algonac should be the favorite for the second spot, although Hudsonville and Dakota are capable of an upset. Hudson is loaded throughout the lineup, but they are especially tough from 120 through 144 with #1 Sorrow, #1 Kimling, and #1 Campbell with other state placers in there as well. Pickford/Walker could be the best match of the dual at 165lbs. If Kimling is back after missing the CCI last week, 138 could be a potential 1 vs 2 match between Kimling and Lucky Gartin.

Prediction: Hudson +18

New Lothrop Hall of Fame Invite

The annual New Lothrop Hall of Fame Invite should be loaded, per usual, as we are expecting numerous ranked wrestlers at almost every weight. While there will likely be some changes, here is an idea of what ranked wrestlers you could expect in the tournament. Some interesting potential matches include D2 #4 Brown vs D4 #1 Kuhn and D2 #3 Facundo vs D2 #4 Knight.

106

D2 #3 Donovan Quinn (St. Johns)
D2 #7 Easton Rosebush (Freeland)
D4 #5 Reece Parkinson (Leslie)
D4 #10 Rudy Clapp (St. Louis)
D3 #16 Brysen Briggs (Montrose)

113

D4 #1 Owen Fogel (St. Louis)

120

D4 #2 Alex Rodriguez (St. Louis)
D2 #4 Timmy Hanna (North Branch)
D4 #5 Blake Wendling (New Lothrop)

126

D3 #4 Tanner Land (Imlay City)
D4 #6 Carter Franklin (Leslie)
D4 #10 Hunter Wolf (New Lothrop)

132

D2 #4 Jeremiah Brown (Flint Kearsley)
D4 #1 Colin Kuhn (St. Louis)
D3 #3 Christopher Galiana (Imlay City
4 #14 Keegan Tinkey (Leslie)

138

D2 #5 Malachi Hill (Freeland)
D3 #4 Jacob Fink (Richmond)
D3 #6 Quinton Everett (Chesaning)
D2 #11 Boone Smith (Mason)

144

D2 #1 Buddy Leonard (Freeland)
D2 #5 Matt Ausel (Mason)
D3 #7 Noah Szwed (Montrose)

150

D2 #2 Dylan Granger (Mason)
D3 #4 Gauge Vincke (Montrose)
D4 #4 Grason Weber (Leslie)
D4 #16 Kyler Campbell (New Lothrop)

157

D4 #9 Dalton Birchmeier (New Lothrop)
D4 #3 Eli Roe (Beaverton)
D4 #10 Maddox Cline (St. Louis)
D3 #12 RJ Cummings (Montrose) – RQ

165

D2 #12 Brady Heibeck (St. Johns)
D2 #13 Mason Bitters (North Branch)
D3 #12 Aiden Bergeon (Richmond)

175

D2 #3 Fabian Facundo (Freeland)
D2 #4 Martin Knight (North Branch)
D2 #6 Gavin Vankirk (Mason)
D4 #8 Drew Challender (St. Louis)
D3 #8 Dayne Zeeman (Corunna)
D3 #16 Kaden Powers (Imlay City)

190

D3 #4 Caden Minton (Corunna)

215

D2 #6 Bringham Smith (Freeland)
D4 #8 Ray Frye (St. Louis)
D3 #11 Kyhis Malone (Corunna)
D3 #14 Lucas Viar (Montrose) SO

285

D4 #1 Tanner Craft (Leslie)
D2 #10 Talon Smith (Marquette)
D2 #15 Aiden Warren (Flint Kearsley)

Rockford Duals

Pool I: D2 #6 Greenville, D3 #6 Whitehall, D2 St. Joseph, D2 Jackson Northwest, D1 Rockford B

Pool II: D1 #6 Bedford, D1 #7 Rockford, D1 Holt, D2 Stevensville Lakeshore, D3 TK Middleville

Two pools of five teams for the Rockford duals, with a pair of ranked teams in each. There will be a single dual crossover based on the standings of each pool. Because we have already seen Rockford beat Greenville twice this year in close duals, including once on criteria, we would like to see Greenville/Bedford and Rockford/Whitehall in the medal matches no matter how that shakes out. St. Joes and Lakeshore are both really tough and will look to shake things up with the ranked teams.

Outlook: Greenville and Whitehall should be a really solid dual. If we are going based on recent common opponents, Whitehall has a win over Cedar Springs, while the Yellow Jackets lost a close dual to Cedar Springs on Wednesday. Some matches to watch are 106 and 126, while the match of the dual will be at 215lbs regardless of who Whitehall puts out there. While Johnson/Jenkins would be a great match, we could potentially see an interesting matchup of #1s if Craner were to bump up to 215.

Prediction: Whitehall +3

Outlook: Two storied programs squaring off here between Bedford and Rockford with potential state tournament seeding on the line. One of the most anticipated matches of the day would come at 113 if #1 Martin stays home to wrestle #6 Duvendack. Martin often bumps to 120 for duals, so we may not see that match, but it would be a nice preview of a potential match at the individual state tournament. 126 may be the most important match of the dual between #12 Welmerink and #9 Tristan King. Rockford will likely need to win a swing match or two, and that would be a good place to start.

Prediction: Bedford +5

Fowlerville Duals

This will be another 10 team tournament, although pools are TBD. We would assume that like Rockford, each team will wrestle the other 4 teams in their pool with a single dual crossover. The favorites will be D2 #5 Fowlerville, D3 #2 Yale, and D3 #7 Lakewood. We will give those On Papers assuming those three teams wrestle each other at some point. Belding, Livonia Franklin, Lake Orion, Northville, Gibraltar Carlson, Petoskey, and Waverly are the other teams in attendance.

Outlook: Our featured dual of the day should be Fowlerville vs Yale, both teams having extremely successful seasons so far. Fowlerville is really tough to beat in the second half of the lineup from 150 to 215. Yale is tougher down low, with two Sophas and two McClellands amongst others, providing a lot of flexibility. This dual could be a 7-7 split with bonus points being extremely important. Our match of the dual will be 157 where a ranked matchup could be the deciding factor.

Prediction: Fowlerville +3

Outlook: Assuming this dual happens, it's another tough matchup between Fowlerville and Lakewood. Multiple opportunities for ranked matches in this one, but the clear match of the dual would be D2 #3 O'Neil vs D3 #3 Simon at 215lbs. Fowlerville may have too much firepower in the middle and upper weights in this one, but it's a great dual nonetheless.

Prediction: Fowlerville +12

Outlook: A really important D3 dual here if we get to see Yale vs Lakewood. Yale has had a fantastic year so far, and they likely won't stop here. Yale is loaded down low and has a really solid lineup all the way through. There's potential for a top-5 matchup at 132 where we could see #2 McClelland against #5 Stamm.

Prediction: Yale +15