Led by Hartland, 38 Livingston County wrestlers advance to regionals

There are no guarantees in wrestling, but one of the closest is that any athlete Hartland enters in individual districts will move on to regionals.

The Eagles advanced 13 of their 14 wrestlers to regionals from the Division 1, District 2 tournament Saturday at Birmingham Groves.

Over the past six seasons, 82 of the 84 wrestlers Hartland has entered for the postseason have continued to regionals by placing in the top four at districts.

Hartland had nine district champions Saturday, the second-highest total ever by a Livingston County team. Last year’s Eagles had a record 12 district champs.

Winning their third district championships were seniors Gabe Cappellano (34-3) at 150, Nick Rochowiak (38-3) at 165 and Brayden Bobo (35-1) at 175. Repeat winners were sophomore Easton Culver (27-3) at 132 and junior Vinnie Abbey (37-1) at 157.

First-time district champs for Hartland were freshman Dane Dunbar (31-9) at 106, freshman Bohdan Abbey (34-3) at 113, junior Jacob Pretzel (23-2) at 215 and senior Vincent Cox (31-6) at 285.

Abbey, ranked No. 2 at 157 by MichiganGrappler.com, won by pinning three opponents, including sixth-ranked Jason Onwenu of West Bloomfield in 5 minutes, 27 seconds in the championship match.

Rochowiak, Bobo and Cox also won by pinning all three opponents. Dunbar had only two matches, winning both by pins.

Hartland will host an individual regional tournament Saturday. The top four in each weight group will qualify for the state tournament March 3-4 at Ford Field in Detroit.

Division 1, District 4

Brighton and Howell traveled to Portage Northern for districts, and eight wrestlers from each school will have another long bus trip Saturday for the regional tournament at Byron Center.

Two of Brighton’s top wrestlers met in the championship match at 126 pounds, with sophomore Jackson Johnson (30-5) winning a 3-2 decision over sophomore Easton Hardesty (27-14). Johnson is ranked No. 6 at 120, while Hardesty is No. 5 at 126. Wrestlers are locked in to one weight class once the individual postseason begins.

Junior Zak Knapp (30-6), ranked No. 3 at 157, won that weight class for the Bulldogs with three first-period pins. Unranked freshman Kaden Tindall (22-16) won at 132.

Brighton’s Travis Richardson, ranked No. 2 at 150, lost 10-7 in the championship match to No. 5 Colby Klinger of Mattawan. Also placing second for Brighton was freshman Ethan Smith (28-11) at 106.

Qualifying with third-place finishes for Brighton were freshman Drake Pollins (22-16) at 106 and sophomore Sean O’Keefe (21-6) at 215.

Howell senior Drake Blazevski (33-8) was the only Livingston County district champion who had to win four matches, taking three decisions after opening with a 57-second pin at 138.

Placing second for the Highlanders were seniors Elijah Madison (25-22) at 132 and Zac Egan (28-9) at 144. Placing third were junior Will Stewart (30-13) at 165 and senior Aiden Salvatore (19-13) at 190. Finishing fourth were sophomore Connor Wallace (39-13) at 106, freshman Ryker Newstead (25-18) at 120 and freshman Gavin Holbrook (24-19) at 190.

Division 2, District 14

Fowlerville had seven regional qualifiers and Pinckney two in the district at Jackson Parkside Middle School. They will advance to the regional Saturday at Jackson Northwest.

Fowlerville had two district champions in senior Dalton Daniel (38-6) at 126 and junior Ben Blyveis (39-2) at 150.

Junior George Daniel (21-13) was second at 285 for the Gladiators. Placing third were freshman Layne O’Neil (34-15) at 175 and junior Richard Davis (35-13) at 190. Fourth-place finishers were freshman Gavinn Stankov (30-19) at 113 and returning sophomore all-stater Levi Baker (30-13) at 126.

Pinckney senior Brady Raymond (38-6), who is ranked 10th at 175, won a 7-6 decision over third-ranked Derek Badgley of Mason in the championship match.

Pinckney’s other qualifier was junior Eli Smith (21-17), who was fourth at 165.

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.