James Sayles St. Ignace wrestling team finished third, one win out of second place, during the Straits Area Conference (SAC) Meet at Cheboygan Saturday, February 11.

Rogers City won the SAC championship with 218 points, followed by Sault High with 128.5, the Saints 120.5, Cheboygan 116, Mio 89, Rudyard 76, Onaway 66, and Newberry 49.

"Overall I was pleased with our effort," said Saints Coach Harvey Bentley. "We placed 10 of 14 wrestlers, while Rogers City recorded 11 and Sault High eight. The Hurons are the best in our league and it was between us, Sault High, and Cheboygan for second. We just needed one more win to take second."

The Saints registered a 22-19 overall record on the day, with one wrestler placing second at 1-1, six grapplers placing third with 3-1 and 2-1 marks, and three athletes fourth with 2-2 and 1-2 records.

Junior James Sayles (HWT) placed second with a 1-1 mark, while seniors Michael Green (160) with two pins, Stuart Zimmerman (125), and Rob Sayles (215) with one pin went 3-1, and juniors Sam Fitzpatrick (119) 3-1 with one pin, and Colin Chan (135) 2-1 with two pins, took thirds.

Sophomores Derek Marshall (171) at 2-2 had two pins and B r a n d o n Garries (112) at 1-2, and senior A.J. Miller (145) at 1-2 with one pin placed fourth. Mario Calcaterra (130), Shawn Cowell (140), Jesse Becker (152), and Lee Kelso (189) were 0-2.

Junior Colin Chan pins his opponent during the opening round of the SAC Tourney at Cheboygan. The Saints will travel to Rudyard to compete in the team districts Thursday, February 16, and will face the winner between the host Bulldogs and Charlevoix for the championships. They will leave Friday morning for the Upper Peninsula Individual State Finals in Marquette February 17 and 18.

If the Saints win the districts at Rudyard, the regionals will be held at Newberry Wednesday, February 22. The district winners will come from Rogers City, Munising, Iron Mountain-Norway area, and Rudyard.

Saints JVWrestling Update

Sixteen St. Ignace wrestlers compiled a 33-15 overall mark, with five LaSalle High School grapplers posting a perfect mark during the Sault Junior Varsity Tourney Saturday, January 28.

Recording 3-0 records on the day were Matt Arthur and Mike McNeely (103), Alan Honeycutt (125), Ryan Saunders (152), and Derek Marshall (160).

Matt Arthur Placing second with 2-1 marks were Eric Brown and Rob Robinson

112), Kaiden Shiemke (103), Bill Grogan

130), Lee Kelso (189), Tom Krause (215), and Rob Sayles

HWT). Taking third place with 1-2 records were Tyler Oja (103), Mario Calcaterra

(130), Stefan Saffian, and Jesse Becker (140).