Saints Wrestlers 13-3 in Dual Matches
St. Ignace Defeats Ironmen, Blue Devils in Tri-match
By David Latva

The Saints' Kaiden Shiemke (left) defeated this Sault Ste. Marie wrestler 14-1 during the St. Ignace win over the Blue Devils.

The Saints wrestling team hosted two opponents at the St. Ignace Middle School and came away with a 77-6 non-conference win over the Mancelona Ironmen and a 48-24 Straits Area Conference decision against the Sault Ste. Marie Blue Devils to improve their dual match record to 13-3 Thursday, January 3.

Nine St. Ignace wrestlers posted 2-0 records, led by Derek Marshall (189 weight class) with two first-period pins, Brandon Garries (125) with first- and second period pins, and Andy Tamlyn (215) with two thirdperiod pins.

Eric Brown (130) had one first-period pin and a 10-0 decision, Kaiden Shiemke (119) firstperiod pin and 14-1 decision, Mike McNeely (112) and Steffan Saffian one pin each, and John Evashevski (140) and Shawn Horn rounded out the 2-0 wrestlers.

Finishing with 1-1 records were Allan Honeycutt (135) and Rob Robinson (145) with one pin each, and Tyler Oja (152) and Nate Tamlyn (171).

Brandon Garries (top) of St. Ignace turns over this Mancelona wrestler during the tri-match at St. Ignace Middle School.

Saints Ranked 5th in U.P.

The Upper Peninsula Wrestling Coaches Association posted its first poll of the season, showing Iron Mountain tops the list of teams, followed by Gladstone, Escanaba, Kingsford, St. Ignace, Ishpeming, Sault Ste. Marie, and Munising.

LaSalle High School in St. Ignace is the smallest school in the Upper Peninsula with a wrestling program.

Saints JV Team Results at

Gaylord Tourney

Ten St. Ignace wrestlers placed during the Gaylord Junior Varsity Invitational Saturday, January 5.

Billy Grogan (171 weight class) and Caleb Litzner (135) finished first with 4-0 records. Placing second with 3-1 records were Devon Chargo (119) and Kyle Fulgenzi (119), and Luke Thurston placed (152) second with a 2-1 mark.

Finishing third were Justin Frazier (130) with a 2-2 record. Finishing with 1-2 records were Shawn Horn (103), William Pechta (103), and Mike Foster (heavyweight).

The Saints' Eric Brown (top) pins his opponent from Mancelona during the tri-match.

Not placing, but winning one match, were Eric Lenoir (135) and Rob Sayles (152) with 1-3 records.

St. Ignace will travel to Mancelona to battle the host Ironmen and Traverse City Central Thursday, January 10.

The Saints will then compete in the Rogers City Super Dual Saturday, January 12.