It was a great day for the Mules Red team.  They traveled up to Warren Woods Tower HS for a dual tournament that featured a total of 6 teams.  Three of the teams were ranked: Eaton Rapids D2 #5, Warren Woods Tower D2 #6, and your Mules at #6 D1.  Oxford is just outside the top 10 in D1, St. Joseph’s had a few ranked wrestlers and Goodrich is in a rebuilding year after taking second last year in D2.  The tournament was round robin style with all the teams facing each other.
 
The Mules opened up with Oxford.  Oxford is always in contention for a trip to State, so this was going to be a good test for the Mules.  The dual started at 103.  We had three freshmen start off the dual, Brock Jandasek, Nathan Gerber, and Jack Nigh – all three won with pins!  It was good to have a strong start since the next 4 matches saw Oxford get the best of the Mules.  Score was 18-13 at that point and those 13 points would be the last Oxford would score.  The Mules took seven straight matches to win 54-13.  Rimmer, Frantz, Jagielski, Dye and Bettencourt all won by pin in those last matches.
 

Next up for the Mules was D2’s #5 ranked Eaton Rapids.  Eaton Rapids is always tough and beat the Mules last year in this tourney.  They had also beaten Warren Woods in their first round so they were the real deal once again this year.  The dual started at 112 with Gerber getting a big pin.  Chase Grzegorczyk followed with a major decision.  Mules up 10-0.  Nigh suffered a pin and Grant Burton got a tech fall at 130lbs.  Mules up 15-6.  This is when the meet really started to heat up.  ER took the next three duals to take the lead 15-18.  Denker won with a void and Rimmer one a hard fought match 8-6.  Mules on top 26-18.  Frantz took a pin and then Jagielski won his 100th varsity match with a pin to put the Mules back up 30-24.  Dye fought hard but lost 2-4, but then Bettencourt sealed the dual with a pin to make the score 36-27.  Jandasek took a pin to close out the meet.  Mules win 36-33!

In the third round the Mules had Goodrich.  Goodrich is usually one of the top teams in D2, however they lost quite a few wrestlers from last year’s runner-up team.  Goodrich did beat the Mules in this tourney last year, so the Mules were looking for revenge – and boy did they get it.  The Mule shut out the Martians, 73-0.

The next big test for the Mules were the Titans of Warren Woods Tower.  Warren Woods lost to ER by 4 points so the Mules knew it was going to be a tough dual.  The meet started at 119 and did not start the way the Mules were hoping.  The Mules suffered a pin, a decision, a major decision and another pin to start off in a 0-19 hole.  Randy Boisselle turned it around by getting a pin and then Denker did the same.  Add in Rimmer’s tough win and the score was 15-19.  Logan Frantz suffers a 2-7 loss followed by a win by void for Jagielski.  Score is now 21-22.  Both Cage Dye and Cole Bettencourt got huge pins to make the score 33-22.  Three matches left so the Mules did not have it locked up yet.  Jandasek took a pin to make it 33-28.  Nathan Gerber sealed the deal with a pin!  Mules up 39-28.  Nigh took a pin in the last match so the final score was 39-34.

The final match had the Mules taking on St. Joseph’s.  St. Joseph’s had a couple good wrestlers but they were no match for the mighty Mules.  The Mules rolled to a 66-9 victory with 8 pins in the match.  Wrestlers that had a winning record on the day are below:

Gerber - 5-0 with 4 pins
Grzegorczyk - 3-2 with 2 pins
Nigh - 3-2 with 2 pins
Boisselle -  4-1 with 2 pins
Denker -  5-0 with 2 pins
Rimmer -  5-0 with 1 pin
Frantz - 3-2 with 2 pins
Jagielski - 5-0 with 4 pins
Dye - 4-1 with 2 pins
Bettencourt - 5-0 with 4 pins