Lenawee County All-Star Wrestling Tournament returns after one-year hiatus

ADRIAN — After a year with no Lenawee County All-Star Wrestling Tournament, it made its triumphant return on Friday night at Adrian College’s Merillat Sport and Fitness Center.

Clinton emerged from the tournament with nine first-place finishers out of the 17 finals bouts, including two wins out of three of the first girls championship matches to have taken place at a county tournament.

“For us to have (nine) champs it kind of separates us from the pack,” said Clinton coach Casey Randolph. “Little surprised at some things tonight, but our kids battled pretty well. I felt like we could have had more champs to be honest with you, but it’s a great event, there’s tough kids here. We took a couple losses that we weren’t expecting, good for them, bad for us, but still pretty proud of our kids.”

Hudson had four champions on a night where head coach Scott Marry was inducted into the Lenawee County Wrestling Hall of Fame, led by Upper Weight MVP Cameron Kimble at 189 pounds, while Tecumseh had a pair of champions including Lower Weight MVP Ben Solis (130).

Adrian, which saw Nick Conklin named the county coach of the year by the coaches in attendance, tied with Madison as both the Maples and Trojans had one champion.

“We’re all chasing those guys (at Clinton and Hudson), that’s why I work as hard as I do and my coaching staff works as hard as they do,” Conklin said. “Until we get to that point we’re just going to keep working as hard. My team works hard, they believe in the coaching staff and you can see it. This award goes to them more than it does to me.”

Kimble got his night started by pinning Onsted’s Trenton Warner in 49 seconds and then in the final faced off with Clinton’s Logan Badge, who advanced by pinning Tecumseh’s Tanek Bagrowski in 46 seconds.

Badge got the takedown in the first period, which Kimble escaped from and then in the second period, Kimble went to the bottom and got a point off a penalty on Badge and an escape. That would be all the senior from Hudson needed as he held off the Central Michigan commit in the third to claim the title.

“It’s mind-blowing," Kimble said. "I haven’t wrestled (Badge) since freshman year and every other year, we don’t get a chance and I knew this year if I went 189, we were going to meet either way. I knew I had to take this chance and I was not letting off that gas pedal. I knew I wanted this, he’s one of my bucket list things.”

Solis pinned Clinton’s Chase Packard in four minutes, 47 seconds to advance to his final against Hudson’s Kannon Marry, who took a 6-0 decision against Braxton Tindall of Adrian.

Marry started off with a 4-2 lead after the first period, but Solis responded with a takedown and a two-point near fall in the second, and ultimately got the pinfall in 5:08 for the championship.

“It means so much to me," Solis said. "I didn’t really do too good my freshman year and last year I wasn’t All-County and now I come back and I’m a champion. Fourth seed taking first, it’s crazy.”

Brandon Rau was the other Tecumseh champion on the night, getting the pinfall to win the 171-championship match against Sand Creek’s Jack Pifer in 3:57.

For Clinton, Braylon Long took the 103 title with a 16-2 major decision against Addison’s Caleb Potts, which Connor Younts (112) followed with a 5-1 decision against Tucker Miller of Hudson and Conner Busz (119) winning with a 5-3 decision against Hudson’s Tristan Bolenbaugh.

Zak Shadley (125) won via a 5-3 decision against Hudson’s Austin Marry, which was chased by a Coy Perry 6-2 decision against Hudson’s Jackson Miller at 135. Kent McCombs (160) got his title via a 37-second pin of Hudson's Calix Campbell and Brandon Felts (285) pinned Cam Miller of Addison in 1:37 to take that championship.

Rounding out the Clinton winners on the night were Faith Blackburn and Leanne Mercier, who won their titles at 135 and 160 via a 50-second pin of Destyni Monroe from Sand Creek and a 4-0 decision against Taylor House of Blissfield, respectively.

In addition to the title from Kimble, Hudson also had Payton Rogers (140) take the title with a 4:25 pin of Adrian’s Caden Holt, which Bronson Marry (145) followed with another pin, this one in 1:02 against Clinton’s Ethan Younts. Logan Sallows (215) also got his title via pinfall, taking down Aiden Frost of Addison in 3:11.

Adrian’s lone champion on the night was Connor Krueger at 152 as he picked up a 12-6 decision against Aden Barrett of Hudson while Madison’s Arayah Tindall led off the title matches with a 15-0 technical fall against Riley Porter of Sand Creek in their championship bout at 105 pounds.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Lenawee County All-Star Wrestling Tournament returns to Adrian College