Separate from the team tournament, where teams compete as a whole for that state championship, the individual tourney lets all wrestlers compete for themselves with a chance to make it to the floor of Ford Field in Detroit, the home of the NFL’s Lions, on March 6 and 7.

Eight of the area finalists are from the boys tourney, hailing from Negaunee, Munising, Manistique, Gwinn and Newberry; with the ninth qualifier coming from the girls tournament, a Marquette grappler.

Each has completed a top-four finish in their weight division at two levels of their tournament — first at the district level, then at the regional level.

There are other similarities between boys and girls tourneys, but also a major difference.

Each started out in large, local fields, with top district finishers advancing to an eight-wrestler regional that whittled it further to the top four.

At the state finals, there will be 16 wrestlers in each weight division — the top four wrestlers from four regionals.

The difference? While the boys wrestle in four divisions, separated by the size of their schools like in many sports, there is only one single division for girls.

That may change in future years when and if girls wrestling becomes more popular.

Here are details about the regional wrestlers:

Girls tourney

The one girls qualifier from an area school is freshman Amira Perrier of Marquette, who compiled a 2-2 record and finished fourth in the 110-pound division at her regional in Cadillac on Sunday.

All these tourney divisions consist of a championship bracket that wrestlers stay in as long as they keep winning, plus a consolation bracket once they take a loss that allows a wrestler to still finish as highly as third place, the two finalists in the championship bracket claiming first and second place.

Perrier took a loss to Lana Sheehan of Lowell in her opening match, a 19-4 decision that was called a technical fall at 5:06 into the match.

Marquette head coach Brandon Van Schyndel reports in an email detailing Perrier’s and teammate Etta Kudej’s results that Sheehan reached last year’s state finals.

At this point, though, Perrier’s tournament wasn’t over, and as it worked out, it was far from being over. Jumping right into the consolation bracket, Perrier then pinned Audrey Hinton of Fruitport at the 4:35 mark of the match.

The next round was the “blood round,” which in these tourneys decides who will make the top-four to advance to the next level.

Perrier also won that match with a pin at 3:36 of Akeelah Howard of Grand Rapids Ottawa Hills despite falling behind early. The downstate wrestler scored two takedowns in the first period for a 6-1 lead, but Perrier answered with similar moves of her own and went ahead 12-6 entering the third and final period.

She needed just seconds in the third to get another takedown that just as quickly turned into the match-ending pin.

Finally, she went up against Chloe Malone of Grayling in the third-place match. While both had already advanced to states, this match would help seeding at the finals.

In their third matchup this winter, Malone scored a pin at 1:45.

“Despite getting pinned by Chloe, she appeared to have closed the gap from previous matches from a technical standpoint,” Van Schyndel said about his wrestler.

He also mentioned that Perrier kept up with workouts and attended practice even while dealing with a midseason injury that kept her off the mat for several weeks.

“Upon returning from injury, she often stayed after practice to get ‘extra credit’ workouts in with Etta, alongside other wrestlers, which has definitely paid dividends for both wrestlers,” their coach said.

Interestingly, the three area wrestlers in the girls tournament who advanced to the regionals all wrestle at 110.

Kudej was another, but she bowed out after two matches.

The freshman opened against sophomore Tatianna Castillo of Lowell, who is a returning state champion with a 30-1 record this season, and was pinned at 1:00.

Then came senior Bianca Briggs of Newberry, the third wrestler from the area in the regionals.

Briggs, who had defeated Kudej in each of their three previous meetings this season, prevailed again 13-8.

“When looking at Etta’s performance from regionals today, it’s clear she has the potential to make a major splash in the girls division next year as a sophomore,” Van Schyndel said, noting that Kudej’s previous matches against Briggs had resulted in two pins and a tech fall. “Etta closed the gap immensely.”

Briggs, who lost her opening match in a pin at 2:51 to Ottawa Hills’ Howard, faced Kudej in the second match before taking on Grayling’s Malone in her next match.

In their “blood round,” Malone posted a pin at 1:52 to reach the third-place match against Perrier.

Boys tourney

All area participants in boys regionals that were held Saturday — including the eight who will go on to Ford Field — were in Division 3 at Boyne City for Negaunee and Westwood, and Division 4 at Charlevoix for Gwinn, Munising, Newberry and Manistique.

In Division 3, Negaunee sophomore Evan Asikainen became a regional champion at 113 pounds after winning two matches without a loss.

He received a first-round bye before defeating freshman Kolten Greaves of Gladstone 8-1 in the championship bracket semifinals.

Then Asikainen edged Roman Goulette of West Branch Ogemaw Heights 6-5 in the regional final.

Negaunee’s other state finals qualifier was senior Derek Potvin at 106 pounds. He finished third after winning three of four matches.

He opened with an 18-1 tech fall win at 3:50 of freshman Jessie Snook of Remus Chippewa Hills, then lost to sophomore Jude Salazar of Hart 10-0 to fall into the consolation bracket.

His first match there was the “blood round,” and he won it 7-4 over freshman Nolan Dowell of Ogemaw Heights. That advanced him for the chance to finish third, which he did with a pin at 2:09 of Finn Dart of Boyne City.

Another area wrestler also competed at 113, freshman Nick Christensen of Westwood, who lost his only two matches, each by pin.

Two more Miners also had 0-2 records at this regional, sophomore Tallen Parkinson at 144 losing by a pin and tech fall, and senior Devin Jurmu at 150, who was pinned and lost by decision.

In Division 4, Gwinn’s lone qualifier for states was also the only regional champion from the area to come out of Charlevoix.

That was freshman Evan Stachewicz at 132 pounds, who barreled through three matches with nothing but pins. Coming in with a sterling 48-2 record this season, he opened with a pin at 1:32 of junior Zachary Martin of Oscoda, then a pin at 1:26 of freshman Nathan Cloum of Whittemore-Prescott, then finished off his first regional experience with a pin at 1:12 of senior Mason Childs of Benzie Central.

Manistique’s two qualifiers each placed second with 2-1 records.

Senior Landon Weber at 120 opened with a 14-7 win over sophomore Isaac Schinella of Maple City Glen Lake, then edged sophomore Jayden Goupil of Whittemore-Prescott 7-5 to reach the finals. That’s where he lost 14-4 to junior Jason Debaeke of Houghton Lake.

Emeralds junior Grayden Holt at 126 began with a 15-8 win over senior Aaron McQueen of Mancelona, then scored a 17-1 tech fall at 2:16 of sophomore David Wenkel of Benzie Central. Then he lost to junior Mason Langlois of Houghton Lake by a narrow 7-6 decision in the finals.

The two state qualifiers from Munising and one from Newberry were all juniors, compiled 2-2 records and finished fourth at this regional.

The Mustangs’ Henry Basley at 132 was pinned at 3:45 in his opener to Benzie Central’s Childs. Basley then scored back-to-back falls of his own at 42 seconds of junior Shane LeFiles of Bark River-Harris and at 2:08 of W-P’s Cloum.

That put him in the third-place match, which again ended early as sophomore Kayden Miller of Roscommon scored a pin at 2:29.

Munising’s Nolan Dolaskie at 157 also opened with a loss, 11-7 to senior Tanyon Smith of Mio. But he fought back with a pin at 2:51 of sophomore Adalai Liebler of Lincoln Alcona and a 14-2 decision over senior Evan Starasinich of Johannesburg-Lewiston. For third place, Smith again won with a pin at 54 seconds.

And Newberry’s Gaijye Depew at 165 also started with a loss before bouncing back. He was pinned at 1:14 by freshman Cael Tyler of Roscommon, a wrestler with a 52-0 record who won the regional title.

Then he won 11-6 over sophomore Demetrios Richards of Charlevoix and was victorious in a 20-4 tech fall at 2:27 of junior Trecyn Arnold of Maple City Glen Lake.

For third place, he lost 12-9 to senior Aiden Kaminske of Atlanta.

Three area wrestlers reached the “blood round” before bowing out.

Gwinn senior Kailon McGeshick at 215 opened with a pin at 1:34 of sophomore Carson Phillips of Mancelona before a pin and 3-0 loss took him out.

Modeltowners sophomore Levi Melka at 144 scored a 16-10 victory over sophomore River Schaub of Manton between a tech fall and pin.

And Manistique sophomore Connor Mattson opened with a bye and lost on a pair of pins at 113.

Another seven area wrestlers lost both their matches at regionals and therefore didn’t advance.

They were Gwinn senior Devin Brabbs at 144, Modeltowners senior Ashton Ketola at 215, GHS freshman Evan Armatti at 165, Munising junior Keelan Hase at 126, Newberry senior Howard Bliss at 138, Manistique junior Owen Mason at 285 and Emeralds freshman David Hytinen at 106.

Story contents based on email received from Marquette head coach Brandon Van Schyndel and an examination of the MHSAA website at www.mhsaa.com. Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee’s email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.