By Journal Sports Staff

DETROIT — Each of the seven area wrestlers participating at the MHSAA Wrestling Individual Finals in Detroit lost a pair of matches Friday and was eliminated from further competition.

With more than 900 wrestlers gathered at Ford Field, the event takes two days to complete and wrapped up Saturday.

All seven athletes from the area, representing Ishpeming, Westwood, Munising and Newberry, participated in Division 4.

A first loss knocks athletes into the consolation bracket, while a second loss on Friday ends their quest for a top-eight placement in their weight class.

Four of the area wrestlers, including two from Westwood, each won a match before taking that second loss.

That included Patriots senior Sam Gilles, the lone area wrestler to win a match in the championship round.

Gilles, wrestling at 215 pounds, opened with a narrow 6-5 victory over Isiah Pasik of New Lothrop.

He then lost to Logan Badge of Clinton 14-6 and to Skylar Miller of Lake City 5-3. Badge won the state title in their division.

Junior teammate Rocco Carlson won his second match at 160. He opened with a loss to Mitchell Moore of Sand Creek, at pin at 43 seconds, then pinned Thomas Tanner of Hart at 4:33 before losing to Andy Dault of Oscoda 10-2.

Munising senior Richard Sneller Jr. also won his second match at 285. He was pinned by Alex Straub of Ravenna at 4:48, then pinned Connor Riddle of Jackson Vandercook Lake at 1:13 before being pinned by Cole Mapes of Camden Frontier at 2:16.

Ishpeming junior Alaric Martin also won his second match at 171. He began with a 4-3 loss to Ruger Ranney of Bronson, then won on forfeit over Justin Carnahan of New Lothrop before losing to Alex Holladay of Hart 4-0.

The other area wrestlers who went 0-2 in Detroit were Ishpeming freshman Jaegar Wilson and Newberry freshman Travis O’Neill at 119 and Ishpeming senior Andre Walsh at 189.

Information compiled by Journal Sports Editor Steve Brownlee. His email address is sbrownlee@miningjournal.net.