Freeland Duals Kicks Off Huge Weekend Dual Slate

Michigan Grappler

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December 21, 2023

Thursday - Freeland Duals

Notes: Good slate going on today with five ranked teams spanning across all divisions. Last year's field saw Gaylord, Freeland, and St. Louis all beat each other. The most intriguing dual of the day will be between Gaylord and host Freeland, who is looking to continue their hot streak after knocking off Brighton last weekend. St. Louis and Hart wrestled on opening weekend, with St. Louis winning 42-16. Should be a really good opportunity for all teams to pick up quality wins for seeding down the road, as there could be four team state qualifying teams here.

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Friday - D1 #8 Clarkston, D2 #2 Goodrich @ D1 #1 DCC

Notes: Solid tri-meet here hosted by DCC with three ranked squads. The Shamrocks should be in good shape to have a clean slate on the day; Goodrich vs Clarkston should be very competitive. In that dual #1 Trevino will likely either take on Macklem or Phipps, who are both #1 in D2. Also could see Carter take on top-ranked Orcutt; while both are ranked at 132, they haven't wrestled below 138 yet. In the DCC-Goodrich dual, the match to make is Bercume vs Mahon. Both juniors and defending state champs ranked #1, Mahon has not lost since the state tournament two years ago, while Bercume's last loss was at the DCC Invite last season. In DCC-Clarkston look for 120 and 126 to be the best bouts, with four of the top seven at 120 likely being spread across the two weights.

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Friday - D2 #8 Stevensville Lakeshore @ D2 #1 Lowell

Notes: The Red Arrows head into Christmas Break with an assembly dual versus 8th-ranked Stevensville Lakeshore. Despite both being at the GGI and Carnahan Invitational the past two weekends, there were only five total individual head-to-head matchups between the teams. While the end result of the dual likely won't be in question, expect a good amount of competitive matches, particularly in the lower weights.

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Friday - Martin Clipper Classic

Notes: Should be a really solid field here with 12 total teams, including a pair or ranked squads from both D3 and D4, plus St. Joe who is in the mix in D2. Clinton and Bronson wrestled last night, with Clinton taking a 42-27 win. Both Whitehall-Clinton and Martin-Bronson look like toss-up duals on paper. Martin edged St. Joe last weekend in an individual tournament by 2.5 points (though St. Joe's non-scorer outscored their point scorer at one weight). So it's really a wild card of a day - maximize bonus in the wins, minimize it in the losses, and win the toss ups. Whoever can do that will bank some big wins for down the road.

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Saturday - Lapeer Christmas Duals

Notes: Eight team field featuring the five above, plus host Lapeer (who defeated D4 #9 New Lothrop last night), Roseville, and Wyandotte Roosevelt. As such, most of the ranked teams should hit each other by the end of the day. Hartland and Davison will square off for the first time since 2017, which seems impossible as they've both been Team State qualifiers every year since then. In any case, it's a critical dual for both squads. It will also be interesting to see how Davison handles the lineup with 10 duals in a three-day stretch, with likely over half being against ranked teams. Hudson versus John Glenn is a great matchup as well, both teams are capable of having a huge day as they each have solid lineups from top to bottom. It will be interesting to see which teams emerge from this deep field of teams. One other individual matchup to keep an eye on is #1 Jay'Den Williams vs #2 Vinnie Abbey at 157, as Hartland will wrestle Roseville in pool play.

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