P-CEP Wrestlers Geared Up for Individual Regionals

All told, 10 wrestlers will represent the Plymouth-Canton Educational Park at the state individual regional tournament Saturday at .

Canton leads the way with six wrestlers and coach Cory Mancuso expects all of them to battle for the title in their respective weight classes.

“All six of them should get out and make it to the state tournament,” Mancuso said. “That’s what they trained for and that was the goal, to make it to states. If they wrestle to their capability, they’ll get through.”

The regional at Plymouth begins at 9:30 a.m. The top four wrestlers in each weight class advance to the finals, which will be held at The Palace in Auburn Hills, March 3-5.

Five of the six wrestlers who advanced from Canton took first place at the district tournament in Garden City and their records speak for themselves.

Freshman Ben Griffin, at 103 pounds, is 50-1 on the season; fellow freshman Alec Panteleo (112) is 47-3; junior Zach Marsh (140) is 39-7; senior Anthony Abro (189) is 51-0; and senior Ben Poirier (285) is 46-3.

Senior Braden Price (171) placed second and has a record of 16-6 this season.

“Six is good,” Mancuso said. “We were hoping for more, but we had a lot of injuries. If all six get through, that will be on pace for the last couple of years. 

“If everything goes well, they’ll all finish first in the region. They’re all capable if they wrestle to their ability.”

Canton’s last individual state champ was Corey Phillips (140) in 2007.

Salem has two wrestlers, Alex Arble (103) and Cody Korpus (19-9), who advanced. Both are sophomores and both placed fourth in districts.

“Alex has come on as of late here in the season,” Salem coach Pete Israel said. “He is beating some of the kids he lost to during the year. He had a great win over Plymouth’s Mohammed Youseff in the consolation semifinals to gain a spot to qualify for regionals. Youseff had beat Arble the last three times. Because of the tough district, I expect Alex to do well.”

Arble is 24-19, while Korpus is 19-9.

“Cody is starting to wrestle well,” Israel said. “If Cody puts his mind to it, he should do well at regionals.”

Salem’s last individual state champ was Jeremy Henderson (189) in 2006. 

Plymouth High School, which opened in 2002, has never had a wrestler finish first or second in the state. 

Junior Said Youssef (125) took second in districts and holds a record of 44-10, while sophomore Alec Breckenridge (130) was third and is 32-10.