Sports
Lakeview’s Aaron Roach Eliminated At Individual Wrestling Regionals
The Lakeview junior finishes the season with a 33-15 record after two losses on Saturday at L'Anse Creuse.
HARRISON TOWNSHIP – The individual wrestling regionals ended quickly for Lakeview High School's lone qualifier Aaron Roach.
Roach lost his first two matches on Saturday at L’Anse Creuse and failed to qualify for the state finals. At regionals, the top four wrestlers in each weight class move on to compete at The Palace of Auburn Hills in two weeks.
The junior lost his opening bout to Rochester’s Aaron Morgan, the eventually regional champion in the 145-pound division. Morgan won a 13-1 major decision over Roach.
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In the consolation bracket, Roach lost to Warren De La Salle’s Eric Hannenberg on a 5-0 decision. Roach finished the season with a 33-15 record.
Tough Competition
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The L’Anse Creuse regional wasn’t lacking in top competition.
“There’s not a bad wrestler here; this is a really tough site,” Rochester High School coach Frank Lafferty said. “It might be one of the toughest (sites) in the state.”
It makes what his team and Oxford accomplished all the more impressive. The schools won more than half of the regional titles up for grabs on Saturday.
All six Falcons wrestlers made it to the regional finals in their respective weight classes. Rochester was only a takedown away from bringing home six regional championships.
Kaelan Richards (135), Dean Vettesse (140), Aaron Morgan (145), Justin Kim (103) and Shwan Shadaia (189) all won regional titles.
In overtime, Falcons senior Cody DeVoe lost a 3-2 decision in the championship match to Utica Eisenhower’s Charlie Myers. The 171-pound finals bout was probably the closest match of the night.
“Great day, great day, better than we expected,” Lafferty said. “Best we’ve ever done.”
Oxford brought 11 wrestlers to the Division 1 regional and all of them are headed to the state finals. It won four regional championships.
The two undefeated wrestlers in the regional stayed that way. Oxford senior Prescott Line (42-0) won the 215-pound bracket and Stoney Creek senior Nick Gajdzik won the heavyweight division (285).
Last year in the state finals, Line and Gajdzik wrestled for the championship in 215-pound bracket.
Gajdzik moved up a weight class this year and they avoided each other in the regionals. Gajdzik’s teammate Serge Andreou wasn’t so lucky. Line pinned Andreou (1:47) in the regional finals.
