This portends to be the toughest regional in Division 1, as qualifiers from two very deep and talented districts meet to determine who will qualify for the individual state tournament.

  189 Pounds:  This is a weight where the Plymouth district clearly has the more accomplished wrestlers.  Cadet Greco-Roman All-American Anthony Abro wrestles a lot of close matches, but has lost only twice this year.  One of his victories was a 3-1 decision over returning state qualifier, and John Glenn district champion, Tomas Gomez.  Bobby Lahiff was impressive in winning the Wayne County tournament, which also involved a win over Gomez.  However, Lahiff could not beat a tremendously improved Miles Trealout at districts.  Rounding out the Plymouth district qualifiers is returning regional qualifier Andrew Schramm.  First-year varsity wrestlers Mark Tooley and Bryan Smith performed well at districts, but appear overmatched at this regional.

  My prediction:  1) Abro, 2) Gomez, 3) Lahiff, 4) Trealout

  215 Pounds:  Returning state placer Mike Kinville is clearly the top wrestler in this talented group.  Ben Poirer (#9), Forrest Sampson (#10), David Pope (honorable mention), Andrew Johnson, and Alan Mencer are evenly matched and any of them could finish second, or not make it out at all.

  My prediction:  1) Kinville, 2) Pope, 3) Sampson, 4) Mencer

  Heavyweight:  The talent in the John Glenn district is crazy, even with the unfortunate absence of top-seeded Mason Cole due to injury.  Buster Wilson (#2), Dustin Gajowiak (#3), Dustin Staton (#7), and Justin Dozier (honorable mention) are all favored to make the state tournament.

  My prediction:  1) Wilson, 2) Dozier, 3) Gajowiak, 4) Staton

  103 Pounds:  Perhaps the most stacked weight of the regional, seven of the eight wrestlers are either ranked by MichiganGrappler.com or received honorable mention.  All eight are good enough to have a legitimate shot at placing at the state meet.  Ken Bade is the clear-cut favorite to win this region, and Mitch Rogoliner and T. J. Fagan seem to be a notch above the rest.  The fourth qualifier could be any of Cade Barwig, Richard DeMarois, Kyle Gillies, Dan Martinez, or Jourdain Spurlin.

  My prediction:  1) Bade, 2) Fagan, 3) Rogoliner, 4) DeMarois.

  112 Pounds:  Injuries to Alec Breckenridge, Nick Kim, and Keshav Patel depleted the field from the Plymouth District, but this weight still features four ranked wrestlers, all of whom qualified for the state tournament last year.  Justin Melick (4^th), Chad Turner (5^th), and Steve Wakeford (6^th) all placed at 103 and Evan Guffey qualified at 112.  Steve Tuyo looked great in beating Josh Austin at the KLAA meet, but the cut to 112 looks difficult to maintain and it is difficult to see him making out of this stacked regional.

  My prediction:  1) Melick, 2) Guffey, 3) Wakeford, 4) Turner

  119 Pounds:  Returning state champion Alec Mooradian and seventh-ranked Josh Austin headline this weight.  Matt Thompson has earned the honorable mention attention from MichiganGrappler.com and should place third.  All other wrestlers seem quite comparable, but Eimers’ fall over Papin at the DCC tournament puts him ahead in my mind.

  My prediction:  1) Mooradian, 2) Austin, 3) Thompson, 4) Eimers

  125 Pounds:  The John Glenn and Plymouth Districts were pretty much mirror images of each other at this weight.  Both had a returning state placer (Leon Shannon and Waleed Faraj), a returning state qualifier (Harry Cassedy and Charlie Joseph), a returning regional qualifier that didn’t make it out of districts this year (Devin Foster and Kienuwa Davis), and a handful of other hopefuls.  Although Wyandotte’s Tim Deja is talented enough to pull off the upset, I have to go with the returning state qualifiers/placers to make it out again.

  My prediction:  1) Shannon, 2) Cassedy, 3) Joseph, 4) Faraj

  130 Pounds:  The John Glenn district was really stacked at this weight with four wrestlers ranked in the top 8, but a season-ending injury to Wyandotte’s Joe Lombard reduced that number to three.  The Plymouth district only had one ranked wrestler (Nick Mason, #9), but Livonia Franklin’s Jordan McGuire had beaten Mason for the Observerland title and did it again at the district meet.  This weight has the potential for some surprising upsets, and I’ll go out on a limb and predict a couple.

  My predictions:  1) Schneider, 2) Pavlich, 3) McGuire, 4) Davison

  135 Pounds:  This weight might not be very deep, but it has three kids that should challenge for the state championship.  Kyle Horr and Justin Melick are ranked first and third, respectively, at 135 pounds, and Brian Gibbs is ranked third at 140.  Mark Thompson should qualify for the state tournament barring a major upset.

  My prediction:  1) Melick, 2) Gibbs, 3) Horr, 4) Thompson

  140 Pounds:  This appears to have been the thinnest weight at both districts.  The only returning state placer and ranked wrestler is Donnie Watkins.  Travis Mann is a very talented freshman and has earned an honorable mention from MichiganGrappler.com.  The other two spots are truly up for grabs, but it is hard to ignore the successes the Monroe program has had this year.

  My prediction:  1) Watkins, 2) Mann, 3) McLaughlin, 4) Stevens

  145 Pounds:  Grappler’s rankings certainly were not helpful in picking placers out of the John Glenn District.  Sam Hepler (#7) lost twice to Belleville’s Andrew Majewski, and Darius Robinson (honorable mention) failed to make it out.  Glenn’s Mike Johnson seems to be coming on strong even though his overall record is not very impressive.  In the Plymouth District Doug Eldridge (#8) and Kirk Tomski (#10) both made it out, but Tomski did lose a tight one to Northville’s Josh Wright.

  My prediction:  1) Eldridge, 2) Wright, 3) Johnson, 4) Majewski

  152 Pounds:  This was perhaps the deepest weight of the Plymouth district.  Brent Winekoff (#2) and Jon Nelson (#4) are highly ranked and should do very well at the state tournament.  Also competing were Observerland champion Matt Roos, MichiganGrappler.com honorable mention Gerid Gee and Sean O’Keefe, and a very tough Chris Arnold.  The John Glenn side was a little watered down because of the absence of Ypsilanti Lincoln’s Brandon Farrell (#5) and Bedford’s Tanner Duvall (#10).  Nonetheless, Andrew Arnett, Mickey Sutton, and Brent Clink are all capable wrestlers having good years.

  My prediction:  1) Winekoff, 2) Nelson, 3) Roos, 4) Arnett

  160 Pounds:  With 21 entrants in the Plymouth district and 15 in the John Glenn district, these regional qualifiers had to fend off some formidable competition to make it this far.  Returning state placer T. J. Romijn is coming off an elbow injury that has significantly impacted his mat time this season.  Returning state qualifier Keith Zech has wrestled up nearly all season against some of the best 171-pounders in the state.  These two ranked wrestlers should provide a very even match-up in the regional finals.  Andrew Erickson, Mike Statham, and Dino Berri are all very capable of placing third, or higher, but it is hard to bet against a DCC kid in light of how well every member of that team has been wrestling.

  My prediction:  1) Zech, 2) Romijn, 3) Erickson, 4) Berri

  171 Pounds:  Nick Mudar has had superb regular seasons for the past three years, but has not been to the state tournament.  I think he has gotten over the hump this year.   He was dominant in winning the Plymouth district, especially in his championship match against returning state qualifier Curtis Castleberry.  The other two qualifiers from the Plymouth district, Jake Burns and Dan McCarthy are solid wrestlers, but have fought injuries lately.  The John Glenn district qualifiers, Nick Lamentola, Tyler Lingar, Devon Bronson, and Kameron Jones look evenly matched, which indicates there should be some very exciting blood round matches at this weight.

  My prediction:  1) Nick Mudar, 2) Curtis Castleberry, 3), Lamentola, 4) Jones