Livonia Franklin's Jordan McGuire (top) earned the 135-pound title by outpointing Harrison's James Roberts, 20-13.

Shamrocks rule Observerland field

to claim second straight crown

BY ED WRIGHT
Jan. 30, 2010, 11:16 p.m.

  The nine Novi Detroit Catholic Central wrestlers who stepped onto the black championship mat just prior to the finals introductions of Saturday's Observerland Invitational Wrestling Tournament at Livonia Churchill wore old-school, black-and-white, silky hooded warm-ups, similar to the ones worn by the great boxers of the '70s and '80s.

  Their wardrobes were fitting considering the tournament favorite Shamrocks packed quite a punch all day.

  CC captured its second consecutive Observerland title by amassing 296.50 points, 93.50 more than runner-up Canton.

  All 14 Shamrocks scored at least fifth-place points while six walked off with first-place gold medals.

  Eleven Chiefs earned points, including titleists Brent Winekoff (160), Keith Zech (171) and Anthony Abro (189).

  Livonia Franklin (170), Westland John Glenn (166) and Belleville (114) rounded out the top five finishers.

  "I'm very happy for the guys," said CC coach Mitch Hancock. "We're moving forward. We worked hard and trained hard this week and it showed with nine guys in the finals and 14 getting points.

  "They all came out and battled. I can't say more about their work ethic and their character. They're great kids."

  The Shamrocks entered the tournament with the prohibitive favorite label, a notion Hancock brushed off.

  "We don't look at it like that," he said. "The guys understand that they have to be sharp for every match and no one is going to roll over for them."

  One of the gutsiest performances during Saturday night's finals unfolded in the 160-pound final between Canton's Brent Winekoff and Farmington Hills Harrison's Kevin Beazley, whose father is a former Canton assistant coach.

  With 26 seconds left in the second period and Winekoff trailing, the match was stopped for just over a minute as a Winekoff shoulder injury flared up, forcing the Chiefs' All-Stater to contemplate calling it a night.

  "The ref said I had five seconds to decide whether to default or keep wrestling," recalled Winekoff, last year's upper-weight Observerland MVP. "I tore my labrum just before the season started , but it's been feeling pretty good lately. But when it gets jerked just right like it did tonight, it's pretty painful."

  Winekoff continued on to registered a two-point take-down of Beazley with 27 seconds left to tie the match at 12-all. He then won it in overtime with an emphatic take-down.

  Asked if the title was special considering the adversity he had to fight through, Winekoff nodded.

  "Yeah, a little bit," he said. "I guess so. But to tell you the truth, it's more frustrating than anything to have to go through (the nagging injury) my senior year."


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