Rockets soar at inaugural tourney

BY CHARLES ROTHWELL
Jan. 24, 2010, 11:30 p.m.

  The inaugural Wayne County Wrestling Tournament attracted 25 of the county's 46 wrestling programs. Many of the more powerful teams like Belleville, Canton, Dearborn Heights Annapolis, Livonia Franklin and Riverview did not attend because of prior commitments or various other reasons.

  The tournament used a 32-man bracket format with the first two rounds being single elimination. Excellent planning and table help provided by host Romulus kept things runnings smoothly. For these two reasons, the tournament ran very quickly.

  John Glenn was the star of the tournament. Because of the two single-elimination rounds, Glenn only sent its more seasoned wrestlers. Eleven of 12 Rockets made it to the championship semi-finals and all 12 placed in the top five.

  Tournament champions were Josh Austin (119 pounds) and Anthony Pavlich (130). Placing second were Steve Wakeford (112), Mark Thompson (135) and Kameron Jones (171). Kyle Gillies (103), Mike Johnson (152) and Dustin Gajowiak (285) placed third; Travis Mann (145), Danny Croft (160), and Gerald Powell (215) placed fourth; and Mikkel Tipton (140) placed fifth. Glenn's 243.5 points easily captured first place ahead of Southgate Anderson (177.5), Northville (139) and Romulus (129).

  John Glenn head coach Bill Polk was voted "Most Valuable Coach" by the attending coaches.

  Five other Observerland schools participated and several had some very strong individual efforts. Devin Ashley (Garden City) won the 135-pound championship. Three Lutheran Westland seniors medaled: Laith Francis (125) and Justin Palka (130) took third; and Craig Kowalsky (189) placed fourth.

  Wayne Memorial had four medalists: Dylan Korzetki (215) placed second; Josh Mills (160) placed third; Anwar Oliver (140) placed fourth; and Chris Bowie placed fifth.

  As a team, the Wolfpack finished 10th with 97.5 points.