For the first time in six years, the Munising Mustang wrestling team is MHSAA District champions.
“It felt fantastic,” Munising Head Coach Joe Dolaskie said. “It feels like we’ve been rebuilding since I took over, but we have 11 people returning and have a good chance to win next year too.”
Munising easily dispatched the undermanned Rudyard Bulldogs 68-6 in the first round of the district format. Waiting for them on the other side was the host school Newberry, who had defeated Manistique 36-27. Entering into the final, the Mustangs focused on their expectations and secured the 48-24 district championship.
“We won where we thought we win and lost where we thought we lost. A lot of the time the districts just come down to how many guys you have on the team,” Dolaskie said.
Munising also stood out in the individual wrestling districts held in Manistique on Saturday, Feb. 11. Three Munising wrestlers will move onto the individual regionals this weekend.
Senior Reagan Bowerman reached the 150-pound title bout in the Division 4 individual district in Manistique on Saturday, where he dropped a decision to Iron Mountain senior Evan Haferkorn. Haferkorn is now 31-0, but left the match frustrated as Bowerman improved considerably since the first matchup at the Escanaba Elks tournament earlier this season.
The Mustangs also qualified senior Wyatt Kulik (138), who pinned Brinker 2:25 into the third-place match. Kulik is from Superior Central and wrestles as part of the cooperative between the schools. Junior Andrew Cain (126) took fourth after he was pinned by Rogers City senior Hayden Hentkowski 4:24 into the thirdplace bout.
Dolaskie is confident that all three wrestlers can advance to the state tournament, including a return trip for Bowerman, where he and Haferkorn are both heavily favored to make it to Ford Field.
“They’ve got a shot. We have a tough district. I think we match up well against the opposing district where it’s going to be a tough fight, but I think that Wyatt and Andrew can both make it,” Dolaskie said.
The Mustangs as a team ended their season with a 68-6 loss to the Iron Mountain Mountaineers at the Munising regional on Wednesday, Feb. 15. Dolaskie said that the individual qualifiers did not wrestle in the matchup and the only points came from a bye won by Avery Murk. The Mountaineers has been one of the better Upper Peninsula teams this season and it would have been a tough challenge even with a full roster.
“We could have done a lot better, but it would have been an ego thing to put more points up on the board,” Dolaskie said. “Our focus was on districts and we did that.”
