Falcon Wrestling News: December 2024
Monthly Issue #16
Contents
Lynch Named East Jackson Tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler
Bashaw Repeats as Blissfield Champ
Falcons Take 3rd at Railsplitter Duals
Lynch Named East Jackson Tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler
Brianna Lynch and PeggyJo Gessner kicked off the Kestrel wrestling season at the East Jackson Invitational where Brianna was the 105 lb champion and PeggyJo finished the 100 lb runner-up! Brianna had taken 2nd at the tournament last year. This year, in addition to improving on last year’s finish, she was also voted the Most Outstanding Wrestler of the tournament!
PeggyJo Gessner
Champ. Round 1 - PeggyJo Gessner (St Mary Catholic Central HS (Monroe)) 3-1 won by fall over Olivia VanSpyker (Gull Lake HS) 0-2 (Fall 0:44)
Quarterfinal - PeggyJo Gessner (St Mary Catholic Central HS (Monroe)) 3-1 won by fall over Elayna Johns (Olivet HS) 1-3 (Fall 3:48)
Semifinal - PeggyJo Gessner (St Mary Catholic Central HS (Monroe)) 3-1 won by fall over Rory Birch (Hanover-Horton HS) 4-2 (Fall 1:25)
1st Place Match - Delaine Youngs (Reading HS) 4-0 won by decision over PeggyJo Gessner (St Mary Catholic Central HS (Monroe)) 3-1 (Dec 4-2)
Brianna Lynch
Quarterfinal - Brianna Lynch (St Mary Catholic Central HS (Monroe)) 4-1 won by decision over Ella Johnson (Bedford HS) 3-1 (Dec 9-3)
Semifinal - Brianna Lynch (St Mary Catholic Central HS (Monroe)) 4-1 won by fall over Shirali Rajpurdhit (Ypsilanti Community) 3-2 (Fall 3:35)
1st Place Match - Brianna Lynch (St Mary Catholic Central HS (Monroe)) 4-1 won by fall over Grace Miller (Hudson Area HS) 2-1 (Fall 5:15)
Bashaw Repeats as Blissfield Champ
The Falcons traveled to Blissfield for their first tournament of the season. This has been the season opening tournament for SMCC for the last 15 years. The tournament featured a variety of teams with several high level programs including Saline, Manchester, Madison, Jefferson, and Dundee B. After winning the tournament his junior year, Kyle Bashaw repeated as champion in the 190 lb weight class while pinning his way through the finals.
The second Saturday of December was another individual tournament at Jefferson HS called the Sheriff’s County Invitational. All of the monroe county teams compete at this event to see who is the best in the county. Placers for SMCC included Kyle Bashaw (190 - 3rd), Bret Stark (215 - 4th), and Paul Laboe (157 - 6th).
The team finished 9th / 15 with 91 pts at Blissfield and 8th / 11 with 39.5 pts at Sheriff’s.
The Clash of the Claws
The second annual Battle of the Birds was set to take place on December 13th but due to injuries and other reasons, Erie Mason did not attend the dual. The SMCC wrestlers still made the most of the opportunity by showing the school what wrestling is and competing against one another.
The dual was back and forth the entire time as the Green Team faced off against the Black Team. The Green Team prevailed 17-15 thanks to a dominant match by Gavin O’Kelly where he won by pin and claimed his first middleweight title!
Falcons Take 3rd at Railsplitter Duals
SMCC finished their December competition schedule competing at the Lincoln Park Railsplitter Duals. The Falcons lost to Ypsilanti 34-44 and Bedford B 61-18 but beat Clarenceville 48-36 and the Bandits 78-6. There was a three way tie for 2nd in Pool A. In team tournaments, typically the criteria comes to who scored the most team points in pool play. SMCC won the criteria allowing the team to compete for 3rd place. The wrestlers finished the day strong competing against Riverview and winning 44-34.
The Falcons currently sit at 3-5 as a team headed into the new year. There is plenty more wrestling coming up as the January schedule consists of four Saturday team tournaments and five more league duals.
Cuccia’s Corner
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. A new year does not mean a new wrestling season, a new year just means it is time to pick up the pace. It is time to reflect on where you were at in the beginning of the season, where you are now, and where you want to be at the end. But it is time to pick up the pace and push yourself to get better. As the intensity of practice picks up you will notice it is not that much harder, why? Because you have been building up to this point. Building to get better and better, so keep up the pace because it is coming.
You always hear about New Year resolutions. Well start thinking about them but make it about others. How can you help your fellow wrestlers, coaches, siblings, friends? Think about how you can be a better you, even though you may not want to, or it may not be easy too. I personally try to do something better every day, it is not easy, but it keeps me sharp and be a better version of the man I want to be.
So that is my challenge to you.
May God continue to Bless you all
Coach Cuccia