Hart had a banner day, and Shelby had much to celebrate as well, at Saturday's Division 3 individual district tournament in Shepherd.
The two schools combined to produce half the event's 14 weight-class champions - five by Hart, two by Shelby. Six other Pirates qualified to the regional tournament as well, as did two other Tigers.
Hart's champions all lived up to their billing as top-2 seeds. Top seed Haegan Hansen dominated the 175-pound bracket, with two pins and a technical fall, and Jordan Thies pinned all three of his opponents - including teammate Jude Salazar, who opposed him in the 106-pound finals. Kole Thomas rolled through the 126-pound bracket with a pin and two technical falls.
Halen Boos and Adrian Lara, each seeded No. 2 at 144 and 285 respectively, also won the title with exciting late victories. Lara pulled off a 3-2 overtime victory over CJ Tetloff of Midland Bullock Creek in the semifinals, one of three decision wins for him in the bracket. Boos reached the finals with a pin and a technical fall, then edged Jacob Edwards of Chippewa Hills in a tough 5-3 match for the title.
Shelby stars Brody Fessenden and Jaylin Henderson also reached the top of the podium, dominating everyone in their path. Fessenden bumped his record to 41-3, scoring two pins and picking up a win by medical forfeit in the finals at 157. Henderson, at 165, pinned all three of his opponents, including Reed City's Andrew Kiaunis in the championship match.
Hart produced three other district finalists who took second. Logan Jorissen and Abdel Lopez, each the top seeds, were second at 138 and 215 respectively. Jorissen earned two decision victories to reach the finals before finishing second, and Lopez scored two pins before a 4-1 finals loss to Harvey Grove of Gladstone. Salazar had a pin and a technical fall before Thies defeated him in the finals.
Finishing third for Hart were Caden VanGelderen (138), Sawyer Boos (113) and Aiden Schaner (126). Each posted 3-1 records; Boos' wins were all by technical fall, while Schaner had two pins and a medical forfeit. VanGelderen won two close decisions and dominated a blood-round match by technical fall.
Rounding out Shelby's qualifiers were Alden Beyer (106) and Cesar Cadena (120), who placed third. Beyer bounced back from an opening loss with three consecutive pins, including avenging that loss - to Chippewa Hills' Jessie Snook - in the third-place match. Cadena had a pin, a technical fall and a major decision.
For Hart, Trason Tucker went 2-2 on the day, and Pascal Miller and Michael Chavira each won a match. Shelby's Colin Fenton, Jayden Casiano and Oliver Soelberg each picked up one win at the districts.
