MONTAGUE — Hart easily took the top spot among West Michigan Conference Rivers schools Friday at the WMC tournament in Montague, scoring 208.5 points and finishing second overall behind Lakes champion Whitehall.
Shelby placed fourth overall and second among Rivers schools with 145.5 points, with Hesperia in fifth (third in the Rivers) with 132 points.
As in prior WMC tournaments under the Lakes/Rivers format, the brackets were split by division, with championship and third-place matches pitting division winners against each other.
Four Pirate wrestlers earned overall WMC titles, including Haegan Hansen at 175 pounds. Hansen pinned his two Rivers opponents, then defeated Ca'Mari Rees from Orchard View by a 5-1 decision in the championship match.
Abdel Lopez also took first at 215, with a pin and a decision win against Rivers opponents and a 10-7 win over Ludington's Chase Gable in the finals.
Hart's Jude Salazar (right) works to escape from Holton's Jackson Domanski during Friday's WMC tournament in Montague. Salazar won the Rivers at 106 and helped the Pirates finish 2nd in the league overall, behind only Whitehall.
Pirates Logan Jorissen and Halen Boos earned first place at 138 and 144 respectively. Jorissen pinned his two Rivers foes and then beat Whitehall's Max Krukowski in the finals, 5-1, and Boos dominated his bracket, with a technical fall followed by two pins.
Hart's Jude Salazar added a second-place overall finish, defeating two Rivers foes by pin and by decision.
Taking third for Hart (second in the Rivers) were Aiden Schaner (126), Caden VanGelderen (132) and Adrian Lara (285).
The WMC also hosted their first-ever girls tournament, staged in a round-robin format. It was a good day for the two Pirates that participated. Emma Miller earned first place at 120, going 2-0 with a pair of pins. Elyssa Tanis went 3-1 at 115 to finish in second, with all her wins coming by pin.
The Tigers had three Rivers champs and overall finalists, highlighted by the first-place win from Brody Fessenden at 157. Fessenden pinned all three of his opponents, finishing up with a pin of Whitehall's Colten Kyser in the finals.
Shelby's Cesar Cadena (left) and Hesperia's Paul Barkfelt eye one another to start their match at Friday's WMC tournament in Montague. Cadena won the Rivers bracket at 120 pounds, helping Shelby place second in the division.
Jaylin Henderson (165) and Cesar Cadena (120) each defeated their Rivers foes and took second overall. Henderson pinned his first two opponents before falling in the finals, and Cadena won by pin and by major decision against his two Rivers opponents.
In the girls' tournament, Olivia Casarez, Gracie Parks and Grace Ann Eckert took second place at 100, 125 and 145/155 respectively. Eckert went 3-1, with all her wins coming by pin; Parks went 3-1 with a pair of pins and a technical fall; and Casarez was 1-1, scoring an overtime win over North Muskegon's Jade Vellenga.
Hesperia sent two wrestlers to the top of the podium among Rivers wrestlers, and the Panthers' Noah Walker won the 285-pound bracket overall, running his season record to 34-3. Walker pinned his two Rivers opponents and defeated Montague's Maverick Osborne by a 7-3 decision in the finals.
Ryan Fuentes added a second-place overall finish at 150, earning a technical fall and two pins in the Rivers bracket before taking second. Carter Fuentes took third at 106, going 3-1 with two wins by pin, and Brant Hutson was third at 175, with a 3-1 mark and three pin victories.
Lacey Mey was Hesperia's lone girls competitor, and she took second at 130, going 4-1 and scoring four pins.
