By John Raffel
Correspondent
MATTAWAN – Mattawan sent two wrestlers to the state finals on Friday at Saturday at Detroit’s Ford Field and both were all-staters for finishing in the top eight.
“Elyse (Morales) finished her season at 21-3 and third in the state, and she is only a sophomore,” coach Nico Lopez said. “Dylan (Putman) finished his junior year campaign with a record of 46-11 and seventh in the state.
Elyse Morales qualified for the state tournament at 120 pounds in the girls division.
“She also is a vital part of our varsity boys team,” Lopez said a week ago. “She is capable of winning the state championship this year. Last year as a freshman she placed fifth at 125 pounds.”
Putman, a junior, qualified for the first time in his career for the state tournament at 113 pounds.
“Dylan is a dark horse for the podium as he isn’t widely known as he just started wrestling in ninth grade but has had some big wins this year,” Lopez said.
Paw Paw wrestlers
Gavin Turk of Paw Paw was sixth in the state in Division 2 at 175 pounds over the weekend at Ford Field. He beat Carter Skinner of Gull Lake 16-0 and then lost to Kendall Drake of Holly. He fought his way back to get a spot in the fifth-place match and lost to Garrett Forgash of Bay City John Glenn to settle for sixth place.
Austin George of Paw Paw competed at 215 pounds.