On Saturday, Feb. 12 Oxford’s Wildcat grapplers faced heavyweight contenders such as Holly, Lapeer West and Lapeer East for the Flint Metro League championship.
But alas the Number One spot was not Oxford’s for the taking and the Wildcats ended their season fourth in league.
‘It went pretty good,? said Varsity Coach Paul McDevitt. ‘We went into it in fourth place in both duals and tournaments and came out fourth in the league.?
Holly took the league championship followed by Lapeer West and Lapeer East in second and third places repsectively.
Faced with fierce contenders on all sides, the Wildcats made a strong showing in individual competitions with seven grapplers placing in the finals.
Sophomore Mike Upshur (103) placed second in his weight class. Freshman Kyle Brammer (130) placed third. Senior Bryant Vielhaber (135) placed second. Sophomores Joseph Regan (152) and John Logan both placed second in their respective weigh classes. Juniors Nick Murray (171) and Kam Mueller (189) placed third while Senior Kyle Oliver (215) placed second in his weight class.
Oxford will begin competing for the district championship on their home turf 5:30 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 17 against Marysville and Brandon in Division II.
With optimism McDevitt said the Wildcats beat both teams in league meets, but it was too close of a match against Marysville with a score of 38-32.
‘If we win Thursday we advance to regionals,? said McDevitt, adding that hopefully 152 pounder senior Kyle Nieporte, who has been out for several weeks due to a knee injury, will be back on Saturday.
Individual district competition begins 9 a.m. Saturday, Feb. 19 at Royal Oak Kimball.
‘Hopefully we can get everybody through to regionals ? or at least 10 guys,? McDevitt said. ‘I think we’ll have a good chance at it.?