Traverse City Record-Eagle

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February 11, 2010

TCC wrestlers take down West

Trojans then fall to defending D-1 champ Rockford

BY JAMES COOK

TRAVERSE CITY -- Keegan McGillivary's pin locked up a Traverse City Central district semifinal win over crosstown rival Traverse City West.

The Trojans won five of the last six matches Wednesday to end the Titans' four-dual hold over the Trojans.

"I was hoping the third time was a charm," Central coach Rick Rinal said. "We moved some kids around to get certain match-ups. We won a couple of those, lost some. But the kids came out, wrestled tough and came out with a big win for us."

The Trojans then dropped the district final 67-12 to defending state champion Rockford, which has won two of the last three Division 1 crowns.

With TC West up 24-12, Central 125-pounder Cam Benak started the Trojans rolling with a 16-0 technical fall victory.

Wrestling up a weight class, Jacob Ansorge added a pin in 1:35 at 130 pounds to draw Central within a point of the Titans.

Paco Diaz won by major decision at 135 to put Central ahead briefly, before West's Kyle Schaub posted a 15-4 win that gave West a 28-27 advantage going into the meet's final pair of matches.

That's when team captain Quinn McKay made his return from a broken thumb to earn a 7-1 decision over Adam Debevec at 145. McKay just recently had his cast removed and had his hand taped up for the match.

"That kid's a warrior," Rinal said. "He's a captain this year and getting him back was a huge lift for us."

McGillivary capped things off with a pin with 6.1 seconds left in the second period of his 152-pound match with Tyler Shaefer.

"This year has been especially tough because we've been devastated by injuries," Rinal said. "Not having our 103-pounder and 112-pounder really kills us. But the kids battled through and came up with some big wins, especially that last one there by Keegan. That kid he beat pinned him the first time they met this season."

The improvement of Central and McGillivary have kind of paralleled this year. He was pinned by Shaefer in West's 45-30 win over the Trojans in the Ed Haughn Classic, came back to win by 7-6 decision as West hung on for a 33-27 victory on Jan. 27 and won by pin Wednesday as Central won.

"We improved every time," Rinal said, "and that's what I've always expected of my teams is that they try as hard as they can to improve from the beginning of the season to the end, and we've done that."

West started off with a 5-1 decision by Caleb Horn at 160 and a first-period pin by Zack Skeels at 189 sandwiched around a Zack Roberge 36-second pin at 171 for Central. Brandon Dalzell's 9-6 decision for West at 215 was followed by a Cody Vickers pin in 3:03 at heavyweight to knot the dual at 12-12.

The Titans' Caleb Case won by forfeit at 103 and Mike Ostrom's pin in 3:58 at 119 put West up 24-12.

Rockford moves on to regionals at East Kentwood next Wednesday, while Central, West and the Rams participate in individual districts on Saturday at Grand Haven.

"It kind of sucks for me, because I have a lot of family from Rockford, so I'm sure I'm going to be hearing about this match," Rinal said.

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