Tenth place, who brags about that?  Well, if you knew wrestling, and knew Northville's Youth feeder club is starting to make some noise in the tournament world, you would know 10th place out of 36 teams who entered in our region is something to talk about! We brought a record-breaking 19 wrestlers to Westland, 13 brought home medals. Some who did not medal fought long and hard each bout, but learned a valuable lesson, never give up. Winchester Elementary School fifth grader Curtis Lee took the Michigan Youth Wrestling Association by surprise at his first-ever tournament Jan. 13.

“I was very nervous going into my first bout,” he said. “But when I realized I could move faster than him, that gave me confidence I could win.”

Lee said after the second and third bouts, he started getting very tired and nervous watching the final opponent because he was beating everybody.

“Then all the coaches and a lot of my teammates came over and told me I could do this,” said Lee. “That really motivated me because I did not want to lose in front of them. Plus, if I lost I would have to wrestle another wrestler, and I was too tired to wrestle again. It felt really good to win first place.”

 In the Novice (under two years of competition at tournaments) division, there were five first place medals. Lee medaled with Ridgewood Elementary School fifth grader Jacob Bisdorf. Three sixth-graders -- Jagur Nafso at Hillside Middle School, Michael Merritt and Jeff Varner, both at Meads Mill Middle School -- also won gold. A classmate, Ivan Kuznetsova, brought home a silver medal when he gave the championship match to Jagur.  “At first I was very nervous, but after winning my first match and listening to my coaches I was more successful and able to win first place in my bracket,” said Jagur. “Thanks to the Northville coaches.”

Third place was earned in victorious consolation matches by Moraine Elementary School fourth-grader Gavin Nafso! Thornton Creek Elementary School second-grader Mason Stewart battled hard in the Open division. Another Thornton Creek fourth-grader Jordan Morgan won fourth place in the Novice Division. Additional fourth-place medals were awarded in the Open division (wrestlers who have wrestled tournament for two or more years) to Thornton Creek brothers Aiden and Andrew Hayek.  Also placing fourth on the mat were second-graders Mason Jennings of Silver Springs Elementary School and Boden Dietrich of Moraine Elementary School. Boden wrestled four times, coming out on top twice with two pins. All of the boys fought hard and at times long, with sore muscles to show for it and good attitudes towards healthy competition.