It was a great day for Goodrich wrestler Jeff O’Mara ? but not for the Martians as a whole.
O’Mara, a senior, captured the 189-lb. title at the Howell Individual Championships Saturday, Dec. 13, defeating Greg Mixon of Howell by a 6-2 decision in the title match.
However, the Martians only finished 14th at the meet with 49 points. The host Highlanders won the event with 193 points, followed by Lapeer West and Yale with 169.5 points each.
Two other Martians, Jason Fischer (112) and Andy Bohlen (189) took fifth place in their respective weight classes.
After a first-round bye, O’Mara pinned Matt Francisco of Lowell in 56 seconds. He then defeated Delbert Zimmer of Lapeer West by a 15-14 decision in the division semifinals before his final win against Mixon.
Fischer started out by pinning Portage’s Mike Vogel in 3:58. He then lost to Nelson Pagano of Brighton by an 11-4 decision before coming back to pin Mike Thomas of Lowell in 3:22 and Nick St. Amant of Howell in 55 seconds.
He then was pinned by Howell’s T. J. Schumacher in 40 seconds before capturing fifth place as Carlson’s Lewis Owens forfeited.
Bohlen had a bye in the first round. In the second round, he lost to Ward Ritter of Carlson by an 8-6 decision. Bohlen then answered with a 6-3 win against Chris Flowers of Lansing Eastern and a 4-1 win against Roger Heiple of Rochester.
In the consolation semifinals, Bohlen fell to Ryan Dykhouse of Lowell 4-2. He then defeated Kearsley’s Paul Engle by a 17-8 major decision to capture fifth.
Also competing for the Martians at Howell were Brian Grzecki (103), Billy Feldman (130), Josh Foerster (135), Kyle Fletcher (160) and Andy Crawley (215).