Wrestling Finishes Second to Lowell; Boys Swimming and Diving Takes One of Three; Cheer Fourth

BOYS WRESTLING — Hartland took second place in Lowell on Saturday, losing 33-19 to Lowell in the final dual of the day.

The Eagles wrestled Hastings first, winning 47-19; defeated Hamilton 47-19; Fruitport 64-12; and beat last year's Division 2 state semi-finalist Lakeshore 49-23.

The team lost six matches against Lowell by three points or less, leading to the Eagles second defeat of the season. It is currently 16-2 overall and 2-0 in the Kensington Lakes Athletic Association West.

"In big duals like that, you need to win the close matches to win," said Hartland head coach Todd Cheney. "Against Lakeshore we won the big matches, but against Lowell we dropped so many close ones it made it hard to win the dual."

Senior Ross Kantola went 5-0, beating two wrestlers that placed at state last year along the way. Freshman Austin Eicher also went 5-0 with five pins, extending his pin streak to 17 consecutive pins.

The team travels to Brighton on Wednesday to wrestle Howell and Grand Blanc beginning at 5:30 p.m.

BOYS SWIMMING AND DIVING — The Eagles beat one state-ranked team but lost to two others in a quad meet Saturday at Northville High School, according to head coach Adam Wohl.

Hartland defeated No. 19 Canton 107-76 while losing to No. 9 Northville 100-83 and No.7 Ann Arbor Huron 95-88.  The results give the Eagles a 4-2 record on the season.

"Considering we spotted each of these teams 13 points in diving (we had no divers participate), we competed very well with these teams," said Wohl in an email.

Wohl said taking firsts were Austin Condra in the 100-yard freestyle and James Strandbergh in the 100-yard breaststroke. Strandbergh teamed with Andrew Roy, Trey Conner, and Josh Whitson to finish first in the 200-yard individual medley relay.

Roy also got a second in the 100-yard backstroke while Condra took a fourth, Wohl said. In addition, Ryan Egeland took second, Axel Lichtenberg finished third and Michael Terrio grabbed fifth in the 500-yard freestyle.

Hartland hosts Milford 6:30 p.m. Thursday at .

COMPETITIVE CHEER — The Eagles finished fourth out of seven teams Saturday at the Rochester Rumble, according to results posted on the Michigan High School Competitive Cheer Web site.

Here are the Divison 1 results:

The Eagles next compete Jan. 22 at the Brighton Best tournament.

Friday

GIRLS BASKETBALL — Hartland bounced back from its first loss of the year to beat Milford 45-36 at home.

But the game was struggle for the team as a whole with several players attending the funeral of fellow Hartland High School student Kendal Lividini, said Hartland head coach Don Palmer.

"They buried a classmate today," Palmer said. "It's tough. … A lot of them looked like not that they didn't want to be here but this is maybe not the night to play. But it's on the schedule."

Still, several Eagles stepped up, especially Bailee Maggert, who played despite being sick, Palmer said.

"She was very good," Palmer said. "We were taking time outs to rest her as opposed to time outs to strategize."

Leading Hartland in scoring was Kelly Holda with 12 points, according to game scorers. Lindsey Pajot netted 11 and Hailey Pleshakov finished with netted 10, statistics showed.

The win gives Hartland a 7-1 record overall and 2-1 in the division. The Eagles next play 7 p.m. Tuesday vs. Brighton at .

BOYS BASKETBALL — For the second consecutive game, the Hartland boys basketball team played in an overtime game – this time they were defeated 51-50 by Milford. With the loss, the Eagles’ fall to 5-3 overall and 1-2 in the Kensington Lakes Activities Association West Division.

Following a free-throw by Dan Richmond, Milford guard Brandon Wallace received the inbound pass and gave his team the final lead. Wallace, a junior guard, ran full-court, split the Hartland defense, and made a lay-up with two seconds left.

Hartland had to overcome a 25-12 deficit at the half to send the game to overtime.

Senior captain Matt Poches led all scorers in points with 22 – including three of Hartland's points four in overtime.

“They had a bunch of guards who could control the ball. They shot real well in the first three quarters. We were slow to guard them and they hit their open shots,” Hartland head coach Frank Leppek said.

The Eagles look to go for par in the KLAA West 7 p.m. Tuesday when they take on Brighton on the road.

Thursday

BOYS AND GIRLS BOWLING — The boys team won for the first time this year while the girls moved above the .500 mark as both squads defeated Milford at .

The boys, who won 19-11, easily had their best performance of the season averaging nearly 214 during the individual games to knock off a tough Milford team, said boys varsity head coach Ron Heck. The girls won 21-9, he said.

Pacing the boys was junior Ryan Lane, who coming in had a 157 average but bowled a 235 and a 257, he said. Senior Jason Baker — who was named athlete of the week by an area group of athletic directors after averaging 209 over six games — rolled a 216 and a 255, he said.

"It was an uphill battle, but we kept striking and sparing," Heck said. "We didn't miss any marks."

Freshman Rachel Brewer bowled a 233 and a 142 to lead the girls, Heck said, while junior Sam Moesta bowled two 158s and junior Sarah Schmitz threw a 163 and 143.

"They didn't want to lose at home," Heck said. "That's something that's important to them."

The boys are now 1-6 and the girls are 4-3. The teams next bowl 9 a.m. Sunday in Battle Creek in the annual Battle of the Bakers tournament.

BOYS SWIMMING AND DIVING — The Eagles improved to 2-0 in head-to-head competitions by defeating Grand Blanc in team’s home opener 104-79. Hartland had eight first place finishes out of 12 events. For a story on the season so far, click here.

Wednesday

BOYS WRESTLING — Hartland overran both Milford and Pinckney, losing only one match out of 28 total, and pulling their record up to 12-1, 2-0 in the Kensington Lakes Athletic Association West.

The Eagles defeated Milford 80-0 and Pinckney 70-6, its only loss junior Brian Braun at 285 pounds.

Freshman Nate Hughes (103), freshman Austin Eicher (112), freshman Justin Rollins (125), senior Ross Kantola (130), sophomore Mitchel Thomas (140) and junior Justin Charneski (171) all finished the day with two pins. A total of 19 pins were recorded throughout the duration of the night.

Eicher has pinned 12 consecutive opponents since December, and Hartland head coach Todd Cheney claims Rollins, Hughes and sophomore Devon Chalut stepped it up in the quad.

"This is the beginning of the grind for us," said Cheney. "The KLAA West is very tough, and it was good to get out of there with two big wins."

Cheney said the key to winning big duals is to earn bonus points with pins, techs falls, and major decisions, and they did that against both teams.

The boys travel to Lowell to take for a team tournament beginning at 9 a.m. Saturday.

BOYS HOCKEY — Hartland lost 4-2 against Waterford Mott at Lakeland Tri-Arena. The loss drops the Eagles to 6-5-1 overall and 5-3-1 in the conference. Hartland next plays 7 p.m. Friday vs. Birmingham United at the .

COMPETITIVE CHEER — The Eagles beat Grand Blanc and Howell with 729.2 points at . Grand Blanc scored 602.2 and Howell tallied 571.4. The team next competes 12 p.m. Saturday in the Rochester Rumble. For a story about the quad, click .

Tuesday

GIRLS BASKETBALL — In losing for the first time this year, Hartland head coach Don Palmer said the Eagles couldn't find the answer for Grand Blanc's star player Shareta Brown.

But while the 6-foot-tall Brown scored a game-high 21 in Tuesday's 43-36 victory at Grand Blanc, Palmer said the game-changer was her defense.

"She hurt us defensively," he said. "We couldn't get near the basket."

The Eagles (6-1 overall; 1-1 division) did keep the game close and even taking the lead late in the game after rallying from being down 20-13 at the half.

"Every time we took a lead, they tied it," Palmer said. "They always responded."

Bailee Maggert led Hartland in scoring with 13 with Jaymie Dyer scoring eight. Grand Blanc improved to 6-1 overall and 2-0 in the division.

The Eagles next play against Milford 5:30 p.m. Friday at .

BOYS BASKETBALL — The Eagles 76-64 in overtime Tuesday against Grand Blanc at home. Hartland is 5-2 overall and 1-1 in its division. The team next plays 7 p.m. Friday at home vs. Milford. For a game story, click .

BOYS & GIRLS SKIING: Walled Lake Central defeated both Hartland squads, dropping both teams to 1-1 on the season at Alpine Valley, according to an article in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus. (See bottom of the article).

The Eagles next play Jan. 11 against Lakeland High School.

BOYS & GIRLS SKIING:

Monday

BOYS & GIRLS SKIING: Hartland defeated Milford at Alpine Valley in its opening event of the season, according to an article in the Livingston County Daily Press & Argus.

For last week's Hartland Sport Scores column (from Jan. 3 to Jan. 9), click .