Dennis Grall | Daily Press Kahler Geyer (top) of Escanaba has a solid grip on Iron Mountain’s Myles Carey in a 145-pound match Saturday at the Escanaba Elks wrestling tournament.

ESCANABA — Junior Hunter Larson and sophomores Collin Arnt and Tyler Lawson have been steady performers for the Escanaba wrestling team from the beginning of their prep careers.

They continued that trend Saturday by winning their respective weight classes and helping the Eskymos retain their title in the 46th Annual Escanaba Elks Invitational with 205 1/2 points.

They were followed by Grayling 184 1/2 and Westwood 144 1/2. Bark River-Harris finished 13th at 51.

“We were missing some weight classes, but were able to pull together and win as a team,” said Esky coach Jeff Wright. “Collin is on fire this season and Hunter and Tyler are really coming on. We’ve just been solid in most of our weight classes and getting pins, which really helps.”

Larson earned his third straight Elks title by technical fall (16-1) over Benzie Central sophomore Ben Ross at 140 pounds. Arnt pinned Westwood junior Joe Derocha two minutes, 24 seconds into the 112 final and Lawson took a 12-4 decision from Iron Mountain senior Dow Dawson for the 130 title.

“It felt like I was wrestling real well,” said Larson. “I think my conditioning is pretty good and everything went well today. I think my speed and timing on hitting moves really helped. My season is going real well and winning at the Marquette Challenge (Dec. 15) gave me a lot of momentum.”

Arnt, who placed third in Marquette and fourth at Bay Port, won all of Saturday’s matches by pin.

“My chicken wing worked well today,” he said. “I felt good today and made weight pretty good. The final match went into the second period which made that one more satisfying because I had to work harder for it. My season is going good, and I think the meets at Marquette and Bay Port helped me for today.”

Esky sophomore Brodey Bevins reached the 125 final where he dropped a 5-2 decision to Grayling sophomore Thomas May. Junior Noah Weaver (152) got pinned by Menominee senior Hunter Wroblewski at 2:35 and sophomore Kahler Geyer (160) fell to Kingsford senior Trevor Povolo 13-3.

“Kahler is having a tremendous season,” said Wright. “He just ran into a real good wrestler. This kind of kicks off our January on a positive note. The hard work in the wrestling room is paying off.”

BR-H freshman Avery Corrigan (103) also reached the championship round where he got pinned in 2:55 by Grayling sophomore Joe Armstrong.

Esky’s Baily Papineau (171) and BR-H’s Tyler Racicot (145) placed third. Esky’s Giovanni Strong (215) took fourth and BR-H’s Devon Kurz (140) was fifth.

“The tournament went very well for us,” said BR-H coach Joe Racicot. “This is the first real year of competition for Devon. It’s awesome to watch him learn. He practiced on a new move this week and was able to run in the fifth-place match. Even though he went out of bounds, it was exciting for him to execute the move. There was a lot of good wrestling and excitement here today.”

The Broncos travel to Munising for a triangular meet Wednesday. Esky hosts Gladstone and Westwood in a triangular Thursday.

Escanaba 205 1/2, Grayling 184 1/2, Westwood 144 1/2, Iron Mountain 141, Kingsford 119 1/2, Benzie Central 110, St. Ignace 102, Munising 84, Newberry 74, Ishpeming 70 1/2, Menominee 55, Negaunee 52 1/2, Bark River-Harris 51, Marquette 44, U.P. Extra 11, Escanaba II 6, Gwinn, U.P. Extra II and III 0.

103 — Armstrong, Gray, pinned Corrigan, BR-H, 2:55

112 — Arnt, E, pinned Derocha, W, 2:24

119 — W. Carlson, W, pinned Wilson, I, :19

125 — May, Gray, dec. Bevins, E, 5-2

130 — Lawson, E, dec. Dawson, IM, 12-4

135 — Sabotta, IM, dec. Hawes, Gray, 14-7

140 — Lawson, E, tech fall over Ross, BC, 16-1

145 — Haisted, Gray, dec. Wilcox, K, 12-6

152 — Wroblewski, Men, pinned Weaver, E, 2:35

160 — Povolo, K, dec. Geyer, E, 13-3

171 — Martin, I, default over Paquin, SI

189 — Burkland, IM, pinned Joseph, Gray, 3:38

215 — Gilles, W, pinned Harrison, BC, 2:33

285 — Sneller, Mun, pinned Cardew, K, 1:07