There was good news and bad news over the weekend for the Niles wrestling team.

The good news was that the Vikings advanced six out of 11 wrestlers to the Division 2 state finals at The Palace of Auburn Hills March 2 to 4.

The bad news came Sunday night when Niles was seeded sixth in the upcoming team state quarterfinals at McGuirk Arena on the campus of Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant.

The Vikings (16-1) were ranked No. 4 in Division 2 most of the season, but were dropped to a sixth seed and will now face No. 3 seed and perennial state powerhouse St. John’s (25-1) in the quarterfinals at 6:45 p.m. Friday night.

The winner advances to face the winner of the No. 2 seed Warren Woods Tower (26-0) and No. 7 seed DeWitt (30-4) in the semifinals at 11:30 a.m. Saturday.

Niles is making its fourth trip to the state finals in the past five seasons. The Viking have advanced to the state semifinals in its three previous trips.

In the other half of the bracket, top-seeded Lowell (18-2) will face No. 8 seed Tecumseh (24-4), while No. 4 seed Marysville (26-0) will face No. 5 see Allendale 34-3).

At the Division 2 regional at Eaton Rapids on Saturday,

Andrew Flick became Niles’ first four-time state qualifier as he finished second at 125-pounds.

Austin Franco, who transferred from Lakeshore over the holiday break, captured his third consecutive regional championship to improve to 19-2 on the year Franco pinned two of his opponents and won his third match by technical fall.

Flick (36-2) was pinned in the championship match by Chelsea’s Corbyn Munson in 3:20.

Also finishing second for the Vikings was Mitchell Findeisen, who dropped a 12-6 decision to Eaton Rapids’ Austin O’Hearon at 145 pounds. Findeisen is now 33-2 on the season.

Davin Simpson (28-11) finished third at 160 pounds with Ryan Franco (14-8) and Cade Stephenson (27-10) finishing fourth.

Edwardsburg advanced a pair of wrestlers to the state finals in Division 2 as Jacob Reece (32-7) finished second at 103 pounds and Joe Hess (39-6) was fourth at 171 pounds.

 

Division 3

Dowagiac’s Kody Walker (35-12) was the lone area wrestlers to advance to the state finals in Division 3.

Walker finished second after being defeated by Whitehall’s Hunter Bower 14-7 in the 112-pound championship match.

 

Division 4

Cassopolis’ Dylan Green (35-12) was the only state qualifier in Division 4.

Green finished fourth after falling to Schoolcraft’s Justin VanDyken 6-5 in the consolation finals.