COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – In Branch County high school sports from over the weekend, in wrestling on Saturday, Coldwater had an 0-4 record on the day at Stevensville in the Lakeshore Super Duals. The Cardinals lost 47-17 to Lakeshore, 56-18 to Springport, 50-18 to Eaton Rapids, and 60-12 to Niles. Sam DeMeester was undefeated on the day while Hamza Muflihi went 3-1.
Coldwater’s Varsity B squad competed in the Shawn Cockrell Memorial at Quincy, finishing 10th out of 15 teams. Nick Pierucki and Jacob Armstrong led the Cardinals by placing third.
Bronson won its own Annual Clark Walker Invitational with a 5-0 record on the day. The Vikings beat Lawton 53-20, Edwardsburg 39-31, Haslett 69-11, Kalamazoo Loy Norrix 49-19, and Onsted 69-6. Going undefeated for Bronson were Brendan Withington, Landon Gould, and Joey Losinski.
In gymnastics on Saturday, Coldwater took 9th place out of 12 teams at the Kenowa Hills Invitational in Grand Rapids. The Cardinals posted their fifth straight qualifying score at 122.775 while picking up 22 individual qualifiers along the way. Rockford won the tournament with an impressive 146.400, the highest score in the state this season. Coldwater opened their competition with a strong performance on the uneven bars with a season best score. Seniors Amanda Daoud and Abby Swick both earned individual qualifiers on the event. For Daoud it was a personal best with a score of 8.15. It was the second individual qualifier for Swick.
The Cardinals struggled with the balance beam where only two gymnasts stuck their routines, although five girls still earned Regional qualifying scores. Daoud continued to lead the way with her fourth and final required individual qualifying score at 7.6. She has now earned a Regional berth in every single event for the post season competition. Senior Madison Hedstrom earned her third qualifying score with 7.5. Freshman Erica Rodgers and Swick both stuck their routines and earned qualifiers and Shelby Kahler also posted a qualifying score.
Next on the floor exercise, the Cardinals scored a season high total and seven individuals earned Regional marks. Rodgers made her debut on the event, scoring an impressive 8.3 and first ever qualifier. Other qualifiers included Daoud and freshman Claire Sheppard, Brooke Neitzert, Swick, Hedstrom and Kahler. Coldwater finished their day on the vault, where eight individuals picked up the minimum score for post season competition. Kahler was the high scorer on the vault with an 8.2. She earned the qualifier along with teammates Daoud, Hedstrom, Swick, Neitzert, and Rodgers. Sheppard and Abby Covert also picked up their first ever vault Regional marks.
In the All-Around category, Daoud posted a personal best and an 8th place finish among some of the best gymnasts from around the state.
Tonight in high school sports, in boys and girls basketball, Coldwater takes on Pennfield in makeup games for the contests that were snowed out January 12. The boys will be at Pennfield while the girls play in Coldwater and we’ll have the girls action on the radio with our coverage starting with the pre-game show at 6:45 p.m. The freshman games are at 4 p.m., wiith the JV at 5:30 p.m., and the varsity scheduled to tip at 7 p.m.
Elsewhere tonight, in girls basketball, it’s Bronson at home against Battle Creek St. Philip while in Boys hoops, Union City is at Mendon.