Bunce Picks Up Third Straight Wrestling Tournament Title

Coming off an eighth place finish to earn D3 All-State Honors at the 2019 MHSAA State wrestling finals, Stockbridge senior Kael Bunce has his sights set higher for 2020.

By the looks of his early season start, Bunce’s lofty goals are not out reach for 2020.

Bunce has started the season with a 20-1 record and picked up three tournament titles along the way. His lone loss of the season came in the championship match at the Blissfield Invitational early in the season.

He has come up with huge tournament wins the past two weeks at Plymouth and the New Lothrop Hall of Fame Invite.

The Plymouth tournament seen him go 4-0 on the day against wrestlers from Division 1 and 2 schools. His biggest win came in the championship where he dominated with a 7-1 win in the 145 championship match against a state ranked wrestler from Chelsea.

The New Lothrop Invite saw several of the top wrestlers in the area invited as well as teams.

He went 3-0 on the day picking up a pin and a 11-0 major decision on his way to the championship match. In the finals he met up with a wrestler from South Meridian. They were tied at two after two periods. Bunce got an escape and a take down in the third for a 5-2 lead. An escape and a penalty in the final second made it 5-4, but Bunce held on for the title.

While Bunce has been to a couple of tournaments on his own, the other young wrestlers have been busy trying to gain experience.

Six Panthers took part in the Plymouth JV tournament.

Matthew Killinger led the Panthers with a third place finish at 171.

Ashton James was fourth at 130, while Ethan Luke was 6th at 125 and Kevin Killing 6th at 189. Jaidehn Conant picked up a pair of wins a 152.

The Panthers then took part in the Hillsdale Invite Saturday.

Matt Killinger picked up a pair of wins, while Kevin Killinger and Ethan Luke each won a single match.

The Panthers return to action Wednesday in a GLAC meet at Olivet and Saturday at the Dansville Invitational.