Saline senior wrestler Nick Barnett finished his career in style Saturday at the state Division 1 individual finals, taking fourth place in the 215-pound bracket to become the fourth Saline wrestler in three years to place at the state meet.
"I would have liked to have done a little better than fourth, but I was happy," Barnett said. "I was predicted to finish seventh, so to finish fourth felt pretty good."
"We were really pleased with how things came out," said Saline head coach Scott Marvin. "Nick was able to scout his opponents (at team states) the previous weekend, he worked hard, and it paid dividends."
Barnett entered the meet with a 44-3 record and showed why in his opening match, sending John Corder of Hartland into the consolation bracket with an 8-1 decision.
The bracket seeding had Barnett, who finished third in his region, as an underdog to regional champion Jarrett Lintz of L'Anse Creuse, but it was Barnett who prevailed with a hard-fought 3-2 decision.
"That guy was expected to do well, so that was a nice win for me," Barnett said.
The win over Lintz sent Barnett into the semifinals, where he faced undefeated and top-ranked Marcel Dubose of Oak Park. Again the underdog, Barnett wrestled cautiously and held a 3-1 lead halfway through the second period.
But another upset wasn't in the cards. Dubose scored a quick four points with a takedown and near-fall late in the second to grab a 5-3 lead entering the third period. An aggressive move from Barnett early in the period didn't work out and Dubose would go on to pull away for a 14-5 major decision.
"I tried to hit a move, and he stepped in and bear-hugged me down," Barnett said. "There wasn't a lot I could do. I would have liked to have won, but I knew how good he was and it was good to see where I stood against him."
Despite the loss, Marvin was happy with how Barnett performed against the heavy tourney favorite, who would go on to open up a 7-0 first-period lead in the final and cruise past Holt's Mitch Zajac for the title.
"We wanted to try and keep it close and for a long time, Nick did that. It was a really good match," Marvin said. "His parents were talking to people in the crowd who said they couldn't believe what was going on. I think Nick wrestled him probably better than anyone else at the meet."
After the loss, Barnett regrouped and won his way into the third-place match with a second win over Corder, this time earning a 3-1 decision.
Barnett would fall to Holland-West Ottawa's Michael McClure in the third-place match 3-1 and settle for fourth.
The final 2008 record for Barnett stands at 47-5, with all five losses coming to the three wrestlers (Dubose, Zajac and McClure) who placed just above him at the state meet.
"I'm happy with how everything played out overall," he said. "It's been a good year."
"It was a good weekend, a microcosm of what made Nick such a good wrestler," Marvin said. "He wrestled smart and he wrestled as hard as he could."
Staff Writer Jerry Hinnen can be reached at 429-7380 or jhinnen@heritage.com.
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