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Grayling dominated the competition in locking up the league title, scoring 241 points.

Kalkaska finished second with 127, Traverse City St. Francis third with 125.5 and Elk Rapids fourth with 119.

The Vikings took home 6 gold medals, 5 silver and 2 bronze. After 150 matches on the day, the total point spread between the next three places was 8 points.

"It can boil down to a single match in a tournament like this," Petersen said. "So, to have it that close at the end indicates how tight that race really was."

Elk Rapids had one conference champion in Tyler Shananaquet, who won the 171-pound title.

Maggie Petersen finished second at 112, while Jason Benak (135), Dylan Helferich (189), Garrett Foss (285) and Jared Benak (145) earned bronze medals for third place.

Erica Dopp (119), Duane Hollon (130), Josh Holden (160), Jeff Steiinbeck (215) and Derek Petersen (140) finished fourth.

"Shananaquet put together a solid performance, starting with a second period pin against Andrew Adams from Kalkaska in the opening round," coach Petersen said.

Adams defeated Shananaquet at the Northern Michigan Championships at Gaylord two weeks ago, and was looking for revenge.

In the finals, Shananaquet controlled the entire match and finished the day with a 9-3 decision over Grayling's Matt Haight for the gold medal. Maggie Petersen decided to move up to 112 for the tournament.

"Through the season, Maggie has wrestled and beaten every 103 and 112 wrestler in the conference with the exception of Joe White from Grayling," coach Petersen said.

Both came in with 5-0 league records and were seeded 1 (White) and 2 in the 112 bracket.

Theirs was an exciting finals match that started with a flurry and ended with a technical fall late in the third for White to win the gold.

"I was really proud of Maggie for making the decision to jump up a weight class to look for tougher competition," coach Petersen said.

"She could have dominated the 103 class, and had an easy conference championship, but decided she would rather take the opportunity to wrestle stronger competition in preparation for the upcoming district tournament.

"I know she was disappointed in placing second, but she was happy with her performance on the mat and with her decision.

"That willingness to set aside the easy awards and compete for the personal satisfaction is a mark of the true competitor that she is." In a tri-meet at Benzie Central last Thursday, the Elks lost to Shelby, 62-10, and Benzie Central, 59-15.

Shananaquet won an 8-0 decision and Helferich pinned his opponent in 3 minutes against Shelby. Shananaquet also won against Benzie Central with a first-period pin. Jason Benak and Maggie Petersen (forfeit) picked up the only other wins for the Elks.

Elk Rapids hosts Kingsley and Frankfort tonight in a non-conference tri-meet. Kingsley beat the Elks twice early in the season, both times by wide margins.

"We are looking forward to seeing what improvement we've been able to accomplish since then," Petersen said.

"Beating them might be more than we should hope for, but a solid performance against them would be another good indicator of post-season abilities.

"Frankfort has been struggling this year with numbers, and may be giving up quite a few points in forfeits.

"If that's the case, we should have no trouble winning a dual with them. However, it's no guarantee and we'll need to pay attention and wrestle well."

The Elks will be off for a week following tonight's meet, and then host the team district tournament with Grayling, Kalkaska and Cheboygan Area attending on Thursday, Feb. 14.

Individual district tournament is scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 16 in Negaunee.