LINDEN - Feb. 23, 2008 - Ogemaw Heights' Andrew Funsch doesn't need redemption from last year's individual state finals appearance. What he needs is to avoid the intestinal flu that ruined his medal chances. After surviving a tough field to place third in his region and advance to the finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills on Mar. 6-8, he'll have a chance to put that memory behind him.

Despite a strong season -- he entered Saturday with a 46-4 mark -- there were no guarantees, especially after being upset in the first round by Linden's Chad Pierce, who pinned him just over a minute into their match. That gave Funsch (130 pounds) no margin for error in his next two bouts, but he came through with a 16-3 major decision in his first loser-out match, then edged Clio's Chad Lanctot -- who challenged him twice in the past 10 days both at team and individual districts -- by a threadbare 5-4 margin that secured a state finals bid and knocked Lanctot out.

Fusnch edged Zach Boomer of Bloomfield Hills Lahser 4-2 in the third-place match -- Bloomer had just eliminated Pierce in his previous match.

Funsch was the only one of five Falcons to advance to the state finals out of what always is among the state's toughest regions, though most of the Ogemaw wrestlers came within one match of reaching the Palace.

Freshman Chris Hebert (119) proved he belong when he opened with a 2-0 loss to Lahser's Cory Hazelton, who ended up finishing second overall. Hebert won his next match by forfeit but lost another narrow decision in the elimination match, 6-3 to Alex Cannon of Petoskey.

Michael Lentz (140) won his opening match 12-8, but was pinned by regional champ Nick Loveberry of Mt. Pleasant in the semifinal, then eliminated in another close match, 5-2 to third-place Shane Gapinski of Gaylord.

Like Lentz, Drake Killinger (152) came one match away from the finals, and like his teammate lost to the eventual regional and third-place finishers. Killinger opened with a pin but suffered a technical fall to Mt. Pleasant's champ, Korey Keehbauch. Derek Horde of Sault Ste. Marie- ended Killinger's bid with a major decision in the elimination match.

Anthony Carollo (189) won his first match 8-5, but lost by tech fall to John Glenn regional champion Justin LaFlure in the semifinal and by major decision to Mt. Pleasant's Joel Freebury.

LaFlure was one of three Bobcats to advance to the finals, winning his regional title match 13-9 over Brice Carter of Swartz Creek. Brandon Wrzeszinski kept his unbeaten (50-0) season mark intact with his regional title that included a 2-0 decision over Oxford's Geoffrey Charles and a 3-2 title match victory over Aaron Hyde of Ortonville-Brandon's, who entered the tournament with a 47-1 mark.

Glenn's Kooper Martinez (103) placed fourth to join his two teammates at the finals.