After Amputation, Wesaw's Return to Wrestling Provides Purpose, Self-Confidence
By
Scott Hassinger
Special for MHSAA.com
March 13, 2026
DOWAGIAC – Weski Wesaw found a purpose three years ago once he began competing for the Dowagiac wrestling team.
Wesaw, a senior and the Chieftains' varsity starter at 150 pounds this winter, overcame a traumatic and life-altering event in junior high school to become a Regional qualifier on the mats.
During the summer before seventh grade, Wesaw was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, an aggressive primary bone cancer most common in children, teens and older adults.
"I found out I had bone cancer in my knee. The doctors told me I had two options,” Wesaw said. “They gave me the option to keep my leg ... or I could choose amputation.
“My aunt chose to keep her leg when she had cancer, and it spread throughout her body and she passed away due to it.”
Wesaw's desire to be active and participate in sports were two more big reasons he chose amputation.
"I had dreams and goals so I leaned towards amputation because they told me it was the only way I could compete in sports, was with its removal or a prosthetic," Wesaw said.
Wesaw went through rehabilitation but struggled for a long period with a bit of depression while adjusting to his new normal.
"I had always been an athlete. I played everything as a kid – lacrosse, football, baseball and wrestling,” Wesaw said. “Being a kid, then not being able to do things you once did, that's very difficult. Your friend group changes a bit too."
During his sophomore year, Wesaw and one of the school's athletic directors approached Dowagiac's varsity wrestling coach Colin Burandt with the idea of Wesaw trying wrestling again.
Burandt was aware of Wesaw at an early age when he participated in Dowagiac's Youth Wrestling Club.
"After everything happened to Weski, he was kind've reclusive a little bit. He felt kind've out of place as a freshman, but he came into his sophomore year with more drive and approached me about joining the team,” Burandt said. “We just got after it, and it's been awesome seeing how he has developed a new purpose through the sport."
Wesaw admits that wrestling has changed his outlook on everything.
"Wrestling has had a big impact on my life. I wanted a purpose to come to school,” Wesaw said. “I had competed in MyWay when I was a kid with two legs, and I knew how to wrestle. Going back into it with just one leg was similar to learning to ride a bike again."
One of the biggest adjustments Wesaw had to make was learning how to shoot using his own style.
"Instead of using your knee to shoot, I had to figure out my own way to be able to move and slide through perfectly,” Wesaw said “When I'm on the mat, I just do what my mind tells me to do. I can adapt and match my opponent's energy. It's been a long process that has taken all the way up to my senior year to get the hang of things. Now I've gotten to the point where I can leave everything out on the mat.”
Wesaw finished with a win-loss record of 23-18 this season. He earned third place at the Division 3 Individual District Tournament at Dowagiac. The top four place finishers in each of the 14 weight classes advanced to the Belding Regional, where he was eliminated in the second round.
"Having the home crowd cheering for me in Districts was huge. I was really nervous,” Wesaw said. “Before every match I just told myself that I got this, and I left everything out there on the mat. My goal was to get to the state meet, and I fell just a bit short of that goal. I gave it my all, and the determination to reach my goal is what really drove me."
Wesaw also played a key factor as Dowagiac won its ninth-straight Team District title before losing in Team Regionals.
"I get butterflies just thinking about the big meets. We've been successful because everyone on this team brought something different to the table," Wesaw said.
"Self-confidence is a very important thing in wrestling. I have become much more confident in myself thanks to the great support I've received from my friends, family and the community. I just have to give a lot of thanks to them along with my coaches who have accepted me for who I am and made me into the person I am today," Wesaw said. "I approach everything I do with 100-percent effort so I have no regrets. I want to look back and know I have made a big impact on this program."
Wesaw was one of Dowagiac's most versatile grapplers and comes from a wrestling family.
"My dad was a wrestler and my uncle wrestled and later became a boxer. Even my little sister is on our wrestling team," Wesaw said. "My uncle (Eric Ortiz) has really helped me with my moves and helping me to think straight and remain calmer in my matches.”
Wesaw plans to continue wrestling in college and plans to pursue a double major in business and engineering.
One of his biggest inspirations is Anthony Robles.
Robles is an American wrestler who attended and competed for Arizona State, where he won a national championship in the 125-pound division in 2011 despite being born with just one leg. His story helped spawn the movie “Unstoppable.”
"Coaching someone like (Wesaw) is really no different than coaching anyone else,” Burandt said. “My approach is that every kid on our team is different. With Weski, his style is tailored to what he can do on top and offensive moves. With him there aren't necessarily challenges, but he just has to do what fits him best like working for a lot of reversals in a match.
“He's developed a pretty good shot from when he first began. Our strategy is for him to be aggressive in that first period. He's quick, very resilient, battles through the latter periods and is stronger than many of his opponents. Confidence in his ability, game planning and executing that plan and being a team player are some of his other assets.
"Weski is a great teammate, and everyone loves him. The other kids see his hard work and resiliency. They just view him as another guy on the team, and he's no different than anyone else. His mindset is great. He never makes excuses, and he just goes after it and figures things out on the way."
Scott Hassinger is a contributing sportswriter for Leader Publications and previously served as the sports editor for the Three Rivers Commercial-News from 1994-2022. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Dowagiac’s Weski Wesaw, in orange, works toward a pin during a tournament this season. (Middle) Wesaw, top position, works on a move against a practice partner during the week of Individual Regionals. (Below) Wesaw, far left, stands on the podium after earning a second-place finish at the Greater Berrien County Invitational. (Match and podium photos courtesy of Dowagiac’s athletic department. Practice photo by Scott Hassinger.)
Baldwin Hopes to Set Example for Aspiring Saginaw Wrestlers with Rapid Rise
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
December 11, 2024
When Michael Baldwin began his wrestling career as a freshman at Saginaw Arthur Hill, coach Angel Rodriguez recognized he had a special talent on his hands almost immediately.
Almost.
“I didn’t think I’d be back in that room after a week, to be honest,” Baldwin said. “My first practice, I threw up and passed out, so I thought that was going to be my last time in a wrestling room. So, I definitely didn’t think I’d make it this far.”
Baldwin bounced back nicely from that first day and has turned himself into one of the best wrestlers in the state as he begins his senior season. The now-Saginaw United wrestler is coming off a third-place finish at the 2024 Individual Finals and is ranked No. 1 at 175 pounds in Division 1 by Michigan Grappler.
It’s a quick rise, but one that Rodriguez has seen as possible all along, despite that rough start.
“You could see it his freshman year,” Rodriguez said. “You could see him wanting to be better and better and better, trying to get better at every situation. His sophomore year, he went straight into wrestling again. You could see it, it’s just that you don’t know how special it’s going to become.”
Baldwin already has put himself among the best wrestlers to ever come through the city. His third-place finish at 165 pounds is tied for the best at Arthur Hill, with his brother Lionel’s third place in 2023.
Saginaw High, which joined with Arthur Hill to form Saginaw United this fall, had produced a pair of Finals champions – Quinton Moore in 2010 and Yohanas Moore in 1987. Baldwin knows what it would mean to join them representing United’s first-year program.
“It would be huge, and after that, I would really hope that people in our city and our community would start to look at wrestling a little bit more,” Baldwin said. “To be completely honest, it’s all football and basketball here. Those sports are great, and they’re cool and they’re mainstream, and they definitely make the most money if you become the best in the world at it. A sport like wrestling is just so life-changing, that it’s almost like a gift to share it with other people. I’m forever grateful to my brother for introducing me to the sport. So, if I could win states and really put it out there that there’s somebody from Saginaw who’s the best wrestler in the state of Michigan, I feel like then maybe parents would start to encourage their kids to wrestle.”
Baldwin knows that with wrestling seeing is believing, as it’s what flipped the switch for him. It wasn’t until he watched his brother qualify for the 2022 Finals tournament that he really started to believe he could make some noise in the sport.
“When I think about it, I think, ‘What can I do for other people that my brother’s done for me?’ Which is why I go to all these national tournaments and why I try to perform at such a high level,” Baldwin said. “All it took for me was my brother showing me it was possible to go to states, because I didn’t think stuff like that was possible. I never thought about making it to the state Finals as a football team, or for any other sport, I never thought about being the best in the state, at all. Seeing my brother be one of the best wrestlers in the state, it just showed me how possible that stuff was. At this point, four years into my career, I think anything is possible.”
Winning a Finals title is the immediate goal for Baldwin, and he’s off to a good start. He placed third this past weekend at the Grappler Gold Invitational, with his one loss coming to eventual champion Kole Katschor of Dundee, who is a returning Finals champion. Katschor defeated three-time Finals champion Sebastian Martinez of Riverview Gabriel Richard in the final of a stacked GGI 175-pound bracket.
Over the summer, Baldwin wrestled in several national tournaments, and placed fifth at the Grappler Fall Classic, with his only losses coming against nationally-ranked Max Harmon from Tennessee. He’s also been one match away from placing at the nationals in Fargo, N.D., the most illustrious tournament in the country for high schoolers.
Colleges have begun to notice, as he’s had talks with several from the NAIA level all the way up to Division I.
That’s despite the fact it’s not well-known he’s only been wrestling since his freshman year. Combined with his being ranked No. 1 academically in his class, that makes him a remarkably attractive prospect.
“I’m sure when I tell them that, they start to see the potential,” Baldwin said. “I have so much to learn and so much to get better at.”
The ultimate goal is to be a world champion, and Baldwin spends his offseason wrestling in freestyle and Greco Roman tournaments to make that a reality.
It’s a lofty goal, for sure, but after seeing what Baldwin has been able to accomplish during his short time with the sport, it does feel as though anything is possible.
“It’s surreal,” Rodriguez said. “Because, you see the talent in the city. You see the talent in the school. You see the type of kids that have the ability to be great, or fantastic, or do something that someone’s never done. To have it be one of my athletes, one of my wrestlers and a kid in my room, it’s surreal. It’s crazy.
“At one point in time, when I started coaching, I couldn’t get a kid past Regionals. … Seeing these kids wear an Arthur Hill singlet, or a Saginaw United singlet, being from the city area and doing what he’s doing – I don’t know, it’s unreal. You would never expect it, because we’re not a school known for wrestling. We’re not an area known for wrestling. But to have one of the top-level kids in your area, in your room, and have the ability to coach him, it’s probably one of the coolest things as a coach that I’ve been able to do.”
Paul Costanzo served as a sportswriter at The Port Huron Times Herald from 2006-15, including three years as lead sportswriter, and prior to that as sports editor at the Hillsdale Daily News from 2005-06. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Genesee, Lapeer, St. Clair, Sanilac, Huron, Tuscola, Saginaw, Bay, Arenac, Midland and Gladwin counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Saginaw Arthur Hill’s Michael Baldwin (left) wrestles Byron Center’s Blake Ottow during a third-place match at last season’s Individual Finals. (Middle) Baldwin looks to make his move. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)