Belleville Twins March to Finals Together
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
March 2, 2016
BELLEVILLE – Caleb Brown continues to be haunted by what he considers a grim disappointment in his Belleville wrestling career.
Last season, Brown lost during what those in the wrestling fraternity call the “blood round.” This is the consolation round, a match for fourth place, at the Individual Wrestling Regionals. Brown lost by one point in the 152-pound weight class to an opponent he had defeated earlier in the season and, thus, missed qualifying for the MHSAA Finals.
He was devastated but not consumed by it. For one, that was his junior season. Brown rededicated himself during the offseason. He continued to run cross country to keep his weight down and also increase his endurance.
This season Brown broke through barriers, claiming the Wayne County and Division 1 Regional championships at 152.
As proud as he is of reaching this point, it’s made even more special by the fact that he’ll enter The Palace of Auburn Hills on Thursday with his twin brother Chris. Chris Brown competes at 130. Last season he qualified for the MHSAA Finals at 119 and won a first-round match before losing his next.
“It’s really cool,” Caleb said. “I missed out last year. Being a senior, it’s cool.
“(Winning the regional) didn’t hit me right away. I was just talking about it with my teammates, and that’s when it hit me. I was really focused on winning the match.”
Caleb is 44-4 this season and will face Kyle Minor of Roseville in Thursday’s first round.
Chris is 47-2 and will go against Lee Grabowski of Brighton.
The Browns say having a twin who competes in the same sports is an advantage, if for no other reason than it enhances one’s competitive nature.
They both started wrestling in middle school by chance.
“We played football in the beginning,” Chris said. “The coach told us to wrestle to keep in shape. I was terrible in the beginning. But we’ve never been known as quitters. I like the individualism. You can’t use the excuse your team lost it for you.”
Once they entered high school, the Browns gravitated even more toward the sport. But it wasn’t until their sophomore season that they became proficient at it.
For Chris, there was one match that showed he could compete against the best.
“My sophomore year was my first on varsity,” he said. “I went against a ranked opponent, and I won by a point. That was huge for my confidence.”
Coinciding with the Browns’ rise was the return of Derek Phillips as coach. Phillips started coaching in 1994 and stayed 11 seasons before taking time off to help raise two children. He remained within the school district as a teacher, but the time commitment of teaching and coaching together was not conducive to spending quality time with his sons.
In 2013, Phillips returned. He has been a mentor for the Browns and a third senior MHSAA Finals qualifier, David Tooley (215).
Phillips was the one who encouraged the Browns to compete in cross country.
“It goes hand in hand,” Phillips said of the two sports. “I love it. They come into the wrestling season in shape. All three have over 100 wins and all three are good students. They’re a coach’s dream.”
Tooley is a little different. It’s not because he plays football instead of competing in cross country. And it’s not because he’s a three-sport athlete (also plays baseball). It’s his warm-up routine that causes many to take a second look, scratch their heads or both.
It’s more than a routine. It’s a dance. Sort of. He got the idea from watching a wrestler from Southgate Anderson who competed against his brother, Mark Tooley, when the elder Tooley wrestled for Belleville in 2011.
“It’s like no other,” David Tooley said. “It’s an active movement. It’s like a dance, and it’s a little embarrassing.”
Whatever works.
The Browns’ warmup routines are a little less flamboyant, but they do get a kick out of watching their teammate go through his routine. Chris likes to listen to music just before his matches. Caleb prefers listening to his coach, receiving last-minute instructions.
Away from the mat, the Browns are constantly challenging each other. Take running, for example.
“We try to one-up each other,” Chris said. “We’ve always been competitive. I’m faster than he is, when we run cross country. We’re not too far apart though.”
Caleb judges a person’s speed all together differently.
“He might beat me in cross country,” he said. “But if it’s a true test of speed, I’m faster.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Chris Brown works to gain control during one of his Division 1 Regional matches Feb. 20. (Middle) Caleb Brown, Chris Brown, David Tooley.(Below) Caleb Brown works an opponent toward a potential pin during one of his Regional matches. (Top and below photos by Douglas Chapman.)
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.)