D1 Preview: Davison Seeks Return to Top
February 20, 2014
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Davison is arguably the most storied wrestling program in MHSAA history. And for seven seasons, the Cardinals have looked to add another championship chapter.
This weekend at Kellogg Arena, they are favored to win their first Division 1 title since finishing a string of five consecutive championships in 2006.
Below is a look at all eight teams competing in Division 1, listed by seed. Their Quarterfinal matches begin at 3:15 p.m. Friday, with Semifinals at 9:30 Saturday morning and the championship match at 4 p.m. All matches this weekend will be streamed live on a subscription basis on MHSAA.TV. For results throughout, check the MHSAA Wrestling page. Rankings below are from MichiganGrappler.com.
#1 DAVISON
Record/rank: 23-4, No. 1
League finish: First in Saginaw Valley Association
Coach: Roy Hall, 17th season (426-72-1)
Championship history: Eight MHSAA championships (most recent 2006), two runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Devon Perez (31-11) soph., 112 Max Johnson (35-7) soph., 125 Lincoln Olson (38-1) jr., 130 Derek Humphrey (36-4) sr., 135 Matt Miller (30-7) sr., 140 Justin Oliver (40-1) sr., 145 Dominic Russ (33-8) sr., 152 Thomas Garty (33-3) sr., 152 Brenden McRill (22-11) fr.,171 Jordan Cooks (36-2) sr., 215 Jake Ellis (25-16) jr.
Outlook: Davison just missed the title last season, falling to Detroit Catholic Central 29-26 in the Final. But 11 starters from that match are back this weekend. The starting lineup features five 30-match winners, with five more 20-match winners able to sub in. Cooks was a repeat individual champion last season, while both Olson and Oliver have won multiple titles during their careers and Miller was a runner-up in 2013. Total, six of this weekend’s probable starters placed at last winter’s Individual Finals.
#2 HARTLAND
Record/rank: 38-2, No. 3
League finish: First in Kensington Lakes Activities Association
Coach: Todd Cheney, 22nd season (601-91-2)
Championship history: Four MHSAA runner-up finishes (most recent 2007).
Individual Finals qualifiers: 125 Sage Castillo (49-7) soph., 130 Nate Hughes (48-7) sr., 135 Austin Eicher (33-1) sr., 145 Jacob Gorial (52-1) jr., 160 Logan Vish (39-15) soph., 285 Josh Charneski (46-8) sr.,
Outlook: Hartland again is contending for its first MHSAA team title, moving up from a third seed a year ago as it makes its 13th straight Quarterfinal appearance. Eicher defeated teammate Gorial in one of last season’s most talked about Individual Finals, at 130, and Gorial is the team wins leader this season. Once again, the path to Battle Creek was a tough one, with No. 4 Brighton and No. 5 Holt among those Hartland downed along the way.
#3 DETROIT CATHOLIC CENTRAL
Record/rank: 15-4, No. 2
League finish: First in Detroit Catholic High School League
Coach: Mitch Hancock, seventh season (146-32)
Championship history: Ten MHSAA championships (most recent 2013), two runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Parker O’Brien (26-17) sr., 119 Trevor Zdebski (20-2) jr., 130 Evan Toth (27-13) sr., 135 Greg Johnson (32-10) sr., 140 Myles Amine (35-6) jr., 145 Malik Amine (27-3) sr., 152 Nick Bennett (36-0) sr., 171 Drew Garcia (34-1) sr., 189 Nick Giese (19-8) jr., 215 James Russell (36-7) sr.
Outlook: Detroit Catholic Central has won three Division 1 team championships in four seasons, including at the end of the last two, and should be in the hunt again despite the third seed. The Shamrocks’ only losses were to No. 1 Davison, Division 2 No. 1 Lowell and No. 2 St. Johns and Illinois power Oak Park River Forest. Malik Amine and Garcia are reigning individual champions, and Zdebski, Myles Amine and Giese also placed last season.
#4 GRANDVILLE
Record/rank: 17-1, No. 7
League finish: First in O-K Red
Coach: Bubba Gritter, fourth season (66-26)
Championship history: Two MHSAA championships (most recent 1993), three runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Josh Brower (33-9) soph., 135 Collin Tomkins (32-4) sr., 140 Kameron Bush (39-3) fr., 152 Jake Brower (31-8) sr., 160 Sam Greco (30-11) fr., 215 Eppe Saarenheimo (28-13) jr.
Outlook: Grandville returned to the Quarterfinals last season for the first time since Gritter’s senior year of 2003, and returns four seeds higher this weekend. Half of last season’s lineup is back including returning Individual Finals placer Tomkins. He’s one of five seniors; the probable starters for this weekend also include seven underclassmen looking to make this trip a tradition.
#5 OXFORD
Record/rank: 24-4, No. 8
League finish: First in Oakland Activities Association Red
Coach: Paul McDevitt, 17th season (345-140)
Championship history: MHSAA Division 1 champion 2011, two runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Alex Hrisopoulos (42-7) soph., 160 Noah Kinne (33-18) jr., 171 Wesley Maskill (46-5) sr., 189 Wyatt Harden (16-4) soph., 189 Grant Krause (31-9) sr., 215 Ben Line (39-7) sr., 215 Jamal Pettiford (18-9) sr., 285 Zach Wood (30-5) sr.
Outlook: Oxford missed the Quarterfinals last season for the first time in six, but returns this weekend after beating No. 10 Clarkston along the way. Hrisopoulos, Maskill and senior Eddie Schlickenmeyer all have won at least 40 matches this season and were Individual Finals placers in 2013. Maskill, Schlickenmeyer, Krause and senior Zab Throne all were in the lineup the last time Oxford wrestled in a championship match, in 2012 against Detroit Catholic Central.
#6 PLYMOUTH
Record/rank: 36-4, unranked
League finish: Second in Kensington Lakes Activities Association
Coach: Quinn Guernsey, sixth season (112-75)
Championship history: Has never finished among the top two teams in Finals competition.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Brandon Harris (47-4) jr., 119 Mohamad Youssef (50-3) sr., 140 Jon Conn (44-7) sr., 145 Sofus Nielson (34-10) sr., 160 Joey Shaver (43-9) sr., 171 Hussein Youssef (45-8) jr.
Outlook: Guernsey, who wrestled at Brooklyn Columbia Central and then Michigan State University and Eastern Michigan University, has led Plymouth to its first Quarterfinal this winter and an increased win total each of the last three seasons. Plymouth defeated No. 6 Temperance Bedford during this run. Mohamad Youssef was an Individual Finals placer last season.
#7 MACOMB DAKOTA
Record/rank: 25-5, No. 9
League finish: First in Macomb Area Conference Red
Coach: Ed Skowneski, second season (62-10)
Championship history: Has never finished among the top two teams in Finals competition.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 119 Zack Prater (39-11) soph., 135 Kyle Cendrowski (29-19) sr., 152 Alex Bozinovski (42-7) sr., 160 Jake Johnson (48-1) sr., 171 Joshua Burnham (39-8) sr., 189 Greg Brohl (32-17) sr., 215 Antonio Balabani (38-7) jr.
Outlook: After making the Quarterfinals last season for the first time, Dakota is back with a lineup of half seniors. Half of the lineup also has at least 30 wins, including returning Finals placers Bozinovski and Johnson. Skowneski was a 2003 individual champion for Clinton Township Chippewa Valley before wrestling at MSU.
#8 LIVONIA FRANKLIN
Record/rank: 16-7, unranked
League finish: Fifth in Kensington Lakes Activities Association
Coach: David Chiola, 14th season (231-97)
Championship history: Has never finished among the top two teams in Finals competition.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Jeremy Nelson (33-23) soph., 119 Nick Robertson (40-14) jr., 125 Nathan Atienza (50-6) fr., 152 Kenneth Steele (32-19) sr., 152 Nick Frazier (42-7) sr., 160 Jordan Atienza (58-0) sr.
Outlook: Franklin is in the Quarterfinals for the first time after winning its ninth straight District title. Jordan Atienza is 166-1 over the last two seasons and was an Individual Finals runner-up at 152 last winter. Chiola has won 292 matches total as a coach, with six more seasons at Garden City.
PHOTO: Davison wrestlers participate in the "Grand March" before last season's championship matches at Kellogg Arena. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Performance: Lowell's Austin Boone
March 5, 2020
Austin Boone
Lowell senior – Wrestling
Together with his teammates, Boone continued to contribute to a historic streak Saturday by helping the Red Arrows to their record seventh-straight MHSAA Team Finals championship, posting a pin and two major decisions to earn the MHSAA “Performance of the Week.” He also put himself on the cusp of another legendary achievement – this weekend at Ford Field, Boone can become the 27th in Michigan high school history to win four Individual Finals championships, and join Davison great Brent Metcalf as the only wrestlers to win four individual titles and be part of four team titles as well.
Lowell defeated Croswell-Lexington in Friday’s Quarterfinal, 63-10, then Muskegon Reeths-Puffer 58-9 in the Saturday morning Semifinal and Gaylord 53-4 in the afternoon championship match – another dominant run, especially impressive considering the Red Arrows lost a ranked wrestler to a knee injury and saw another wrestle through a slightly lesser one. In the finale, Boone scored an 11-3 decision at 145 pounds over two-time individual champion Chayse LaJoie, who entered the match unbeaten. Boone will bring a 37-0 record into Friday’s first round, and he’s 152-8 over his career with his previous championships coming at 135, 145 and 152 pounds.
Boone – who also played football his first three years of high school – has signed to continue his academic and wrestling careers at national powerhouse Penn State, which has won eight of the last nine NCAA Division I championships. Boone’s father is a dentist, and Austin intends to eventually study dentistry as well and follow his dad into the family practices.
Coach R.J. Boudro said: “First of all, it’s always nice when you send somebody out and you’re pretty sure they’re going win, every time, and probably get you bonus points. So within wrestling, that’s a luxury that we’re sure going to miss. And as far as him in the practice room … I don’t know that Austin’s ever missed a wrestling practice. (Boone confirmed he missed one this season for a college visit.) And within that wrestling practice, there’s guys that you’re in practice and you have to go sit out or whatever because you’re hurt. I don’t know that Austin’s ever taken a second off of a practice. So his toughness, I think this year, has been really contagious. I think we’ve been able to use that as an example and kinda show kids what toughness is. Because it’s hard to do that when you don’t have it; when you have it, you’ve got to make an example of it, and Austin definitely has that. I don’t think he’s every come close to missing weight. I don’t think he’s ever just missed a match. He’s just the most dependable kid I think I’ve ever had, and dependable for a lot of reasons. Over the course of four years he’s grown up a lot, and I think this year has been easily his best year – not just performance-wise, but just helping our team, being another coach in our room.”
Performance Point: “I just think that the team performed really well. We went into that kinda motivating guys to put up as many team points as you could, especially if the person knew they were supposed to win,” Boone said of Saturday’s victory over Gaylord. “We started out with Nick Korhorn; he was kinda on edge a little bit, and we told him to just go and get as many bonus points as he could and he started off good, he put up five team points and we just fed off that. Will Link had a big win; we felt like that was another turning point. We (took) it up another gear. I feel like everyone wrestled better after we got to see those guys win some big matches. … I really didn’t think about (the magnitude of my match) all that much. I try not to think about it at all. The more you think about your opponent, the less you focus on yourself.”
Four for four, and seven in a row: “It’s been fantastic. Honestly, it’s weird to think about. You almost want to say that you think it’s going to happen, but there’s so much work that goes into each title. You almost forget about it. Every year you come back and you think it’s going to happen again, and you put in so much work over and over and over again, and then it’s over and you have to start again.”
Tournament tested: “(This weekend is) just another match. Honestly, I’m more worried about what I’m eating for dinner tonight than I am for this weekend. … (I’ve) just wrestled in so many big matches over the years, it’s all the same.”
Memories made: “It’s just the experience of high school. You get to know what it’s like to be part of a team. Fortunately for me, I got to be part of a really good team. I got to wrestle some really good matches against other really good teams. It was just a good experience to have before I head off to college. It’s different than wrestling with either yourself, or I’ve wrestled with my brothers over the summer – it’s not really a team. So I like (high school).”
Full house: “I have five siblings – four younger brothers and a younger sister. The household’s fairly loud. We’ve learned to live with each other. It’s not as hectic as it used to be. And then weekends, we just spend at wrestling tournaments. … They’re all wrestlers. I’ve tried to show them just the occasional goofy move. But they’ve got to figure it out for themselves, and I think that’s better for them. One of my younger brothers actually just showed me a new move last week, and then he showed it to the team because it was just goofy – it was fun.”
– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Past honorees
Feb. 27: Aaron Grzelak, Marquette skiing - Report
Feb. 20: Kailee Davis, Detroit Renaissance basketball - Report
Feb. 13: Jamison Ward, Carson City-Crystal wrestling - Report
Feb. 6: Elena Vargo, Farmington United gymnastics - Report
Jan. 31: Michael Wolsek, Trenton swimming - Report
Jan. 24: Kensington Holland, Utica Ford bowling - Report
Jan. 17: Claycee West, White Pigeon basketball - Report
Jan. 10: Seth Lause, Livonia Stevenson hockey - Report
Dec. 5: Mareyohn Hrabowski, River Rouge football - Report
Nov. 28: Kathryn Ackerman, Grand Haven swimming - Report
Nov. 21: Emily Van Dyke, Southfield Christian volleyball - Report
Nov. 14: Taylor Wegener, Ida volleyball - Report
Nov. 7: Carter Solomon, Plymouth cross country - Report
Oct. 31: Jameson Goorman, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian soccer - Report
Oct. 24: Austin Plotkin, Brimley cross country - Report
Oct. 17: Jack Spamer, Brighton cross country - Report
Oct. 10: Kaylee Maat, Hudsonville volleyball - Report
Oct. 3: Emily Paupore, Negaunee cross country - Report
Sept. 26: Josh Mason, South Lyon soccer - Report
Sept. 19: Ariel Chang, Utica Eisenhower golf - Report
Sept. 12: Jordyn Shipps, DeWitt swimming - Report
PHOTOS: (Top) Lowell's Austin Boone works toward a win over Gaylord's Chayse LaJoie during Saturday's Division 2 Team Final at Wings Event Center. (Middle) Boone's arm is raised in victory during Friday's Quarterfinal against Croswell-Lexington. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)