D4 Preview: Champ Returns as Favorite
February 25, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The MHSAA Division 4 Team Wrestling Finals feature the smallest schools competing in our state.
But they also included the headlining finish from last season’s championship matches at Battle Creek’s Kellogg Arena.
New Lothrop ended Hudson’s record five-year title streak by downing the Tigers 33-22 – and the Hornets return to Kellogg this weekend as favorites to repeat.
Below is a look at all eight teams competing in Division 4, listed by seed. Quarterfinal matches begin at 1 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. (Records below are based on those submitted for the Individual Finals.)
#1 New Lothrop
Record/rank: 26-1, No. 1
League finish: First in Genesee Area Conference.
Coach: Jeff Campbell, 14th season (365-65)
Championship history: 13 MHSAA championships (most recent 2014), four runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Tommy Malloy (34-19) fr., 112 Connor Krupp (34-12) soph., 130 Dalton Birchmeier (32-9) sr., 135 Cole Hersch (46-0) jr., 140 Gabe Bennett (36-3) sr., 145 Steven Garza II (36-0) jr., 145 Trevor Copes (29-10) sr., 152 Johnny Robinson (33-11) jr., 160 Erik Birchmeier (34-8) soph., 171 Joe Fisher (16-5) sr., 189 Caleb Symons (44-1) jr., 285 David Robertson (34-19) sr.
Outlook: New Lothrop’s title last winter was its first since 2004 and keyed in large part by eventual and now-graduated individual champions Josh Wendling and Taylor Krupp. But Symons, usually unable to break into the lineup at the same weights as those two, also was a hero of last year’s final weekend. Bennett, Garza and Connor Krupp are returning Individual Finals placers, and Hersch is considered a contender next weekend as well.
#2 Decatur
Record/rank: 29-2, No. 4
League finish: Second in Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Coach: Brian Southworth, 31st season (639-206-3)
Championship history: Has never finished among the top two teams in Finals competition.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 119 David Helmuth (44-8) soph., 130 Ethan May (45-11) soph., 145 Elijah Luth (41-10) jr., 152 Hunter Bell (50-1) sr., 189 Cole Southworth (45-7) sr., 285 Logan Kennedy (23-2) soph.
Outlook: Decatur returns to the Quarterfinals for the first time since 2012, having conquered No. 3 Lawton in their District Final after finishing behind Lawton in the SAC standings and falling to the Blue Devils in District Finals the last two seasons. Half the starting lineup is underclassmen, but Kennedy was an Individual Finals placer last season, as were Cole Southworth and Bell.
#3 Hudson
Record/rank: 21-5, No. 2
League finish: Tied for first in Lenawee County Athletic Association.
Coach: Scott Marry, 27th season (713-151)
Championship history: Five MHSAA championships (most recent 2013), runner-up 2014.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Dylan Leathers (24-13) jr., 119 Roddy Hamdan (37-7) sr., 125 Tyler Roberts (26-15) sr., 130 Michael Prock (34-12) sr., 145 Mason Lopinski (34-5) jr., 152 Kyle Johnson (41-6) jr., 171 Clayton Brockway (28-16) sr., 189 Mitch Ely (28-13) sr., 189 Tylor Grames (30-17) soph.
Outlook: Hudson is capable of starting another title run with five Individual Finals placers in the lineup this weekend including Johnson, the reigning champion at 152, and Hamdan, the runner-up at 112 last season. The Tigers edged No. 5 Springport in the Regional Final to advance after sharing the LCAA championship with Division 3 top-ranked Dundee.
#4 Manchester
Record/rank: 28-7, No. 7
League finish: Tied for first in Cascades Conference.
Coach: Steve Vlcek, 25th season (500-181)
Championship history: Division 4 runner-up 2008.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Reese Fry (29-12) fr., 112 Brendan Abrigo (45-1) sr., 119 Ethan Woods (38-8) soph., 135 Nick Dettling (45-6) sr., 140 Brock Vlcek (45-3) sr., 145 Corey Johnson (41-7) sr., 152 Matt Cuevas (38-11) sr., 152 Garrick Ockerman (28-19) sr., 160 Trevor Humphrey (45-4) jr., 285 Stevie Suliman (33-17) jr.
Outlook: Manchester also is back in the Quarterfinals for the first time since 2012. The Flying Dutchmen scored at least 60 points in all three of their postseason wins to get to Battle Creek after sharing their league title with No. 6 Addison. Abrigo was the Individual Finals runner-up at 103 last season, and Woods finished sixth at that weight.
#5 Leroy Pine River
Record/rank: 25-5, No. 8
League finish: First in Highland Conference.
Coach: Tim Jones, 16th season (424-95)
Championship history: Class C runner-up 1991.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Nate Park (38-7) jr., 103 Andrew Park (28-7) fr., 112 Jordan Stone (44-8) sr., 119 Tony Moore (44-6) sr., 125 Tucker Fansler (36-15) soph., 135 Phil Ragatzki (27-16) sr., 171 Jeff Gross (33-11) sr., 189 Tyler McCurry (39-10) sr., 215 Dominic Garcia (25-4) jr., 215 Josh Jackson (39-8) jr., 285 Chase Morrison (37-6) jr.
Outlook: Pine River has dominated its league and District with 15 championships over the last 16 seasons at both stages. This is the Bucks’ first trip to the Quarterfinals since 2008 and has come after four tournament wins by an average score of 67-13. Stone should be an Individual Finals contender after placing eighth at 112 last season.
#6 Norway
Record/rank: 18-5, unranked
League finish: First in Mid Peninsula Athletic Conference.
Coach: Nick Burkland, sixth season (84-32)
Championship history: Has never finished among the top two teams in Finals competition.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Dylan Hoffart (39-3) soph., 140 Cole Gonzalez (40-1) sr., 152 Tanner Gonzalez (36-4) soph., 160 Taylor Bonetti (47-4) sr.
Outlook: Norway’s surge continues as it is making the trip to Battle Creek for the third straight year and is a combined 68-6 in duals over the last three seasons. The Knights have moved up one seed each of these Quarterfinal trips and return 10 wrestlers from last season’s lineup. Cole Gonzalez and Bonetti both were Individual Finals placers in 2014.
#7 Climax-Scotts/Martin
Record/rank: 22-4, unranked
League finish: Third in Southwestern Athletic Conference.
Co-coaches: Jason Wade, 10th season (N/A); Pete Boyd, 27th season (531-234)
Championship history: Martin was Class D champion in 2008, Division 4 runner-up in 2004 and Class D runner-up in 1991 and 1987.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Dayton VanderPloeg (34-8) jr., 145 Todd Myers (35-8) jr., 152 Zack Mobley (43-9) jr., 215 Ethan Simmons (37-5) soph.
Outlook: These two schools formed a cooperative program this season for the first time and finished third together in one of the toughest small-school wrestling leagues in the state. VanderPloeg finished fourth at 103 pounds at last season’s Individual Finals and brings championship experience to a lineup with only two seniors. Climax-Scotts/Martin edged both Hesperia and Kent City by a point apiece to win the Regional.
#8 Cass City
Record/rank: 40-10, unranked
League finish: First in Greater Thumb Conference.
Coach: Don Markel, 30th season (521-343-2)
Championship history: Has never finished among the top two teams in Finals competition.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 140 Darrin Dickson (38-11) soph., 189 T.J. Moore (45-7) soph.
Outlook: Cass City is making its first trip to the Quarterfinals but has won nine league and five District titles under Markel, who took over the program heading into the 1985-86 season. The Red Hawks bounced back from two straight sub-.500 seasons to make this historical run with only five seniors on the roster but 10 wrestlers total with at least 30 wins this winter.
PHOTO: New Lothrop's Caleb Symons (right) earned a major decision in last season's Division 4 Final win and will be among those counted on again this weekend. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Cros-Lex's Lieber Readies for Final Shot
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 30, 2016
Croswell-Lexington wrestling coach Joe Lilly saw championship potential in Collin Lieber when he was in sixth grade.
Donnie Corby, the best to ever come through the Cros-Lex program by any metric – for now anyway – saw it, too.
The rest of the state had to wait until Lieber’s freshman season in 2013-14, when he entered the MHSAA tournament with a single loss and made a run to the 135-pound Division 2 title match before losing against DeWitt’s Austin Melton.
It was at that point Lieber himself realized he had the ability to reach his goal of becoming an MHSAA Finals champion, something that seemed more likely than not after such an impressive start.
As he starts his senior season, however, that individual championship still remains unchecked on Lieber’s list.
“It was funny, because I really didn’t know what to expect going into the state tournament (as a freshman), and I really didn’t think I was that good,” Lieber said. “I remember waking up that morning thinking, ‘I might be a state champ today.’ Then going into sophomore year, losing in the semifinals, that was hard. Then last year (in the finals) in overtime, that was rough.”
Lieber is among the state’s best wrestlers, ranked No. 3 across all divisions by Michigan Grappler at 171 pounds. He has a career record of 165-7 and three top-three Finals finishes to his name. In 2015, he was third at 152 pounds in Division 3, and in 2016, he was second at the same weight.
He has signed to wrestle at Central Michigan University, the same place Corby put together an impressive career by qualifying for the NCAA tournament three times and winning one Mid-American Conference championship. With 35 more wins, Lieber will unseat Corby as the all-time wins leader at Cros-Lex.
“He’s gonna kill me,” said Corby, who is now an assistant wrestling coach at the University of Northern Colorado. “He’s gonna kill me. I knew that freshman year. If anybody could do it, I want it to be Collin.”
Corby is not only Cros-Lex’s all-time wins leader, he’s also its only MHSAA Finals champion, having won in 2008. Like Lieber, he placed second as a junior, something he used as motivation for his title-winning senior year.
Lieber is hoping that same driving force can help him replicate Corby’s senior success.
“It’s just more motivating that I lost,” he said. “Because now it’s like I have to win states at least once.”
Lieber’s loss in the 2016 title match came with added heartache. After a hard-fought 6 minutes that left Lieber and Dundee’s Sean Sterling tied at 2, it was Sterling who was able to get a takedown in overtime to win the match. It not only handed Lieber his second loss in a Finals title match, but also ended his unbeaten season (54-0).
“He was better at takedowns than me. I was better at top/bottom,” Lieber said. “I was really tired, too. I should have conditioned more last year. I don’t know how much time was left in overtime, but I was kind of banking on getting to double overtime because I wanted to get to top/bottom.
“The whole year, I’m going to keep thinking about that match, over and over again.”
It was a crushing loss, one that was felt off the mat, as well.
“It was devastating,” Lilly said. “Devastating. Just because I know what he’s put in, and what his desires and goals are, and ours as coaches have been the same for him. Once you get a kid like Collin, that knows what his goals are and knows where he wants to be, you push him on a regular basis to meet that. Then you’re there – we were in the same boat, just crushed. I had no idea what to say to him.”
Despite the losses at the highest level, losing is not something Lieber has had to deal with much during his wrestling career. He began wrestling at 6 years old and won a state championship that year.
“I hated losing,” he said. “I would always cry when I lost.”
The crying has stopped, but the desire to win has not. If anything, this season, it has intensified.
“I’ve sure seen so far this year in the practice room and running that it’s a step up,” Lilly said. “He’s not a kid that gives into pressure; he thrives on it. He loves it. I watch him warm up for big matches, and the routine is the same. I never notice him getting anxious or uncomfortable. He keeps it in real well.”
Lieber has focused on being better conditioned this season, and said that wrestling at 171, a weight that is more natural for him, should help.
“I think not cutting weight will honestly help me a lot, because I won’t be as tired,” he said. “I’ll be able to condition a lot better in practice. I’ll be happier. I’ll want to come in more. I’ve been lifting a lot more, too.”
Lieber feels confident heading into the season. There’s pressure to reach the top of the podium, of course, but he said he feels less of it thanks to having his college decision out of the way. He’s proud, he said, of what he has accomplished to this point in his high school career. Now he simply wants to win for himself and those who have helped him get to this point.
Lilly wants it for him as well. He said that when Lieber was in sixth grade, he had pegged him as the program’s next Corby – a wrestler with the tools to win an MHSAA Finals title. Even without a championship, Lieber has proven his coach to be correct.
“I keep telling him that to be at the state tournament is such an accomplishment,” Lilly said. “Then to be there three years in a row and place, and now we’re looking to go in his senior year, it’s a heck of an accomplishment. You’re in an elite group to begin with.
“So that has comfort for me. I’m hoping it has a burning desire in him to say, ‘I’m going to win it this year.’”
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) Croswell-Lexington’s Collin Lieber (top) wrestles Dundee’s Sean Sterling during last season’s Division 3 championship match at 152 pounds. (Middle) Lieber warms up before his match at The Palace of Auburn Hills. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)