Division 1: Powers Clash in Battle Creek
February 21, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
The eight teams wrestling in Division 1 this weekend at Battle Creek's Kellogg Arena have combined for 34 MHSAA team championships.
Some like Temperance Bedford going for a dozen or reigning champion Detroit Catholic Central trying to make it 10 titles, are plenty familiar with finishing as the last team standing. Others, like Hartland, could provide plenty of drama in pursuing a first championship.
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 MHSAA.tv. For results throughout, check the MHSAA Wrestling page. Rankings below are from MichiganGrappler.com.
#1 DETROIT CATHOLIC CENTRAL
Record/rank: 22-3, No. 1
League finish: First in Detroit Catholic High School League
Coach: Mitch Hancock, sixth season (128-28)
Championship history: Nine MHSAA championships (most recently in 2012), two runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 285 Robert Coe (38-4) sr., 112 Parker O’Brien (31-13) jr., 119 Trevor Zdebski (34-5) soph., 125 Evan Toth (37-10) jr., 130 Myles Amine (33-6) soph., 135 Ken Bade (34-6) sr., 140 Malik Amine (33-6) jr., 152 Mike Babicz (32-16) sr., 160 Logan Marcicki (30-4) jr., 171 Drew Garcia (45-0) jr., 189 Nick Giese (34-12) soph., 189 Jimmy Russell (34-14) jr.
Outlook: The Shamrocks will wrestle for their fourth straight championship match appearance and third title over those four seasons. Bade and Garcia were two of the team’s three individual champions last season, and Malik Amine was a Finals runner-up. Coe and Marcicki join those three as top-ranked in this division in their respective weight classes.
#2 DAVISON
Record/rank: 12-4, No. 2
League finish: First in Saginaw Valley Association
Coach: Roy Hall, 16th season (390-68-1)
Championship history: Eight MHSAA championships (most recently 2006), one runner-up finish.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Jacob Madrigal (29-8) jr., 112 Lincoln Olson (40-1) soph., 125 Derek Humphrey (36-7) jr., 135 Matt Miller (25-5) jr., 135 Justin Oliver (10-1) jr., 140 Dominic Russ (32-7) jr., 140 Carter Stoddard (19-3) sr., 145 Thomas Garty (33-10) jr., 152 Patrick Rooker (24-14) sr., 160 Jordan Cooks (36-1) jr., 171 Tyler Wildmo (34-7) soph., 215 Trevor Thomas (32-10) sr.
Outlook: Davison looks good to make a run at extending its incredible wrestling tradition under Hall, who led the team to five straight titles from 2002-06. The Cardinals have moved up a seed from last season’s Quarterfinals, and all but one of its Individual Finals qualifiers finished first or second at Saturday’s Regionals. Olson, Oliver and Cooks all won individual championships last season – and the future is similarly bright, with only two seniors in this weekend’s expected lineup.
#3 HARTLAND
Record/rank: 32-1, No. 3
League finish: First in Kensington Lakes Activities Association
Coach: Todd Cheney, 21st season (562-88-2)
Championship history: Four MHSAA runner-up finishes (most recently in 2007).
Individual Finals qualifiers: 285 Josh Charneski (27-21) jr., 112 Sage Castillo (42-10) fr., 119 Nate Hughes (45-6) jr., 130 Jacob Gorial (50-3) soph., 130 Austin Eicher (45-0) jr., 160 Nate Smith (34-18) jr., 171 Mitchell Thomas (52-1) sr., 189 Ryan Hill (39-13) sr.
Outlook: Hartland is back in the hunt for its first MHSAA team title, and two seeds higher than at last season’s Quarterfinals. The Eagles beat No. 9 Brighton in the Regional on the way to Battle Creek. Eicher was an Individual Finals runner-up and is ranked number one at 130 weight this winter, and Gorial is ranked number two (Eicher is slated to wrestle 135). Thomas and Hughes also are ranked among the top seven at their weights.
#4 TEMPERANCE BEDFORD
Record/rank: 26-2, No. 4
League finish: First in the Southeastern Conference
Coach: Kevin Vogel, second season (46-6)
Championship history: 11 MHSAA championships (most recently 2011), seven runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 285 Adam Ortman (36-10) jr., 119 Mitch Rogaliner (44-2) sr., 125 Mitch Pawlak (44-1) sr., 171 David Lijewski (35-12) sr., 189 Codie Bettencourt (32-12) sr., 215 Brandon Sunday (46-1) sr.
Outlook: Vogel has led the Kicking Mules to the Quarterfinals both of his seasons as coach, and like last year’s team this one features 10 wrestlers with at least 30 wins this winter. Rogaliner is the reigning Individual Finals champion at 112 pounds, and Sunday was runner-up last season at 189. They are two of four Bedford wrestlers ranked among the top eight in their respective weight classes.
#5 ROCHESTER
Record/rank: 23-11, No. 7
League finish: Tied for second in the Oakland Activities Association Red
Coach: Frank Lafferty, 10th season (197-117)
Championship history: Has never finished among the top two teams in Finals competition.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Justin Kim (46-7) sr., 125 Josh Wood (13-0) sr., 140 Kaelan Richards (50-2) sr., 160 Dean Vettese (40-1) sr., 171 Shane Shadaia (32-6) jr., 189 Shawn Shadaia (48-1) jr.
Outlook: Rochester has won two straight District titles and is at Kellogg for the first time under Lafferty after beating No. 5 Oxford along the way. Wood was an Individual Finals runner-up as both a freshman and sophomore and is ranked number one in his weight class this winter. Shawn Shadaia also is ranked number one in his class, and total, five Rochester wrestlers are ranked among the top four at their weights.
#6 MACOMB DAKOTA
Record/rank: 37-4, No. 8
League finish: First in Macomb Area Conference Red
Co-coaches: Ed Skowneski and Mike Marlin, first seasons (37-4)
Championship history: Has never finished among the top two teams in Finals competition.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Sal Caruso (48-7) jr., 145 Alex Bozinovski (46-9) jr., 152 Jake Johnson (54-2) jr., 189 Antonio Balabani (50-6) soph.
Outlook: Skowneski – a 2003 MHSAA champion at Clinton Township Chippewa Valley and former assistant at Warren DeLaSalle and Fraser – and Marlin, an assistant at Dakota for four seasons and a two-time MHSAA Finals qualifier on the mat, have brought Dakota to the Quarterfinals in their first season running the program. Six starters have at least 42 wins this winter, and four will compete next week to try to become the first individual champion in Dakota wrestling history.
#7 HOLT
Record/rank: 15-10, unranked
League finish: First in Capital Area Activities Conference Blue
Coach: Rocky Shaft, 33rd season (471-75)
Championship history: Four MHSAA championships (most recently 2008), two runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Benny Gomez (42-0) soph., 119 Shayne Wireman (42-0) sr., 125 Martin Rodriguez (11-0) jr., 130 Kyle Granger (25-16) jr., 140 Dominic Trevino (31-3) sr.
Outlook: The Rams beat No. 10 Battle Creek Lakeview in the Regional on the way to this weekend, but are no strangers to Kellogg Arena. Shaft has led Holt to four Quarterfinals over the last six seasons and 26 straight District championships. Wireman was an individual champion in 2011, and he and Gomez are the top-ranked contenders in their respective weight classes.
#8 GRANDVILLE
Record/rank: 22-7, unranked
League finish: First in O-K Red
Coach: Bubba Gritter, third season (49-25)
Championship history: Two MHSAA championships (most recently 1993), three runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 119 Dakota Torralva (41-6) sr., 135 Collin Tomkins (15-1) jr., 215 Courtney Meyers (36-6) sr.
Outlook: Gritter – a three-time MHSAA individual champion for the Bulldogs from 2001-03 – has Grandville in the Quarterfinals after wins at the Regional by 16 over annual power Rockford and then by seven over Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central. All three of the team's individual qualifiers are ranked among the top five in their respective individual weight classes.
PHOTO: Detroit Catholic Central's Logan Marcicki (top) wrestles Oxford's Wesley Maskill during last season's Division 1 championship match at Kellogg Arena. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Lowell Begins Work to Extend Title Run
December 21, 2016
By Dean Holzwarth
Special for Second Half
LOWELL – Wrestling coach R.J. Boudro gets a chuckle every time he hears other people talk about Lowell High School athletes.
“Those kids are huge. What are they feeding those kids?”
It’s a comment based on little validity.
“It’s a myth that we feed our kids certain things, that they are big farm boys,” Boudro said. “What I think gets lost is people think Lowell is good every year, and I think that’s true in our football program, too.
“They think we’re good because of where we eat and what we’re feeding them, but we had seven of our 11 guys on the field for our football team at 170 pounds or below. They just work hard.”
Work ethic and toughness are staples among Lowell wrestlers. Those qualities have catapulted the Red Arrows into one of the premier programs in the state over the last two decades.
“They think Lowell is good because we’re Lowell, and we have to fight that,” Boudro said. “You can’t just walk in and be good because you put on a Lowell singlet. It takes a lot of work.”
The Red Arrows’ success is unprecedented.
They have captured six MHSAA Division 2 titles in program history, including the last three in a row. The Red Arrows have wrestled in 12 of the last 18 Division 2 championship matches, first finishing runner-up in 1999 and claiming their first title in 2002.
Lowell has made five straight Finals appearances, and after back-to-back losses to another perennial powerhouse, St. Johns, in 2012 and 2013, broke through in 2014 with a narrow 35-34 Finals win over the then four-time reigning MHSAA champion.
The Red Arrows defeated Eaton Rapids in the 2015 championship match, and St. Johns again last season. Lowell and St. Johns have met four times in the Finals over the last five years.
“It’s a huge challenge trying to defend a state title, and we’ve done that twice now,” Boudro said. “I don’t think it gets any easier, and it gets harder each year. There a lot of people that would like to see Lowell lose. I don’t think we’re a disliked program, but when you’re the guys at the top everyone is gunning for you.”
Lowell began this season as the top-ranked team in Division 2, but a new set of challenges await as it makes a bid for four consecutive championships.
The Red Arrows boast 51 on this year’s team; however, they graduated five all-state wrestlers and do not have any returning Individual Finals champions in the fold.
“This is new territory for us because that hasn’t happened since I’ve been here,” said Boudro, who is in his third season as head coach after previously serving as an assistant. “Usually we always have someone to look to who won a state title, and I could count on guys going out and getting six points almost every dual meet.
“We don’t necessarily have that this year, and we’re really young. We have a lot of freshmen we’re counting on and a lot of sophomores and juniors. The senior class isn’t big, but every junior and senior has been to the state finals three times and won.”
Lowell will rely on the strength of five returning all-state wrestlers to lead the way. They include seniors Sam Russell (145), Bryce Dempsey (152/160) and Eli Boulton (215), junior David Kruse (189) and sophomore Avry Mutschler (140).
Dempsey, who placed sixth at the Individual Finals a year ago, believes the Red Arrows can be just as good this year.
“I think we’re going to be better this year, actually,” he said. “We have a lot of new lightweights, and I’m not worried about them being freshmen because we have great leadership on the team and they’re all adjusting really well.
“We lost some hard-hitting seniors, but other guys have made progress in developing their abilities. I’m confident in our ability to get to the team state finals again this year.”
Kruse, the starting quarterback on the one-loss football team, also has high hopes.
“I think we have a good team, and we had some big losses, but I think (we) can fill those spots because we have a lot of guys coming up big,” he said. “I think we’ll be all right.”
The longstanding tradition of excellence at Lowell is something coaches and wrestlers take immense pride in.
Boudro said it begins with the support of the community.
“We have a community that gets it and stands behind us,” he said. “We have businesses in this town and people in this town who really come together to help put together an awesome program, athletics in general.
“We have a ton of support, and I think we have guys who realize they are wrestling for more than themselves. They are wrestling for the community, the people before them and the team now.”
Kruse began wrestling in Lowell’s youth program when he was 10, and has seen how the community has rallied around the program.
“I take a lot of pride in being a Lowell wrestler and being a part of a special team and community,” he said. “Our coaches teach us great things, and we have support from our community.”
Dempsey moved to Lowell last year. He was impressed by the values the coaches instilled.
“I love everything the team stands for,” Dempsey said. “It’s not wins and losses. It’s how we win or lose. We have a motto of ‘Never Yield’ and we follow that through practices and competitions.
“Everyone is there to support each other, and everyone is putting in the same amount of work you’re putting in and everyone is working for the same goal. We’re all equally passionate in achieving that goal.”
While the Red Arrows have enjoyed past successes, the future looks just as bright.
The youth program continues to see record growth with 170 wrestlers registered this year.
“It is insane, and it’s the most it’s ever been,” Boudro said. “I think of what we’ve done the last 20 years, and now I feel like it’s the strongest it has ever been. It’s pretty cool and exciting for our future.”
Dean Holzwarth covered primarily high school sports for the Grand Rapids Press and MLive for 16 years, served as sports editor of the Ionia Sentinel-Standard and as a sports photojournalist for WZZM, and currently is a reporter for WOODTV. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Allegan, Kent and Ottawa counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Lowell’s Sam Russell celebrates his win during last season’s Division 2 Final. (Middle) Eli Boulton (left) wrestles to victory at 189 pounds last winter at Rose Arena. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)