Dundee's Swiderski Becomes 4th to Earn 4 Individual, 4 Team Finals Titles
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 5, 2022
DETROIT – Casey Swiderski took a moment Saturday for himself.
The Dundee senior and four-time Individual Wrestling Finals champion had already had his hand raised. He had already addressed the crowd and had a post-match celebration.
But as fans continued to rain applause down on him, Swiderski crouched off to the side of the mat and took it all in.
“It’s tough walking away from this,” Swiderski said following his pinfall victory against Kingsley’s Aiden Shier in the Division 3, 152-pound final. “That was it. That was my last high school match in the MHSAA season. It’s tough. It’s a lot of hard work and years. I’ve got college to go to, but that’s tough right there.”
Swiderski deserved the moment, as he finished off one of the most dominant and successful careers in MHSAA history.
With his victory, and Dundee’s team title win a week earlier, Swiderski became the fourth wrestler in state history to win four team titles and four individual titles. He joined Davison’s Brent Metcalf (who will be one of his coaches at Iowa State), Lowell’s Austin Boone and his former teammate, Stoney Buell.
“It’s amazing,” Swiderski said. “When you put in all the hard work and the belief, this is the bonus day right here. This comes with it. It’s an awesome thing.”
Swiderski (45-0) was leading comfortably in the second period of the final when Shier was able to get his first burst of offense on a deep shot. Rather than give up the takedown, however, Swiderski turned it into his own pinning combination.
He finished the tournament with three pins and one technical fall. None of his matches went beyond the second period.
103
Champion: Talan Parsons, Ovid-Elsie, Soph. (37-1)
Major Decision, 9-0, over Landon Sopha, Yale, Fr. (53-2)
A year after coming one match short of his ultimate goal, Parsons wasn’t going to be denied Saturday.
“This was my biggest goal,” Parsons said. “Last year I was so close, and it hurt a lot to make it all that way and not take first. So I put in all the work to make my way back and win it this year.”
Parsons jumped on Sopha early and controlled the match throughout, adding a takedown, nearfall and reversal as the match went on to win with a major decision.
112
Champion: Kade Kluce, Dundee, Soph. (41-6)
Decision, 5-4, over Easton Moran, Yale, Sr. (51-3)
Kluce was a returning Finals champion, having won at 103 a year ago. But he wasn’t happy with how things started this season, and the emotions were evident as he celebrated his second title.
“I just felt grateful I got the opportunity to come here and wrestle,” said Kluce, who suffered a knee injury in the summer that lingered into the beginning of the season. “I lost six matches this year, three times as much as I did last year. I don’t know, I just didn’t feel proud of myself until now.”
Kluce fell behind 2-0 as Moran picked up an early takedown, but he battled back and a takedown with 37 seconds remaining won him the match.
119
Champion: Braeden Davis, Dundee, Jr. (41-2)
Technical Fall, 3:32, over Connor Busz, Clinton, Jr. (48-3)
Davis has not wrestled into the third period at the Individual Finals.
He’s a three-time champion.
“I’ve just been able to bonus my way through states the past three years, and I’m really grateful,” Davis said. “I’m really happy that I’m able to do things like that.”
Davis, who has already committed to Penn State, won at 103 pounds in 2020 and 112 in 2021. Saturday’s match was his first final to make it out of the first period, but it came against an opponent in Busz who was a runner-up a year ago.
As a three-time individual and team champion, Davis has a chance to match Swiderski’s achievement next season.
125
Champion: Cameron Chinavare, Dundee, Soph. (39-2)
Fall, 3:14, over Fabian Facundo, Alma, Fr. (38-4)
After an early-season match between these two was airtight, Chinavare – who won that first match 4-3 – was expecting another battle.
“I know I had to go out there and keep my feet moving,” Chinavare said. “I knew he was going to come at me. I dragged him right there at the end and took him to his back. I wasn’t expecting a pin at all, but it fell right into place, I guess.”
Chinavare led the match 2-0 after the first period, and before he was able to get the takedown and pin.
130
Champion: Zachary Gibson, Lake Odessa Lakewood, Sr. (39-0)
Major decision, 11-0, over Caiden Pelc, Portland, Sr. (34-7)
Gibson and Pelc had met three times throughout the season, with Gibson winning each matchup.
He wasn’t worried about Pelc figuring him out, though.
“I had something new against him every time,” Gibson said.
The title was the second straight for Gibson, who won at 125 pounds a year ago. This was his first at Ford Field.
“It’s way different,” he said. “Way bigger, way more exciting.”
135
Champion: Aidan Bernard, Montrose, Sr. (46-1)
Decision, 8-1, over Logan Sander, Dundee, Sr. (35-7)
After winning his first Finals title, Bernard couldn’t contain his emotions.
“I’m so happy,” he said. “I’ve been wrestling since I was 9, and this is all I’ve wanted for the past nine years. I’ve been close – my sophomore year I took third. Last year I thought I was going to have it, but I was in really bad shape because of COVID. This year, I really (worked hard) and I had great coaching staff, great family, great friends who pushed me and supported me. I’m just really grateful for the moment.”
Twice during his Finals match, Bernard’s injured knee flared up. But he wasn’t going to let that stop him.
“I knew I was going to keep going,” he said. “I told my parents and my friends, even if I break something early in the match, I’m going to keep going.”
140
Champion: Ryker Johnecheck, Williamston, Sr. (38-2)
Decision, 5-1, over Peter Pena, Milan, Jr. (21-2)
Johnecheck never planned to be flashy in claiming his third-straight individual title. He just wanted to be efficient.
He was certainly that as he controlled his match with Pena throughout.
“I think it’s one of those matches where it’s the state finals, I’m not going to go take any unnecessary risks,” he said. “I just went out there, wrestled smart. He can catch people, so my big thing was be smart, get a comfortable score, and take what’s there, and I think that’s what I did.”
Johnecheck won at 125 in 2020 and 130 in 2021.
“It’s not what I expected coming in as a freshman,” Johnecheck said. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet, that I’m going to be one of those guys in 10 years that they’re looking up (in the gymnasium) and say, ‘Oh, I knew him.’”
145
Champion: Aiden Davis, Dundee, Jr. (43-0)
Decision, 11-5, over Mason Cantu, Hart, Sr. (48-2)
Despite being a returning champion, Davis said he felt the pressure was on Cantu coming into their Finals match. So the Dundee junior picked his spots to finish off his unbeaten season and come away with another title.
“I’ve been here before. I sort of know the environment,” Davis said. “And I had to stay cool, calm and collected throughout the whole match.”
Davis won at 135 pounds a year ago, and was runner-up at 125 in 2020. Cantu was a Division 4 runner-up at 135 pounds in 2020.
160
Champion: Connor Owens, Flint Powers Catholic, Jr. (18-0)
Decision, 5-2, over Nick Marienfeld, Napoleon, Sr. (54-1)
Owens didn’t like the feeling of not winning a Finals title a year ago, when he finished runner-up at this weight. So he decided this season to simply not lose.
“This is dreams coming to reality right here, man; this is nuts,” he said. “This is my biggest wrestling dream ever, and I’m just in shock right now. That feeling of losing, whether in the state finals or not, when you’re a true competitor, you have to hate losing more than you love winning, and you just have to refuse to lose.”
The match was tied heading into the third period, but an escape and a takedown gave Owens the victory.
171
Champion: Kevin McKiernan, Richmond, Sr. (40-9)
Decision, 4-3, over Jake Nelson, Howard City, Sr. (38-8)
McKiernan is the youngest of five brothers, and all made a Final for Richmond. He’s now the third McKiernan to win a title.
“It means a ton,” he said. “You can’t be the only brother to not make it to the Finals. Then you’re the end of every joke. But it means a ton.”
McKiernan took third in his region, but battled through this bracket to get his first title. He scored a late first-period takedown to take his first lead, and never relinquished it.
“It’s the coaches standing in the corner, the practice partners in the room, all of that adds up to state titles,” McKiernan said. “I think this is just proof of that again.”
189
Champion: Jacob Munger, Alma, Sr. (43-2)
Decision, 11-5, over Logan Badge, Clinton, Sr. (36-6)
For the second time in as many weeks, Munger defeated Badge, this time claiming his first title, and denying Badge his fourth.
“All my coaches, they say to stay with the positive, remember what worked the last match and bring it to this match,” Munger said. “I stayed with the positive … I knew I had a great gas tank and brought that over. It’s just all positive.”
Munger led 6-3 heading into the third period, and added two more takedowns in the third to pad his lead.
Badge was a three-time champion in Division 4, winning at 189 in 2020 and 2021, and 215 in 2019.
215
Champion: Hunter Huguelet, Gladwin, Sr. (46-1)
Fall, 1:54, over Adam Garcia, Alma, Sr. (32-7)
Huguelet thought for a long time about what he could do to win his first individual title.
It didn’t take him that long to do it.
The Gladwin senior capped off his career with a first-period pin.
“That was great,” Huguelet said. “I just was focusing for the last two hours, all day today and last night, and I just came in ready to go. It feels amazing. It’s more than what I thought.”
285
Champion: Levi Harber, Montrose, (44-4)
Fall, 3:51, over Eli Marshall, Watervliet, Sr. (42-3)
Harber was dominant throughout the tournament, pinning each of his first three opponents in the opening minute.
His Finals match took a little longer, but ultimately had the same result.
Harber had Marshall on his back in the first period as well, but it didn’t result in a pin, and that wasn’t necessarily even the plan.
“I’m going to be honest, I threw that cradle to get some comfort points between me and him,” he said. “So, I wasn’t expecting a pin. He was getting pretty close, but I was not in the position that I felt I could pin him properly.”
PHOTOS (Top) Dundee’s Casey Swiderski is applauded after concluding his high school career with a fourth Division 3 individual championship. (Middle) Alma’s Jacob Munger, left, works toward a win at 189 pounds. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Coffell Makes Mark with Amazing Return
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 12, 2019
With second overtime running out, and Goodrich’s realistic chances of winning a Division 2 wrestling championship in the balance, Blake Coffell knew he had to move.
The senior heavyweight diagnosed the situation in his head – an escape would likely force an ultimate tiebreaker, and since it was Lowell’s Tyler Delooff who had scored first in the match, Delooff would have the choice. That wouldn’t do, Coffell thought, as Delooff would probably get away and win the match.
So Coffell went big, sitting out to work toward a reversal rather than standing up. It worked, and as the final seconds ticked away, Coffell had picked up a key victory and kept Goodrich within striking distance of the five-time reigning champions.
“I was facing the whole crowd at the time,” said Coffell, remembering the moment from Feb. 23. “Hearing the noise from our side was just really insane.”
The dual meet eventually went Lowell’s way, and while the loss stung and initially dulled the insanity of that moment for Coffell, it couldn’t take away from all he had gone through to get there.
Almost four months earlier to the day, Coffell underwent surgery to repair severe damage to his knee. And practically every day in between, he worked and focused on being in that moment at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo, despite how improbable it all seemed at first.
“We talked a lot about, ‘What’s your legacy going to be for Goodrich wrestling?’” Goodrich coach Ken Sirignano said. “We talk about the people in the past, and what we remember them for. Blake Coffell has a great legacy, coming back and doing what he did for the team.”
‘I know that scream’
On Sept. 28, Goodrich played Flint Hamady in a nonconference football game. The Martians were on defense, and Coffell, a defensive lineman, flushed the quarterback from the pocket. After what he had deemed a futile chase, he started to slow down, and that’s when he noticed an offensive lineman bearing down on him from behind.
“I’m a big guy, so I thought, ‘I’ll take him on,’” Coffell said. “I lowered my shoulder a little bit, but with him being up so much taller than me, he hit me up high. I planted, he hit me with all that speed and took me over my knee. I felt that pop instantly, and I started screaming. My friend tore his ACL last year, and I know that terrifying scream. Instantly, I knew what happened.”
Coffell had suffered a torn ACL, MCL, PCL, lateral and medial meniscus, and a fractured knee cap. His football season was clearly over, and the extent of the injury meant that wearing a brace and wrestling through it was also out of the question – especially with a scholarship to wrestle at Lake Erie College already in his future.
Surgery was the only option, even though it meant the two-time all-stater would likely miss his entire senior wrestling season.
“The first person I texted that night (were Lake Erie coaches Jeff Breese and Andrew Bearden),” Coffell said. “I told them about it and said, ‘Is this going to affect my scholarship?’ I got a text back in the morning and they said, ‘We still want you. Don’t worry about it. Get the surgery, and get ready for college.’
“Having him say that really just boosted me up, knowing that I had five more years of wrestling, and that I can be a national champ. I don’t have to be a state champ, I can be a national champ. Knowing I could wrestle in college kept me out of the depression for a while.”
On Oct. 25, Coffell underwent surgery to repair his knee.
‘I’ll be back for team states’
The Monday after surgery, Coffell couldn’t make it through the school day. It was midweek before he managed that feat.
“That’s when I crutched in (to Sirignano’s office) and said, ‘I’ll be back for team states,’” Coffell said. “He said that it would be great if I did, but that he couldn’t put all his faith on that.”
Sirignano explained to Coffell that he would hope for the best, but at the same time he would have to plan for the worst, something Coffell said he understood.
“We thought when he had surgery, that put him at not even four months from team state,” Sirignano said. “The fastest recovery we’ve ever had was James Penfold, who came back in four months the year before. We had no expectation that (Coffell) would make it back, so we kind of aligned our team in that way, which put everyone up a weight.”
While Coffell used Penfold’s quick recovery as motivation, sitting out as his teammates practiced and competed wore on him. He said that he was depressed, and that it even affected his school work for a while. But he remained plugged into the team.
“What I would do is I would go to practice for a while when I was still on crutches and watch all the new kids and try to help them,” Coffell said. “That’s when my friends got on me and said, ‘If you can’t practice, you might as well go lift.’ That’s how I took a lot of my anger out. That’s the only way I could take my anger out.”
To further complicate things, the doctor appointment Coffell had circled on his calendar four weeks prior to the MHSAA Finals had to be rescheduled because of the weather. And when he did make it in, the initial news wasn’t what he wanted to hear.
“I went into the room and sat down and was talking to him, he did some tests on my knee and said, ‘It’s looking great. You’re about halfway there,’” Coffell said. “I said, ‘I don’t have time to be halfway there.’”
After some discussion, the doctor informed Coffell he would be cleared to wrestle with a brace.
“I was about to fall down and cry,” Coffell said. “He said to take it easy for the first week and wear a knee brace, and that if I didn’t take it off, I was cleared to wrestle. I hugged him. I was emotional at the time. I remember walking out of there and closing the door and basically screaming. I was so pumped to have that doctor’s note saying I was cleared for wrestling with a brace. I sent a picture of that note to the whole team.”
Sirignano was shocked.
“I was like, that doesn’t even make sense,” he said. “We had three weeks, so we had to see what kind of shape he could get into. It was rough at first; that first week was rough. He had to kind of change the way he wrestled a big, so we were kind of figuring it out as we went.”
Coffell’s clearance also came in time for the Individual District, but that was an idea that wasn’t discussed for long.
“My trainer at my school, she didn’t think I was ready, and I kind of agreed,” Coffell said. “That wasn’t the goal. The goal was to be there walking out of that tunnel in Kalamazoo. That was the goal. That's what I said I would do. If I get hurt trying to pursue an individual state title, that wasn’t the goal. I wanted our picture on the wall.”
The return
Coffell’s return did come earlier than anticipated, however, as the Goodrich coaching staff decided they could need him to defeat Croswell-Lexington in the Team Regional. Coffell had already planned to weigh in that day, so he could have the two-pound allowance at the Team Finals. During his recovery, he had weighed as much as 315 pounds.
“I was eating my sub after weighing in, drinking Pedialyte, drinking water and (Sirignano) comes up to me and says, ‘You’re wrestling today,’” Coffell said. “He said, ‘If you hold your knee or mess with your knee and it looks like it hurts at all, we’re going to pull you.’”
As Coffell started warming up, the anticipation swelled in the crowd. When he checked in and stepped on the mat, it exploded. When he won by pin in the first period, Goodrich had all of the momentum it needed to make it through.
“It was one of those things where no one really expected him to wrestle,” Sirignano said. “When we put him on the mat, the crowd just went crazy. That was as crazy as I heard our crowd all year.”
Coffell also received a void that night, and with three wins at the Team Finals, he finished the season 5-0. Two of those wins – over Delooff (fifth) and Brian Soto of Niles (seventh) – came against wrestlers who would go on to place at the Individual Finals.
While the caliber of opponent he defeated was impressive, it was how it happened that impressed Sirignano most.
“I think the most amazing thing about it was that on three weeks, he won in double overtime against the Lowell kid,” Sirignano said. “Blake was exhausted, I’m sure he was, but I don’t know if it was just mental toughness or what.”
Coffell said the pride of making his improbable return was overshadowed by the team’s loss in the championship match. But it is something he recognized.
He had to endure some more sadness the following week, as he was forced to watch the Individual Finals when he knew he belonged at that level.
“I think I cried both days when everyone started leaving,” Coffell said. “I went and sat up in one of the top rows away from everyone else. I had my head down, and I was crying. Knowing we could have had three finalists, eight qualifiers and eight placers if I wrestled.
“That’s when I started thinking again, ‘You’ve got college.’”
After going through a whirlwind of emotions and physical exertion over a four-month span, Coffell learned plenty about himself – mostly that he was never alone.
“Ken says that if I didn’t wrestle, we wouldn’t have had that shot, but it wasn’t just me that stepped up. It was the whole lineup,” Coffell said. “It was Sam Fisher going down to 152, Honour (Kline) going down to 189. Ryan Angelo, our 103-pounder, he got so much better. Having all those hard workers behind me, it really boosted me. Knowing all these guys are always going to be family, that just makes me really grateful to have Goodrich wrestling.”
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) Goodrich’s Blake Coffell looks to the fans after his win during the Division 2 Final against Lowell at Wings Event Center. (Middle) Coffell wrestles DeWitt’s Anthony Munoz during a Semifinal. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)