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Individual Finals: From 16 to No. 1

March 3, 2012

AUBURN HILLS – A total of 56 individual wrestling champions were crowned Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills.

One was St. Johns senior Taylor Massa – and he earned his own story after finishing his career without a loss.

But there were plenty of others to tell. Following is one for each of the 13 other weight classes, starting with 189 pounds – the opening weight at this season’s Individual Finals – plus a mention of all 56 champions. Click for full results.

189

Among the many Jordan Thomas thanked after winning his third MHSAA title was the one opponent who beat him at the Palace during the last four seasons.

Thomas and St. Johns’ Massa led the opening march Saturday, around the mats where Massa dealt Thomas that loss, in the 145-pound Division 2 Final when both were freshmen.

From that day on, Thomas lost only once more. And he capped his championship career by knocking off the reigning Division 2 champ at his weight. In one of the first matches of the day – and arguably the best – Thomas edged Lowell senior Gabe Dean 5-1.

“This being my last match ever, there’s no redemption after this, so I knew I had to get this win,” said Thomas, who will wrestle next season at the University of Michigan. 

He finished 45-0 this season and 217-3 for his career despite taking off a month this season after tearing a knee ligament. That continued to slow him Saturday, but he had been building for a strong finish since the day he fell to Massa 5-2 – a match he said paid off through the rest of his Greenville career.

“At high school it’s not about the win and loss, it’s about getting better,” Thomas said. “And I feel like that improved me as a person and a wrestler so much. I don’t regret it a bit.”

Dean, who also quarterbacked Lowell's Division 2 runner-up football team, finished 30-4.

  • Division 1: Kevin Beazley did one better on his 2011 1-0 championship loss at 171 by downing Temperance Bedford junior Brandon Sunday 6-0. The Detroit Catholic Central senior finished 45-1.
  • Division 3: In a battle of one-loss juniors, Morley Stanwood’s Steven Malloy handed a second to Oscoda’s Donavon Fouchey, 7-6, to finish 46-1.
  • Division 4: New Lothrop senior Austin Severn pinned Dansville senior Lantz Miller in 1:49 to win a second straight championship and finish 51-2.



215

Prescott Line’s wrestling career came to an end Saturday. This fall, he’ll join the Southern Methodist University football team.

But the Oxford senior finished in the best possible way – with his second straight MHSAA individual championship. Line defeated Wayne Memorial’s Dimitrus Renfroe 5-1 in the Division 1 Final after also winning at that weight in 2011.

“Wrestling made me a better person. … (It develops) mental toughness, and it works on your one-on-one competition a lot,” Line said. “It’s a great sport.”

Line finished 49-0 this season and 184-23 over his four-year high school career.

  • Division 2: Holly senior Shawn Scott finished a 52-0 season with a 3-1 win over St. Johns junior Payne Hayden.
  • Division 3: Buchanan junior Gage Hutchison finished a 57-0 season by pinning Comstock Park senior Tyler Gruszka in 1:03.
  • Division 4: St. Ignace junior Joe Ostman edged Springport senior Joe Ericson 4-3 to win the title and move to 44-0 this season. Ericson had just one loss entering the Final.



285

Fowlerville junior Adam Coon showed the result of moving up to 285 pounds this season after winning two MHSAA titles at 215. His Division 2 championship match ended with his tongue and lips spotted with blood.

But the result that mattered most remained the same – Coon won his third championship, 7-4 over Mason senior Adam Robinson, and will go into next season hoping to become the 17th wrestler in MHSAA history to win four Finals titles.

Coon faced Robinson four times this season on the way to finishing 50-0.

“Of course, at the state finals it’s going to be a little aggressive. So maybe there were head butts in there for both sides,” Coon said. “But you know what? That’s what wrestling is. It’s aggressive. … You’ve got to be able to take those.”

  • Division 1: Rochester Hills Stoney Creek senior Nick Gajdzik became his school’s first champion and capped a 46-0 season with a 2-1 win over Temperance Bedford senior Logan Rimmer – who had only one loss heading into the Final.
  • Division 3: Lakewood senior Garrett Hyatt finished his high school career by pinning Dundee junior Josh Marogen in the title match in 1:48. Hyatt was 46-3 this winter.
  • Division 4: Hesperia senior Brett Martin capped a 53-0 season by outlasting Whittemore-Prescott freshman Ryan Prescott in a 4-3 decision. 



103

Carson City-Crystal junior Kenneth Dittenber is getting used to finishing his season with a win. He’s ended the last two with an MHSAA Division 4 title at 103 pounds.

But Saturday’s clincher had a different spin. In 2011, Dittenber won his Final 5-4. This time, he pinned Shelby junior Austin Felt 56 seconds into the second period. It was a much better reward for a season filled with higher expectations.

“I just practiced a lot harder. I knew I was going to have a target on my back as a state champ last year,” Dittenber said. “I just wanted to wrestle everybody like I should."

  • Division 1: Davison freshman Lincoln Olson capped a 46-0 season with a 16-5 major decision over Grand Haven freshman Camden Bertucci.
  • Division 2: Goodrich senior Isaac Jewell closed his career with an 8-1 championship win over Hamilton junior Collin Welcher. Jewell finished 45-5 this winter.
  • Division 3: Ida freshman Dakota Ball improved to 46-4 with a 2-0 win over Caro junior Shane Herrman.



112

Temperance Bedford junior Mitch Rogaliner had one opponent on his most wanted list this weekend. And he got his wish, drawing Holt’s Shayne Wireman in a Division 1 Semifinal.

Wireman had beaten Rogaliner 2-1 in last season’s 103-pound Final. But Rogaliner got him back Friday with a third-period pin before earning a 9-5 decision over Canton sophomore Ben Griffin in Saturday’s Final.

Rogaliner said he knew if he could beat Wireman, the championship should be his as well – and he used lessons learned last season to finish the run.

“You can’t let the nerves get to you. You can’t just go out there scared,” Rogaliner said. “You just have to lay it all out on the mat, and hope that your all can win it for you.”

Rogaliner finished 46-2 this winter.

  • Division 2: St. Johns sophomore Zac Hall won his second MHSAA title, this time with an 8-1 win over Lapeer West junior Dean Somers. Hall finished 43-1 this season.
  • Division 3: Remus Chippewa Hills junior Zack Cooper also won his second MHSAA title, improving to 60-2 this season with a 7-2 win over Allendale junior Luke Jensen.
  • Division 4: Decatur senior Luke Bell improved to 54-10 this season and won the 200th match of his career in pinning Erie Mason freshman Logan Griffin in 2:38.



119

Grand Rapids Forest Hills Eastern senior Tim Lambert had picked up a reputation as the best wrestler in Michigan never to win an MHSAA title.

He doesn’t have to hear that one anymore.

Lambert – who crushed the 200-career win milestone earlier this season – finished with one more, getting a takedown just before the buzzer to beat St. Johns freshman Logan Massa 5-3 in overtime. The Division 2 championship is the first for a Forest Hills Eastern wrestler, and capped a 58-0 finish for Lambert this season.

“There was definitely a lot of pressure. But I just came out to win, whether it was by two points or 10,” he said. “Logan’s a very tough wrestler. He’s going to have a great career. I knew it was going to be a grind until the end, no matter what. And that’s what it was.”

  • Division 1: Davison sophomore Justin Oliver won his second MHSAA title and finished 44-2 this season with a 3-1 win over Hartland sophomore Austin Eicher.
  • Division 3: Richmond senior Stephen Ireland edged Lake Fenton senior Todd Melick 10-7 to finish 24-3 this winter.
  • Division 4: After losing in a championship match last season, Hudson sophomore Cole Weaver earned his first MHSAA title with a 6-0 win over Hesperia sophomore Zack Yates. Weaver was 51-0 this season.



125

Comstock Park senior Nick Ross admitted Saturday he came into this season overconfident after winning last season’s Division 3 championship at 119 pounds.

But that overconfidence dissolved with two losses and a fourth-place finish in Comstock Park’s first tournament – and was replaced by more intense practice and extra workouts.

Ross never lost again. He capped a 49-2 season Saturday with an 8-4 win over Ida senior Dan Sorter.

“It was a great wake up call. I wanted to real quick,” Ross said of rebounding from the early losses.

“The second (MHSAA title) is definitely tougher. You’ve got a big old ‘X’ on your head. Everyone is after you.”

  • Division 1: After losing by a point in last season’s Final, Howell senior Alex Calandrino beat Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central senior Mitch Hrnyak 8-4 and finished the season 42-1.
  • Division 2: St. Johns junior Jacob Schmitt, a runner-up last season, beat Holly junior Mason Cleaver 11-1 to finish 46-2.
  • Division 4: Watervliet sophomore Brock Thumm outlasted Marlette senior Matt Mata, handing Mata his first loss with a 10-9 decision that improved Thumm to 47-5.



130

Detroit Catholic Central junior Ken Bade knew what was necessary to win big at this season’s Finals.

Last season he earned the title at 125 in part by surviving two one-point decisions. But this time, he advanced with two technical falls and a pin before downing Oxford sophomore Mike Willits 6-1 in the Final.

“I said it earlier in the tournament: It’s all confidence and not cockiness. And you just need to work as hard as you possibly can,” said Bade, who finished 50-1. “This week was the hardest I’ve ever worked in my life.

“There was only one goal in mind and that was a state championship, and I got it done.”

  • Division 2: Holly junior Anthony Gonzales scored at least 10 points for the third straight match, this time outlasting Allegan sophomore Kyle Simaz in a 10-9 decision. Gonzales finished 48-3.
  • Division 3: Otsego senior Alberto Lopez won his second straight nail-biter, following an overtime Semifinal victory with a 3-2 title-clincher over Fremont senior Theron Blake. Lopez finished 51-2.
  • Division 4: New Lothrop junior Jacob Perrin moved to 52-3 with a 5-3 win over Niles Brandywine junior Chanc Ravish.



135

Traverse City St. Francis senior Isaiah Schaub and White Pigeon senior John Tullos both entered Saturday’s Division 4 Final with one loss apiece.

But Schaub also already had one MHSAA championship. He added a second with an 11-4 decision capped by a final three points just before the third-round buzzer.

“I kept on attacking,” Schaub said. “It’s not like I haven’t. I just kept on attacking like Coach told me to.”

Schaub finished 51-1. He also won at 130 pounds in 2011.

  • Division 1: Canton sophomore Alec Pantaleo defeated Detroit Catholic Central sophomore Malik Amine 9-6 to finish the season 53-3.
  • Division 2: St. Johns junior Brant Schafer, the runner-up at 125 last season, handed Muskegon Reeths-Puffer senior Cody Stenberg his first loss, 10-8 in overtime. Schafer finished 37-1.
  • Division 3: Richmond freshman Devin Skatzka opened his high school Finals career by edging Leslie sophomore Zehlin Storr 5-4 to finish 44-8.



140

St. Johns junior Ben Whitford already had won two Illinois individual championships, and helped St. Johns to an MHSAA team title last weekend.

He finished his first season back in Michigan by beating the same opponent he faced in the team Final – Lowell senior and reigning individual champion Gabe Morse.

Whitford handed Morse just his second loss of this season, 11-4. A week ago, Whitford beat Morse 11-9.

“In the first match, I kept getting out of position. That’s how he was able to score,” Whitford said. “This time, (I stayed) in a good position, had to stay on his head, get him tired, keep working him.”

Whitford finished 37-0. Morse finished 40-2.

  • Division 1: Portage Central senior Angelo Latora capped his career with a 3-1 win over Jenison senior Trent Samuels. Latora finished the season 53-1.
  • Division 3: Richmond senior Garett Edwards handed Fremont junior Johnny Wiggers his first loss, 6-5 in overtime. Edwards finished 48-6.
  • Division 4: New Lothrop junior Clayton Simons added his second-straight MHSAA title and moved to 33-5 for the season with a 7-2 win over Reading senior Nick Rubley.



145

Midland Bullock Creek senior Scott Flowers admitted it would’ve been nice to face a different opponent in Saturday’s Final than Hemlock senior Justin Tomasek.

They both came from the Tri-Valley Conference Central, and the championship match was their fourth against each other this season. Flowers won this time 4-0 to even their record against each other to 2-2.

“If I don’t know (what an opponent) is going to do, I can wrestle my own style instead of changing my style to fit his style,” Flowers said. “(But) it also helped too.”

Flowers, who posted a third place in 2011, finished 51-7. Tomasek finished 45-4.

  • Division 1: Flint Carman-Ainsworth senior Jake Weissend closed out a 58-0 season with a 1-0 decision over Portage Central sophomore Dominic Latora.
  • Division 2: Allegan senior Taylor Simaz capped his career and a 57-1 season with his second MHSAA title. He beat Grand Rapids Forest Hills Northern senior Gabe Stepanovich 15-5 after also claiming the 125-pound championship in 2010.
  • Division 4: Addison junior Jared Bruner edged Springport freshman Jacob Cooper 4-2 to finish 36-5.



152

Saturday’s Division 1 152-pound Final was one of the most anticipated of the entire Individual Wrestling Finals. And not because Brighton junior Aaron Calderon was on the card.

Detroit Catholic Central senior Alec Mooradian was seeking to become only the 16th wrestler in MHSAA history to win four individual championships. Instead, Calderon won his first – and became part of history for what he didn’t allow to happen.

Mooradian scored first before Calderon hung on and spun out of a late potential takedown to win 3-2.

“I wasn’t too worried because he had everything to lose and I had everything to gain. That kinda helped take all the pressure off,” Calderon said. “I just thought, he was just another kid my age. I can be just as strong. I can be just as fast. I can be just as good.”

Calderon finished this season 56-2. Mooradian ended 44-3.

  • Division 2: Lowell senior Andrew Morse won his second MHSAA championship and closed out a 34-0 season with a 4-2 win over St. Johns senior Travis Curley.
  • Division 3: Lakeview senior Jordan Betham improved to 56-2 this season with a 14-6 win over Dundee junior Todd Olson.
  • Division 4: Hudson senior Joel Varney finished his high school career with his second straight MHSAA title thanks to a pin in 2:20 of Sand Creek junior Nick Garza. Varney finished 47-2.



160

The only disappointment on Hudson senior Devan Marry’s MHSAA championship resume came last season, when he lost in the 160-pound Final after previously winning titles at 152 and 135.

On Saturday, he made sure to pick that one up too.

Marry also has been a big part of four MHSAA team championships. So make that seven total for the future Eastern Michigan wrestler, who claimed his last with a 10-4 decision over Sand Creek senior Sam Mehan – who beat Marry 7-5 in last season’s 160 Final.

“It’s that much more special to go out on a last hurrah,” Marry said. “I’m just happy to have such good classmates and all the classes below me coming together. Not only did it show last weekend, but it showed here how hard we work and how it finally pays off at the end.”

Marry finished 47-2. Mehan finished 52-2.

  • Division 1: Davison sophomore Jordan Cooks defeated Grand Blanc senior Christian O’Guinn to finish the winter 34-2.
  • Division 2: St. Johns senior Jordan Wohlfert closed his career with a second straight MHSAA title, this time thanks to a 16-5 win over Allegan senior Andrew Kelley. Wohlfert finished 47-1.
  • Division 3: Napoleon senior Lelund Weatherspoon capped his senior season with his second straight MHSAA title, defeating Grant senior Ryan Connell to improve to 49-1. Weatherspoon won 152 in Division 4 last season.



171

Click for a separate piece on St. Johns’ Taylor Massa and his perfect high school career.

  • Division 1: Detroit Catholic Central sophomore Drew Garcia outlasted Utica Eisenhower junior Charlie Myers in a 5-2 decision that pushed Garcia’s final record to 43-3.
  • Division 3: Comstock Park senior Dillon Francisco improved to 52-1 in handing a major decision to Houghton Lake junior Dalton Bailey, 11-0.
  • Division 4: St. Ignace junior Galloway Thurston won an 8-2 decision over Shelby senior Mason Courtright to finish this season 52-2.

PHOTO of Greenville's Jordan Thomas. See more photos from the Finals and all season at High School Sports Scene.

In Her Fight, Inman Seeks to Provide Hope

January 23, 2019

By Wes Morgan
Special for Second Half

The silver lining from tragedy can take a while to come into focus.

Searra Inman might not have been searching for it in the days that followed a motorcycle accident that would forever change her life.

Inman wasn’t supposed to survive the July 9 crash that left her paralyzed from the waist down. Surgeons in Indianapolis even used her as a case study due to the fact that almost no one with such severe spinal cord injuries has reached the operating table alive.

So, Inman kept living. Her goals were unchanged. And in the process of that pursuit, she slowly began to realize the lives she was touching along the way. Spurred on by an outpouring of support from her family, church, and classmates and staff at Niles Brandywine High School, Inman faced her new reality head-on. 

The first item on the senior’s to-do list was to make good on a promise to herself to earn a four-year varsity wrestling plaque. The second was to reach 100 career victories.

“I love to do these things, and I don’t want to sit in bed the rest of my life and feel discouraged about the situation,” Inman said. “Instead, I pushed forward. Wrestling has helped with it. There were times in wrestling I wanted to quit and give up. Instead, I pushed through it and worked hard and gained a lot of mental strength. It helped me get through my situation.”

Veteran Bobcats wrestling coach Rex Pomranka received the news from Inman directly when visiting her in the hospital. He began talking to local officials about whether or not Inman would be allowed to take wins for the team if opponents failed to produce a wrestler at 103 pounds.

Both the officials and Inman’s doctors gave her the green light.

“She said she had a plan as to how she was going to get out on the mat and that she’d show me at our first meet, which she did,” Pomranka said.

In the season opener Dec. 5 at Bronson, Inman locked the wheels on her wheelchair, climbed down to the floor and crawled out to the circle. Very few people in attendance had any idea what was happening, including referee Kevin Raber.

“I wasn’t trying to show pity or anything, but I was thinking about other kids possibly snickering or saying something that was inappropriate,” Raber recalled. “I took a couple steps to her so she didn’t have to crawl all the way out to the middle. I raised her arm up and congratulated her.

“When it was all done, I didn’t want anything negative to happen, so I said, ‘Do you mind if I pick you up?’ She said, ‘It’s up to you.’ I said, ‘Well, I’d like to.’ So, I just picked her up. Everybody started clapping and it was a very moving moment. I didn’t realize until I was in the middle of it what was going on. Man, I had to swallow my tears in that moment. It was definitely profound and moving for me.”

Inman didn’t know what to expect as she boldly slid out of her wheelchair.

“I was nervous and so embarrassed,” she said. “I told my assistant coach that I didn’t know if I was ready to go out there. I didn’t know how it was going to look. I built up some courage, crawled out and, with everybody clapping, it made me feel like I was still out there wrestling even if there wasn’t an opponent.”

She didn’t mind the lift from Raber either.

“When he asked to carry me, I was happy,” she said. “I didn’t want to crawl back to my chair. There was somebody who wanted to help and saw how hard I was willing to push myself.”

Raber, unaware of Inman’s accident and the community’s fundraising efforts, felt compelled to donate his check from that night, as well as additional money, to Inman’s family — information he didn’t voluntarily divulge. He even made a trip to Brandywine a week later to talk to her about that emotional night.

“I was honored to be in that moment with her,” he said. “I officiate because I love the sport of wrestling. If it could help her have a little brighter Christmas, to be able to help her parents or anything, she could use it with a better purpose than I ever could have.”

Like Raber, Pomranka hardly kept it together that evening.

“I was in tears,” said Pomranka, whose brother was paralyzed in an automobile accident nearly 30 years ago. “This was a goal she was shooting for. I was trying to hide the tears; I’m was glad she was able to get back on the mat and do something she enjoyed. I’m just happy she is here to finish out her senior year.”

It was Inman’s 76th career victory. She’s now at 95 with the season winding down.

“It’s either going to happen at our last dual meet or at Districts if everything goes right,” Pomranka said of Inman reaching 100 wins. “A lot of the coaches have been really nice to bump their lineup around so she can get the forfeit. I appreciate the coaches doing that. They want to see her get to 100.”

Inman’s father, Chris, thought back to the day in the hospital when he had to deliver news no parent should have to deliver.

“For a day and a half, I was upset because I held back,” he explained. “We wanted to get all the information from the doctors. But she was starting to figure it out.

“She said, ‘Dad, tell me what’s going on?’ I walked up with tears in my eyes and she knew. ‘I’m paralyzed, aren’t I?’ She looked away with a tear in her eye and she just collected her thoughts. It was that mentality that I’ve seen from her with any challenge she has ever faced. She said she was going to walk again. From that moment on, that has been her drive. She’ll never walk without the assistance of something, but her goal is to get back upright.”

More goals include driving a car and, even if reluctantly, getting back to everyday tasks a lot less exciting than wrestling.

“My mom (Pepper) is always pushing me to do things I may not like doing, even though I’m in a wheelchair,” Inman said. “She tells me, ‘Would you have done it if you weren’t in a wheelchair?’ So, I go and do it.”

She still enjoys working on cars and motorcycles, changing the brakes on her parents’ vehicles and getting her hands greasy. But Inman’s passion is helping animals, so she plans to attend Lake Michigan College for two years before working toward a degree in veterinary medicine at Michigan State University.

Helping her get there have been a host of teachers, friends and even strangers. Teachers film their classes and send the video to Inman while she’s doing physical therapy at Mary Free Bed in Grand Rapids two days a week. Her therapists, she said, are aiding Inman in reaching a goal: She plans to surprise everyone on graduation day.

The funds raised by the community have kept the Inman’s out of what would have been crushing debt from medical bills. They’ve read and saved every well-wishing card they’ve received.

Admittedly private, Chris – who teaches at Brandywine – described how the community has rallied behind his family as a humbling experience.

“Early on they had her on a video conference live at the school,” he said. “It was a big fundraiser. They panned around and Brandywine’s cafeteria and hallway for hours was crowded. (Searra) made the comment, ‘Good grief, with this much support I can’t fail.’

“That was huge for her. I’d go into Walmart or a gas station or whatever, and people would just come up and give me a hug and ask about Searra. We started to see the impact, and people started sharing their stories and how they gained strength through Searra’s story. She didn’t even realize the impact she was having on everybody. Now she realizes her decision to stay positive and to smile has really impacted people.”

“The world sometimes is a rough, hard place,” Chris said. “You hear about all the bad stuff. You initially think you’ll never get through this. But people come out in support and share their stories, and then you realize the place where you live is pretty amazing.”

So is watching Inman smile as her hand is raised in victory.

“I have known a lot of people who have given up on something they really enjoyed because something bad happened,” she said. “I’m hoping with this situation I can bring out the best in it and give other people who don’t think they have a chance at something a reason to go out there and strive for it.” 

Wes Morgan has reported for the Kalamazoo Gazette, ESPN and ESPNChicago.com, 247Sports and Blue & Gold Illustrated over the last 12 years and is the publisher of JoeInsider.com. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) Niles Brandywine wrestler Searra Inman is assisted off the mat by official Kevin Raber during a match this season. (Middle) Official John Bishop raises Inman's arm in victory during a match at Three Rivers. (Below) Brandywine coach Rex Pomranka assists Inman. (Top photo by Troy Tennyson/Coldwater Daily Reporter. Middle and below photos courtesy of JoeInsider.com.)