Lowell Breaks Tie, Regains D2 Title

February 22, 2014

By Greg Chrapek
Special to Second Half

BATTLE CREEK – To say every point was worth its weight in gold would not be much of an overstatement for Lowell Red Arrows during its MHSAA Division 2 Team Final against four-time defending champion St. Johns on Saturday.

In a dual that ended in a 34-34 deadlock, the Red Arrows ended up with the championship trophy as they won the dual on the fifth criteria – or tie-breaker – total six-point wins.

The victory gave Lowell its first MHSAA Finals team title since 2009 and sent veteran coach Dave Dean out with the second title during his tenure.

“It hasn’t hit me yet,” said Dean, who earlier this season accepted the position as head of the Olympic Development Program at Cornell University. “Right now I’m just feeling so happy for my kids and staff. They worked so hard for this. I might think about what it means to me later, but right now I’m so happy for the kids.”

The phrase `total team effort’ can sometimes be overused. But in the case of Lowell it was truly the deciding factor.

The final match was at 215 pounds, and Lowell senior Garrett Stehley won by disqualification. Stehley needed a six-point win to tie the dual and create a situation where the winner came down to criteria.

“I just went out there to wrestle,” Stehley said. “I knew if I just go out there and wrestle and not think about a pin or anything that something would open up.”

Stehley kept the pressure on the entire match, and after a succession of stalling warnings on his opponent, won the six-point disqualification.

For Stehley and the other Lowell seniors, the MHSAA title ended three years of frustration against their rivals from down the road on M-21. St. Johns had ended Lowell’s seasons the past three years, including the last two in MHSAA Finals.

“We’ve been here every year, and it has come down to us and St. Johns,” Stehley said. “We knew what we had to do. Everybody knew what they had to do.” 

What the Red Arrows needed more than anything was to win as many points as possible while giving up as few as possible in matches they lost.

“It was a point here and a point there, and it all added up,” Dean said. “In the end everybody contributed. Every match was big. (Dan) Kruse not getting pinned against Zac Hall was big. Everybody stepped up.” 

Dean’s son, sophomore Max Dean, also did his part. Going up junior Angus Arthur, a returning MHSAA individual champion, Max Dean gave up only three team points as he dropped an 8-6 decision. 

“I just wanted to give (Arthur) the worst six minutes of his life,” Max Dean said. “I knew the pressure was on. This (team title) means everything. This is what we’ve been working for.”

Both teams won seven matches during the dual that went back and forth from beginning to end. The deciding factor was six-point wins (earned by pins or disqualification), and Lowell had four while St. Johns recorded three. 

Lucas Hall (103 pounds), Jordan Hall (135) and Kanon Dean (171) earned pins while Stehley earned the disqualification.

St. Johns received pins from Ian Parker (112), Drew Wixson (152) and Logan Massa (160). 

“I feel sad for the guys, but hats off to Lowell,” St. Johns coach Derek Phillips said. “They wrestled a great match. Our guys have a lot to be proud of. They were the ones who put in all the blood, sweat and tears. At the end of the day we are still second in the state.”

St. Johns had crucial wins of its own. The Redwings grabbed the early momentum when Ty Wildmo won an 8-4 decision against Josh Colegrove in the first match of the dual at 285 pounds. 

The two teams traded pins in the next two matches with Lucas Hall winning at 103 pounds for Lowell and Ian Parker winning at 112 for St. Johns.

At 119 pounds, Zeth Dean, brother of Kanon and Max’s cousin, won a major decision putting Lowell up 10-9. The Red Arrows then methodically added to the lead with decisions from seniors Derek Krajewski (125) and Bailey Jack (130). 

For those seniors, the win over St. Johns was extra sweet.

“I can’t describe this feeling,” Jack said. “It’s surreal. It’s better then winning individual state last year. Winning individual state is nothing compared to this.” 

Jordan Hall’s pin at 135 put Lowell up 22-9, but the lead was short-lived as St. Johns came roaring back. Senior Zac Hall, a three-time individual champion who will be looking to win a fourth straight next weekend, won by technical fall at 140 pounds. Mark Bozzo added a technical fall at 145 pounds to trim the Lowell lead to 22-19.

St. Johns then surged ahead when Drew Wixson (152) and Logan Massa (160) came through with pins giving the Redwings a 31-22 lead. 

With their backs against the wall, Kanon Dean came through with his pin at 171 to bring the Red Arrows to within three points at 31-28.

Arthur followed with his decision against Max Dean at 189, putting St. Johns up by three points. That set the stage for Stehley coming through with the deciding final six points. 

“We were on a mission,” Stehley said. “We want to send the seniors out with a win and we wanted to send Coach Dean out on top.”   

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PHOTOS: (Top) Lowell wrestlers celebrate their first MHSAA team championship since 2009. (Middle) A Lowell wrestler focuses on his St. Johns opponent during Saturday’s match. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)

Baldwin Hopes to Set Example for Aspiring Saginaw Wrestlers with Rapid Rise

By Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com

December 11, 2024

When Michael Baldwin began his wrestling career as a freshman at Saginaw Arthur Hill, coach Angel Rodriguez recognized he had a special talent on his hands almost immediately.

Bay & ThumbAlmost.

“I didn’t think I’d be back in that room after a week, to be honest,” Baldwin said. “My first practice, I threw up and passed out, so I thought that was going to be my last time in a wrestling room. So, I definitely didn’t think I’d make it this far.”

Baldwin bounced back nicely from that first day and has turned himself into one of the best wrestlers in the state as he begins his senior season. The now-Saginaw United wrestler is coming off a third-place finish at the 2024 Individual Finals and is ranked No. 1 at 175 pounds in Division 1 by Michigan Grappler. 

It’s a quick rise, but one that Rodriguez has seen as possible all along, despite that rough start.

“You could see it his freshman year,” Rodriguez said. “You could see him wanting to be better and better and better, trying to get better at every situation. His sophomore year, he went straight into wrestling again. You could see it, it’s just that you don’t know how special it’s going to become.”

Baldwin already has put himself among the best wrestlers to ever come through the city. His third-place finish at 165 pounds is tied for the best at Arthur Hill, with his brother Lionel’s third place in 2023. 

Saginaw High, which joined with Arthur Hill to form Saginaw United this fall, had produced a pair of Finals champions – Quinton Moore in 2010 and Yohanas Moore in 1987. Baldwin knows what it would mean to join them representing United’s first-year program.

“It would be huge, and after that, I would really hope that people in our city and our community would start to look at wrestling a little bit more,” Baldwin said. “To be completely honest, it’s all football and basketball here. Those sports are great, and they’re cool and they’re mainstream, and they definitely make the most money if you become the best in the world at it. A sport like wrestling is just so life-changing, that it’s almost like a gift to share it with other people. I’m forever grateful to my brother for introducing me to the sport. So, if I could win states and really put it out there that there’s somebody from Saginaw who’s the best wrestler in the state of Michigan, I feel like then maybe parents would start to encourage their kids to wrestle.”

Baldwin knows that with wrestling seeing is believing, as it’s what flipped the switch for him. It wasn’t until he watched his brother qualify for the 2022 Finals tournament that he really started to believe he could make some noise in the sport.

Baldwin looks to make his move.“When I think about it, I think, ‘What can I do for other people that my brother’s done for me?’ Which is why I go to all these national tournaments and why I try to perform at such a high level,” Baldwin said. “All it took for me was my brother showing me it was possible to go to states, because I didn’t think stuff like that was possible. I never thought about making it to the state Finals as a football team, or for any other sport, I never thought about being the best in the state, at all. Seeing my brother be one of the best wrestlers in the state, it just showed me how possible that stuff was. At this point, four years into my career, I think anything is possible.”

Winning a Finals title is the immediate goal for Baldwin, and he’s off to a good start. He placed third this past weekend at the Grappler Gold Invitational, with his one loss coming to eventual champion Kole Katschor of Dundee, who is a returning Finals champion. Katschor defeated three-time Finals champion Sebastian Martinez of Riverview Gabriel Richard in the final of a stacked GGI 175-pound bracket.

Over the summer, Baldwin wrestled in several national tournaments, and placed fifth at the Grappler Fall Classic, with his only losses coming against nationally-ranked Max Harmon from Tennessee. He’s also been one match away from placing at the nationals in Fargo, N.D., the most illustrious tournament in the country for high schoolers. 

Colleges have begun to notice, as he’s had talks with several from the NAIA level all the way up to Division I.

That’s despite the fact it’s not well-known he’s only been wrestling since his freshman year. Combined with his being ranked No. 1 academically in his class, that makes him a remarkably attractive prospect.

“I’m sure when I tell them that, they start to see the potential,” Baldwin said. “I have so much to learn and so much to get better at.”

The ultimate goal is to be a world champion, and Baldwin spends his offseason wrestling in freestyle and Greco Roman tournaments to make that a reality. 

It’s a lofty goal, for sure, but after seeing what Baldwin has been able to accomplish during his short time with the sport, it does feel as though anything is possible. 

“It’s surreal,” Rodriguez said. “Because, you see the talent in the city. You see the talent in the school. You see the type of kids that have the ability to be great, or fantastic, or do something that someone’s never done. To have it be one of my athletes, one of my wrestlers and a kid in my room, it’s surreal. It’s crazy.

“At one point in time, when I started coaching, I couldn’t get a kid past Regionals. … Seeing these kids wear an Arthur Hill singlet, or a Saginaw United singlet, being from the city area and doing what he’s doing – I don’t know, it’s unreal. You would never expect it, because we’re not a school known for wrestling. We’re not an area known for wrestling. But to have one of the top-level kids in your area, in your room, and have the ability to coach him, it’s probably one of the coolest things as a coach that I’ve been able to do.”

Paul CostanzoPaul 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) Saginaw Arthur Hill’s Michael Baldwin (left) wrestles Byron Center’s Blake Ottow during a third-place match at last season’s Individual Finals. (Middle) Baldwin looks to make his move. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)