Selfless Seniors Lead Shamrocks to Fourth-Straight Division 1 Title
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
February 28, 2026
KALAMAZOO – Moments after Alex Buskirk stepped off the mat following his 157-pound Individual Regional Final victory, he received his next assignment: cut down to 150 for the Division 1 Team Finals.
“I just thought that if they thought it was what was best for the team, it was an obvious yes,” the Detroit Catholic Central senior said. “If that’s best for the team, I’m doing what’s best for the team.”
Buskirk was one of multiple Shamrock wrestlers to make a personal sacrifice for the betterment of the team, and as it tends to do at Catholic Central, it paid off. The Shamrocks defeated Hartland 43-16 on Saturday in the Division 1 Final at Wings Events Center, claiming their fourth-straight championship.
‘It’s remarkable,” Catholic Central coach Mitch Hancock said. “I think it speaks a lot to their effort and attitude. We had a slogan this year that was pretty important; it was ‘Culture, Faith and Process.’ Keeping those things in line I think is what helps those guys. I think they get overwhelmed, I think sometimes there’s a lot of pressure on them in this world. So, if they can keep their eyes on Jesus Christ, focus on their study around a great culture, we can be successful.”
The title was the 19th overall for Catholic Central, and 12th under Hancock, all won since 2010. It was also the second time the Shamrocks had won four in a row, having also accomplished the feat from 2017 through 2020.
But for Hancock, it never gets old, as each team and title has its own back story, and in this one it was the selflessness of his seniors.
“Hats off to our seniors who were remarkable today,” Hancock said. “Starting right off with Collin Payne, he’s a 215-pounder ranked fifth in the state. We went to him on Tuesday and said, ‘Collin, we need you at (190).’ No questions asked, he got down to (190). Our heavyweight (Paxton Heitsch), committed to Akron for track & field. Wrestled as a freshman and sophomore, took last year off and came to me this year and said, ‘Coach I want to wrestle, I wanna go win a team title.’ Alex Buskirk, a 157-pounder, ranked No. 2 in the state, cuts down to 150. It gave us some flexibility and options, so I’m just really proud of those guys.”
Payne won his match by technical fall, 19-3, to open the dual, and Heitsch won a 7-3 decision at 285. Buskirk won a 19-7 major decision back at his normal weight, 157.
After his match, with the dual and Finals title already sealed, he blew a kiss to the CC crowd.
“Just so much emotions running through,” Buskirk said. “Just all the love and gratitude to the fans, the coaches, my teammates, everyone, God, just everyone that supports us. It means so much, it’s hard to describe. People are going to look back and notice this team and say we won four times. I just hope it gives inspiration to the underclassmen below us to keep going.”
There were plenty of non-seniors to be inspired, as 10 of the 14 wrestlers who took the mat in the Final will be back next season.
The other senior to wrestle for the Shamrocks on Saturday was Wyatt Lees, a three-time Individual Finals champion, who can become an eight-timer (four team and individual titles) next weekend at Ford Field. He won his match with a 16-5 major decision.
“It’s the standard in our program,” Hancock said. “The standard isn’t winning titles, it’s being selfless, it’s making sure that you work extremely hard and treat each other with respect. You’re not afraid to lose, you challenge yourself. I’ve got guys on my team with 15, 20 losses. We challenge ourselves. Just really proud of our seniors, our coaching staff.”
There were no pins in the Final, but the Shamrocks did rack up five technical falls by Payne, Caden Krueger (215), Jamison Gregory (126), Ryan Totten (132) and Grayson Fuchs (150).
Braxten Roche (175) won by major decision, while Gavin Boller (106) won a 6-3 decision for the Shamrocks (20-5).
As DCC is setting the standard in Division 1, Hartland hopes to be the team to eventually meet it and take them down. The Eagles were 26-2 on the season, with the two losses coming to Catholic Central and Division 2 champion Lowell.
“Our goal always is to be the best in the state of Michigan,” Hartland coach Kyle Summerfield said. “We wrestled Lowell, we wrestled (Division 4 champion) Hudson, we wrestled (Division 3 champion) Dundee, and we wrestled CC – we wrestled everybody.”
Returning Division 1 champions Bodie Abbey (138) and Dallas Korponic (165) each won by technical fall for Hartland, while Jace Sensor (113) and Jonah McPherson (120) each won decisions.
“One of the big things we preach, we don’t look at score anymore, we look at how our kids did in each match,” Summerfield said. “Our kids competed in each dual, they focused on scoring points and they did their best to wrestle their style. So, that’s kind of what we try to preach, and I’m very proud of the way the kids wrestled this weekend.”
PHOTOS (Top) DCC’s Alex Buskirk, front, gets ahold of Ashton Jewel’s leg during their match at 157 pounds Saturday. (Middle) Hartland’s Jonah McPherson, right, wraps up opponent Brent Coak at 120 pounds. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)
Gonzalez Locks Down Emeralds' 1st Title
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
March 10, 2017
MANISTIQUE — It was a celebration nearly fit for a king Sunday as the city of Manistique welcomed home its first MHSAA Finals champion.
Senior Tanner Gonzalez became the first Manistique wrestler to capture an individual title by taking a 5-4 double-overtime decision from Dansville’s Johnathon Stid last Saturday night in a Division 4 160-pound Final at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
“It was awesome,” he said. “When I came out (at the high school), the whole community and people from all over the U.P. were there. We also had the cop cars, fire trucks, ambulance and the chief of police were there.”
Gonzalez secured the title on a reversal shortly after Stid took a 4-3 lead with an escape.
He became only the third Upper Peninsula grappler to take an MHSAA wrestling title, four years after Joe Ostman and Galloway Thurston of St. Ignace were crowned champions. Ostman also captured Division 4 titles in 2012 and 2011, and Thurston additonally was a champion in 2012 and runner-up in 2011.
Gonzalez began wrestling when he was in kindergarten, but said it took him a while to really get into it.
“I always liked football, but didn’t like wrestling when I was a little kid,” he added. “I did it because my brothers were doing it, and it kind of rubbed off on me. Things started coming together during my sophomore year, and I started taking practices more seriously. I started working at it harder.”
Gonzalez came up through the ranks in the Manistique youth wrestling program, but transferred to Norway before his freshman year.
After spending two years in Norway, he returned to Manistique for his junior and senior years.
“My dad had a job in Norway which was the reason for the transfer,” he said. “Then, he got a job in Manistique as a truck driver and now owns his own company. While we were in Norway, it was nice to go to Wisconsin and see different competition. It was different once we came back to Manistique because we didn’t have (brothers) Cole or Zavier on our team. I felt a lot of kids looked up to me.”
Tanner qualified for the Individual Regional as a freshman. As a sophomore, he placed seventh in the MHSAA Finals and moved up to sixth in his junior year.
“Losing in the state tournament is a bad feeling because it’s so final,” he said. “I wasn’t putting in the extra time. I worked all of last summer and my brother Matt helped me a lot with my strength program. There was more sense of urgency this year.”
His first tournament last summer took place in early June at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
“The first kid I had to wrestle was ranked 11th in the nation and he pinned me in about 1:30,” said Tanner. “It was kind of an eye-opener because there’s always somebody better out there. I was more calm down there because there was no pressure. I tried moves I normally wouldn’t try in a high school match and got better at finishing my shots and cradling. I finished 4-4, then I got a concussion and was out for about a month. I didn’t wrestle too much the rest of the summer. My wrestling became a little more rusty.”
Gonzalez, who finished 49-0 this season, says he had a close call with Gladstone senior Austin Demeuse at St. Ignace. Demeuse held a five-point lead before Tanner rallied for a 9-5 victory.
“That motivated me to get into better shape,” he added. “I wasn’t moving my feet as well as I did all summer and had to get my weight down. I realized I wasn’t disciplined enough and picked up my intensity level. I raised the bar after losing to him in the U.P. Finals as a junior.”
Tanner says he worked a lot with youth wrestling coach Tim Nixon prior to his transfer to Norway.
“I worked with him a lot when I was in eighth grade and learned the importance of staying disciplined and working hard,” he added.
Tanner is undecided about his college choice, but is looking at Ellsworth Community College, a wrestling power in Iowa Falls, Iowa. He plans to major in criminal justice.
“I visited the college and really liked it,” he said. “It’s a little town and I feel comfortable with the small town setting. Their team took fourth in the (National Junior College Athletic Association) national tournament. They have five All-Americans and one was a national champion.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Manistique's Tanner Gonzalez celebrates his MHSAA Division 4 title Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills. (Middle) Gonzalez (left) locks up with championship match opponent Johnathon Stid of Dansville. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)