This Time, for the 1st Time, it's Hartland
February 27, 2016
By Jeff Chaney
Special for Second Half
MOUNT PLEASANT – Todd Cheney sat on his chair in silence and wiped tears from his face.
With sophomore 119-pounder Carter Hankins losing by just a decision to Davison returning MHSAA individual champion A.J. Facundo, Cheney knew his Hartland wrestling team has locked up the Division 1 championship at the Team Wrestling Finals at Central Michigan University's McGuirk Arena Saturday evening.
The reason for the tears: it finally happened for Cheney and his program. His team won a title after so many near-misses, beating Davison 36-23.
"That runner-up stuff was for the birds," Cheney said. "Just to look at the kids’ faces, and to see everything that they worked for – this was huge."
For 15 straight years, Cheney's Hartland teams qualified for the Finals. During that time, the Eagles made it to the Semifinal round 12 times, and five times were MHSAA runner-up, including after a heart-breaking loss to Brighton in last year's Division 1 championship match.
But this team was focused, and Davison coach Roy Hall knew that coming in.
"Those guys made a commitment, they cut down to scratch weight and they were focused for this," Hall said. "They came here on a mission this weekend."
After falling behind 3-0, Hartland went on a huge run, getting a decision from Reece Hughes at 140 pounds and pins from Sage Castillo at 145, Logan Vish at 152 and Lucas LaForge at 160.
That made the score 21-3, and the Eagles (34-1) never looked back.
"That was huge," Cheney said of the three straight pins. "We pinned them at 152 and 160 last time, and we beat them by one. This was good to get them early."
Cheney said the way some of his wrestlers lost was big as well, like Hankins and freshman Corey Cavanaugh, who lost by technical fall to past MHSAA individual champion Max Johnson but did not give up a pin and six points.
"Gosh, these kids, I hope you get pictures of their faces," an emotional Cheney said. "This means so much."
Hartland and Davison (24-5) earned their way to the Final with two totally different Semifinal wins.
Hartland had little trouble in beating Oxford 42-19, as the Eagles won the first four matches to jump out to a 20-point lead, and never looked back from there.
In all, Hartland won 10 of 14 matches wrestled against Oxford, five of those by bonus points, and three by pin (Castillo at 152 pounds, Vish at 160 and Brandon Krol at heavyweight).
In the other Semifinal, another highly anticipated match in Division 1, Davison beat Detroit Catholic Central 29-25. Kurt Schlak secured the win for the Cardinals with a 16-8 major decision over Tyler Johnson in the final match of the dual at 145 pounds.
That Semifinal was tight throughout, as each team won seven matches. But of Davison's seven wins, four were bonus-point wins (by major decision or pin), while the Shamrocks had only two bonus-point match wins.
The MHSAA Wrestling Finals are presented by the Michigan Army National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Logan Vish celebrates a pin at 152 pounds that put Hartland up 15-3. (Middle) Hartland coach Todd Cheney (right) and assistant Garnet Potter share a moment during the Eagles’ first championship win. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com; bottom photo by Jeff Chaney.)
Hudson Makes Another Memory, Pulling Away for 4th-Straight Finals Victory
By
Jeff Chaney
Special for MHSAA.com
February 22, 2025
KALAMAZOO – As the Hudson wrestling team turned away from the post-dual handshake, the Tigers pivoted and raced back to their fans at Wings Event Center on Saturday with four fingers extended in the air.
On many of those wrestlers' fingers, three rings proudly took their spots, leaving one finger without.
Not anymore, as Hudson won its fourth-straight Division 4 championship with a 45-25 victory over Climax-Scotts/Mason in the title match.
"This is an unreal feeling,” 138-pound senior Julien Kimling said. "I remember my first one with that great group of seniors. We just strived to be like that group. They were great leaders, they started us off with number one, and now we are here with number four. It's an unreal feeling.”
Longtime Hudson coach Scott Marry, who has won more championship rings than fingers during his tenure leading the Tigers, said it's a joy every year to watch his wrestlers enjoy their successes after a long season.
"It is so fun to coach the spirit that these boys have," said Marry, who now has led Hudson to 12 team titles. "They have a farmer's mentality. They get up with the chickens and don't go to bed until the crickets are out. They don't stop."
And like he says year after year, Hudson wrestling is community and generational.
"It's hard to describe the community we have back at Hudson," Marry said. “It's like a little slice of paradise. God takes good care of us."
Whatever they are doing in Hudson as far as wrestling, it's working.
Led by Kimling, the Tigers won nine of the 14 matches against a very game CSM team.
Kimling had one of eight wins that ended with bonus team points for the Tigers. He won by major decision over a talented Seth Toris 10-2.
Bonus points is how Hudson made its way to the Finals, scoring wins over Roscommon in the Quarterfinals 75-3 and Clinton in the Semifinals 47-18.
"There is just a family feeling here, the love for each other," Kimling said. "We talked about this all weekend, the love for each other, the love for the sport and the love for God and everything all above us."
Climax-Scotts/Martin coach Mike Reitz saw the camaraderie of Hudson up close, and was impressed. But he was still happy that his team hung so tough with the premier program in Division 4.
"Who would have thought with two matches left to go we were still in it,” said Reitz, whose team ended its year with a 26-2 record. "We came in ranked number three, battled in the Semifinals, and then the boys showed up and battled in the Finals. I couldn't ask for any more. A couple of matches didn't go our way, but credit to them."
CSM defeated second-seeded St. Louis in the Semifinals 30-25 and Union City in the Quarterfinals 47-28.
With the three wins his team picked up this weekend in Kalamazoo, Marry now sits at 946 over his 37 years leading the Tigers.
But he doesn't want to hear that.
"We don't care about wins,” Marry said. “We care about kids."
Click for this weekend’s Division 4 meet summaries.
PHOTOS (Top) Hudson’s Julian Kimling, left, has his arm raised in victory Saturday afternoon at Wings Event Center. (Middle) CSM’s Logan Gilbert, right, faces off against Hudson’s Chase Clark at 120 pounds. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)