Brothers Storr Finish Perfect Seasons
March 2, 2013
By Bill Khan
Special to Second Half
AUBURN HILLS — Their toughest competition lives under the same roof.
Kanen and Zehlin Storr of Leslie get more of a battle sparring against each other than they typically get in a match against other high school wrestlers.
They combined to achieve a rarity on Saturday as brothers who completed perfect seasons with state championships in the MHSAA Division 3 individual Finals at The Palace.
Kanen finished off an undefeated freshman year at 58-0 by beating Reiley Brown of Whitehall 9-6 in the 103-pound final. Five weight classes later, Zehlin capped his junior year with a 59-0 record by beating Chris Briar of Menominee 7-3 in the 135-pound title match.
"Me and my brother work our butts off," Zehlin said. "We train together and we go all over the state looking for partners. I feel we deserve this."
Zehlin has been on the cusp of winning a championship each of his first two seasons, taking third in Division 4 at 130 pounds as a freshman before losing 5-4 in the Division 3 135-pound final last year. He has a 158-12 record.
He was able to impart some of his experience on the big stage to his younger brother.
"I told him not to let The Palace get to you," Zehlin said. "It's a nerve-racking place. I told him to stay calm, like he always does."
Kanen gives up weight to his older brother, but the brothers say they still get quite a bit of benefit from their sessions against one another.
"He really helped me a lot," Kanen said. "When we don't have other practices to go to, we drill with each other and help make each other better. Yeah, he's a little bigger. I make him work, but he beats me up pretty good."
The Storrs weren't the only brothers to win Division 3 titles, as senior twins Steven and Joe Sika of Whitehall took home championships.
Click for full results, and read below for recaps of each championship match and comments from all the winners.
285
Champion: John Marogen, Dundee, Sr. (44-7)
Decision, 4-1, over Josh Capen, Ithaca, Sr. (43-1)
Marogen came a long way from his first wrestling match in middle school to the final one of his high school career.
"I just remember my first match ever," he said. "I came out and got pinned. Now I'm here today, winning this. My freshman year, I had a losing record, but these coaches just kept on me."
The match was tied 1-1 in the third period before Marogen scored the final three points to win the first of Dundee's three championships on Saturday.
112
Champion: Devin Schroder, Grand Rapids Catholic Central, Fr. (53-0)
Decision, 10-1, over Alex Martinez, Ida, Fr. (53-2)
One match after Kanen Storr completed a perfect freshman season, Schroder did the same by scoring a major decision over Martinez.
Schroder has been preparing himself for this day for years. He can recall being at the MHSAA Finals 10 years earlier when Davison's Brent Metcalf won the second of his four straight titles.
"I kind of expected it," Schroder said. "I've worked in the room. I've wrestled a lot of these kids when I was younger. I didn't want to accept anything but the state championship. Every single time I stepped into practice and put my shoes on, that's what I was thinking of."
119
Champion: Jerry Fenner, Birch Run, Soph. (57-3)
Decision, 3-2 OT, over Matt Santos, Saginaw Swan Valley, Fr. (26-6)
Santos had a grip on Fenner's right leg before the Birch Run sophomore was able to pry himself loose for an escape that ended the match.
"Right when I reached back, I grabbed his fingers, felt them get loose," Fenner said. "I kept pulling up. Finally his hands slipped off and disconnected. I pushed back and slipped away."
It was a much more satisfying end to the season for Fenner, who held a five-point lead late in the third period of a quarterfinal match last year before losing 7-6 to Jackson Lambdin of Allendale.
125
Champion: Zach Cooper, Whitehall, Sr. (55-1)
Decision, 7-0, over Blake Russo, Grand Rapids West Catholic, Jr. (50-4)
Cooper added a third MHSAA title to the 103- and 112-pound crowns he won the last two years at Remus Chippewa Hills.
He transferred his senior year to Whitehall, where his father, Tim, was the undefeated 1980 Class C 132-pound champion.
"My dream was to match my dad and be a one-timer," Cooper said. "I've always wanted to follow in his footsteps. Winning two was, oh my gosh, amazing. Now three — I couldn't be any happier."
130
Champion: Nate Limmex, Grand Rapids Catholic Central, Soph. (22-0)
Decision, 10-2, over Nick Burg, Richmond, Jr. (41-12)
Limmex completed a perfect season by scoring a major decision over Burg, last year's third-place finisher at 119 pounds.
"Wrestling is the biggest part of my life," Limmex said. "This was my main goal and I accomplished it. It's great."
Limmex outscored his four opponents at The Palace, 43-6.
140
Champion: Doug Rojem, Dundee, Jr. (54-1)
Decision, 2-0, over Lake Bennett, Birch Run, Sr. (55-7)
Doug Rojem has been on the podium twice before, but this time he made it as the champion.
He took third last year at 130 pounds after losing 6-4 in overtime in the semifinals to eventual-champion Alberto Lopez of Otsego. He was fifth at 119 in 2011.
"That was a heartbreaker," Rojem said of the overtime loss. "This year, it was completely different. I didn't feel much pressure. I just let myself wrestle and good things happened."
145
Champion: Devin Skatzka, Richmond, Soph. (52-2)
Decision, 8-0, over Jordon Bennett, Lake Odessa Lakewood, Soph. (41-2)
Skatzka is halfway to four MHSAA championships after scoring a major decision over Bennett.
Skatzka was the 135-pound champion as a freshman last year.
"I do look forward to it, but I like to take everything one at a time," Skatzka said. "I don't like to look ahead. All I wanted to do was come out strong. I wanted an early takedown to get in his head."
152
Champion: Luke Pahl, Comstock Park, Sr. (44-3)
Decision, 9-6, over Jared Elliott, Birch Run, Jr. (48-9)
It wasn't an easy path to the championship for Pahl, who won 3-2 in the quarterfinals and 4-3 in the semifinals.
"It was just a lot of mental toughness and being able to be on top of your game all the time," Pahl said.
Pahl was seventh at 140 pounds last year. He attributed his improvement to a grueling week-long wrestling camp at Penn State last summer.
160
Champion: Steven Sika, Whitehall, Sr. (55-3)
Technical Fall, 21-4, over Skyler Ley, Caro, Jr. (51-6)
After squeaking out a 7-6 victory in the semifinals, Sika rolled to his first MHSAA championship via technical fall.
He placed seventh at 152 pounds last year when he expected a much better fate.
"Taking seventh last year wasn't a good feeling," Sika said. "I had it with me all summer, all year. It really motivated me. This was my last chance. Things change when you get here. You see a lot of good wrestlers lose. It happened to me last year. I didn't want to end my high school career on a bad tournament."
171
Champion: Joe Sika, Whitehall, Sr., (53-2)
Decision, 4-1, over Trevor Jaster, Caro, Sr. (39-3)
While Steven Sika was winning the 160-pound title, Joe Sika didn't allow himself to watch. Instead, he stayed under the stands in the warm-up area.
"I'm not allowed to watch his matches, because if he loses, I do," Joe said. "If I don't know, then I'll do my own thing. That's how my losses have come this year."
Joe said that he found out from a child that Steven was on the verge of winning by technical fall.
"We're practice partners," Joe said. "It helps us a lot. We're pretty much the same talent. It's like wrestling yourself, basically."
189
Champion: Teddy Warren, Dundee, Jr. (49-3)
Decision, 6-3, over Colin Beebe, Allendale, Jr. (38-1)
Warren wanted to make progress after losing in the first round at 171 last year to Joe Sika.
"I was just hoping to place at this tournament, but to come out on top is really extraordinary," Warren said.
Warren scored a near-fall with 12 seconds left to take the lead for good.
215
Champion: Gage Hutchison, Buchanan, Sr. (56-0)
Pin, 2:24, over Taylor Gohn, Allendale, Sr. (38-3)
Hutchison repeated as the 215-pound champion in his third trip to the final round. He was the runner-up at 171 pounds in 2011.
"Man, it gets better and better every time," Hutchison said. "I get less nervous and more excited. I'm always confident — confident, but not cocky. There's always a target on your back."
PHOTO: Leslie's Zehlin Stoff (orange stripe) wrestles Menominee's Chris Briar during Saturday's Division 3 finals. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
New Heroes Emerge as Hornets Reign
February 28, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
BATTLE CREEK – Gabe Bennett made himself take a few deep breaths at the end of Saturday morning, then had a long talk with his dad, which helped.
The New Lothrop senior has won a lot during his high school career, and placed at the MHSAA Individual Finals the last two seasons. But Saturday morning, although the Hornets moved on from their Division 4 Semifinal, Bennett lost his match – falling to 0-4 for his career for the final two rounds of team competition.
The afternoon’s championship match against Hudson would provide one last opportunity to help the Hornets with a title on the line.
“If you win all the time, you don’t learn a whole lot. If you lose, that’s where you’re able to go back and learn from what you did and why you lost,” Bennett said. “I’ve taken all those times that I’ve lost, and I’ve learned something new – a new move to counter that, or to make my shots better, or whatever I needed to do to make myself better.
“Coming into this (Final) match, being a senior, this was my last one. (I thought) let’s go out with a bang. I did it.”
Bennett’s one-point decision win at 130 pounds got the Hornets even after an early deficit and contributed to what turned into a 38-24 victory and title repeat for reigning champion New Lothrop (29-1), the top-seeded team in Division 4 entering the weekend.
That favorite status was part of how this weekend’s narrative differed from in 2014, when the Hornets came back over the final three weights to upset the then top-seeded Tigers, who had won a record five straight MHSAA team titles.
Saturday’s win was less dramatic – New Lothrop clinched with two weights to wrestle. But this season as a whole was impressive in other respects – notably in how the Hornets dominated after graduating two individual champions who carried the load a year ago.
Bennett was one of four Hornets who won in Saturday’s championship match after falling in the Final a year ago. Junior Cole Hersch won by pin at 125 pounds to put the Hornets on the scoreboard, and Bennett’s 7-6 decision in the next bout evened the match score at 9-9. Sophomore Erik Birchmeier won by decision at 160 to give the Hornets a nine-point lead with six bouts left, and senior heavyweight David Robertson clinched the championship with a pin.
“Last year it felt like we had to get it. We had that good group of seniors that had a chance the three years before that. … That was like their time,” New Lothrop coach Jeff Campbell said. “Last year felt like more pressure. This year, I don’t want to say I surprised, but I was just really excited and proud of our leadership and the way the guys stepped in and filled in after the amazing leaders we had last year graduated.”
“(Bennett had) lost heart-breakers. … So to have him be the one who really got momentum going for us is pretty special.”
Junior Steven Garza II earned a key major decision at 140 pounds to follow Bennett and give New Lothrop a lead it would’ve give back. Senior Trevor Copes followed Garza with a pin to extend the lead to 19-9 halfway through the match.
Junior Caleb Symons was awarded a void at 215 pounds, and freshman Tommy Malloy followed Robertson’s clincher with a major decision at 103.
Although Hudson (23-6) did fall in the Final for the second straight season, it made its seventh straight championship match despite entering the weekend seeded third. The Tigers edged second-seeded Decatur 39-33 in the morning’s Semifinal and climbed within a point of New Lothrop with four bouts remaining.
Senior Tyler Roberts and junior Kyle Johnson won by pins in the championship match for Hudson. Seniors Roddy Hamdan and Mitch Ely and sophomores Tylor Grames and Zak Lopinski won by decisions.
“We were in a position a couple of spots where maybe we could make a legitimate run at it. But they’re pretty deep up top,” Hudson coach Scott Marry said. “I’m never going to fault my kids for their efforts. They gave everybody on the team, everybody in the community, their coaches, everything they’ve got, and that’s all I can ask.
“They goal is to win it, but sometimes certain things are out of your control. That was a very good team that beat us.”
PHOTO: (Top) New Lothrop’s Cole Hersch (right) works toward a pin in his 130-pound match Saturday afternoon. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)