Bullock Creek's Brooks Turns Heartbreak Into Motivation
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
December 9, 2021
It didn’t take long for Peyton Brooks to turn disappointment into motivation.
This past spring, he was undefeated and ranked No. 1 in Division 3 at 152 pounds, but on the day before the Regional tournament, the Bullock Creek star had his junior season cut short because of a positive COVID-19 test on the team.
“I got home, and I was kind of disappointed and I was really down on myself for about a day,” Brooks said. “I saw no point in feeling that way, so I actually started using that feeling to better myself for the next year.”
It’s now next year, and Brooks – a Finals runner-up in 2020 – is focused on putting himself in a position to finish what he started and reach the top of the podium.
“I think I’ve been putting a little bit of extra work in, going harder in practice,” he said. “I want to make sure I do everything right. I know it’s my senior year, and it’s my last chance to win a state championship, so I want to do everything to make sure that happens.”
Brooks seemed to have done all he could a year ago, as well. He was 24-0 through the Individual District, and had helped lead Bullock Creek to its first Team District title in 10 years. In the District Final, he defeated Sanford Meridian’s Nick Dodman 5-2. Dodman went on to win the Individual Finals title at 152.
But as the Lancers were going through their final day of preparation for the Individual Regional, one team member’s rapid test came back positive. The timing meant there was no way for Brooks, or his teammates who were close contacts, to get cleared.
“Last year was a crazy year all the way around,” Bullock Creek coach Alan Curtis said. “There were a lot of other teams that got hit earlier in the season than we did. We just happened to catch it at the end of the season. It’s kind of like everybody was waiting for it to happen, but hoping it didn’t. There’s really not much you can say, and it’s really nobody’s fault. It is what it is. We kind of looked at every option we had to get him down there, but when it came down to it, our hands were tied.”
While Brooks was disappointed in how things ended, he remained positive about the season.
“Personally, I was just happy to have a season,” he said. “We started two or three months late – we started in February when the postseason would normally be – so I tried not to take any meet or anything for granted. I felt like I had a chance of not being able to compete at all.”
Not taking things for granted is something Brooks has carried into this winter. His work ethic has always been exemplary, Curtis said, but there is an added focus as Brooks prepares for his final wrestling season.
“Right from the first practice of the season, he stays after every practice – he gets guys to stay after and work with him,” Curtis said. “He goes through our whole practice, then he stays after another half hour with whoever he can get.”
Wrestling isn’t the only thing Brooks excels at, as he also was a standout running back and linebacker for the Bullock Creek football team. He said he’s keeping his options open in terms of playing at the next level, as he hasn’t decided which sport he will continue. Playing both, though, has been a benefit.
“I think they both helped me in both sports,” said Brooks, who also is a sprinter on the track team. “I think wrestling has helped me more with football. It’s made me a better athlete with my work ethic, athleticism, balance, speed and footwork. It’s really made me a better player.”
With his focus on football through the fall, there is the challenge of getting down to weight for Brooks. He plays at about 180 pounds on the gridiron but plans to wrestle at 160 for the majority of this season. A drop to 152 also isn’t out of the question.
“He’s one that I never have to worry about his weight,” Curtis said. “He knows what he needs to do, and he doesn’t starve himself. He does it the right way. He works out on his own at home. His work ethic is phenomenal.”
No matter the weight Brooks comes in at, he figures to be among the favorites to win an individual title. If he’s able to pull it off, he admitted the combination of it being his senior year and the events of a year ago would make it that much more special.
His coach agreed.
“I think it would be amazing,” Curtis said. “He doesn’t normally show a lot of emotion, but I think that would get to him, because he’s worked so hard.
“He should have had it last year. I don’t know if he feels like he was robbed, but he knows he should have won it last year. That’s going to give that extra drive this year to get it done.”
Paul 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) Midland Bullock Creek’s Peyton Brooks, far right, raises his hand signifying a win last winter. (Middle) Brooks attempts to bring down an opponent during the 2020 Individual Finals. (Photos provided by the Bullock Creek wrestling program.)
2-Time Champion Langewicz Paving Historic Path Amid Growing Spotlight
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
December 20, 2023
Sky Langewicz knows she’s part of something special.
The Algonac junior started her high school career the same year the MHSAA Girls Wrestling Finals debuted. And as she’s brought home a pair of Finals titles to cap her first two years, she’s also watched the sport grow rapidly around her.
“There were other girls state tournaments, so I always knew I could do that,” Langewicz said. “But I’m really thankful my freshman year was the first year. … It’s kind of cool to be part of it all happening. It happened so fast. I went from being one of the only girls in youth wrestling, now there are women’s high school teams around me. It’s cool to see all these girls joining. It’s really cool to be part of it.”
Langewicz is not just part of it – she’s one of the best, not only in the state, but the nation in a sport that’s booming. She’s ranked No. 11 in the nation at 110 pounds by FloWrestling and has built up an impressive resume over her first two seasons.
Her two Finals titles – at 105 and 110 pounds – are joined by a pair of MUSAW Freestyle state championships. During her sophomore year, she won the Michigan Grappler Fall Classic and placed fourth in the USAW Central Regional Championships. She also placed second in the Macomb County Invitational and third in the Blue Water Area Conference championships, both boys tournaments.
She’s never lost a girls high school match, and this season, she’s off to a 6-3 start at 113 pounds, with all her matches coming against boys. Two of her three losses came to unbeaten wrestlers.
Most of her matches are still wrestled against boys, and she’s OK with that. She was 42-5 a year ago against the boys – 14-0 against girls – and her freshman year she was torn on whether to enter the boys or the girls MHSAA Tournament before ultimately deciding to become part of history.
“That was the big question,” said Langewicz, who was 19-0 against girls as a freshman. “That wasn’t completely my decision, but I thought it was better to win it in the girls than to be a boys state placer.”
Both of Langewicz’s Finals titles finished with wins against Gaylord’s Sunni LaFond. Langewicz won 5-3 in the 2023 Finals, and 3-0 in 2022.
She isn’t sure what weight class she will eventually wind up at for this year’s tournament, but seeing LaFond, who is also a junior, is certainly a real possibility.
“I think it’s pretty cool to have that rivalry,” Langewicz said. “It’s a pretty big part of wrestling, to have a rivalry like that.”
A girls rivalry is fairly new for Langewicz, as she’s been competing against the boys her entire life. She played quarterback on a boys football team in third grade, and in her first youth wrestling season, mostly against boys, she went 15-3.
“It was pretty quick,” Algonac coach Brian Ranger said of when he knew Langewicz could be special. “I knew if I could just point her in the right direction, and do what I can here locally, she had the ability. It was just a matter of making it happen.”
While Clawson’s Katlyn Pizzo, a two-time MHSAA Finals qualifier and 2017 placer, is the one girl Langewicz remembers watching compete when she was younger, Langewicz’s older brothers really sparked her interest in the sport.
“I always went to their tournaments and always thought it was fun,” she said. “I was already involved in other sports, football was one of those, and those boys were my friends, so I wanted to be part of it.”
Now, however, Langewicz is giving girls in Algonac and around the state someone to look up to as their interest in the sport grows. Among them is Ranger’s daughter, Emma, a third grader in Algonac’s youth program.
That’s not lost on Langewicz.
“I feel like I have a lot of responsibility with that,” she said. “Knowing that I have a lot of girls, even in Algonac, there are so many that look up to me, and so many that tell me they started wrestling because they saw me.”
As Langewicz handles the duties of being a role model, she’s also chasing her own dreams on the mat and juggling decisions about her future.
As a junior, what happens after high school is still an open question. But it’s not just where Langewicz will go, but if she will wrestle at all.
She’s undecided on that, currently, as even though the number of women’s collegiate wrestling programs is growing, it’s still relatively small. That means finding the right athletic and academic fit is tougher, and Langewicz – who has spoken with multiple colleges – currently wants to become a chiropractor.
Whether or not she chooses to wrestle in college, she has a chance to become part of an exclusive club.
Thanks to great timing – and great wrestling – Langewicz has a chance to become one of the first four-time girls MHSAA Individual Finals champions. Both her and Fowlerville’s Margaret Buurma are on pace through two years.
“That’s the vision,” Ranger said. “She’s good enough, she just has to believe in herself. Now that she’s done it a couple times, she knows that she’s good enough. There are so many factors – being healthy, having great training partners in the room. She does a lot in spring and summer. We’re excited for her to have a chance at No. 3 this year, then hopefully there’s a chance to win four.”
Paul 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) Algonac’s Sky Langewicz, left, wrestles Gaylord’s Sunni LaFond during last season’s Individual Finals at Ford Field. (Middle) Langewicz’s arm is raised in victory. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)