Comar Sets Goals for Self, Clinton
December 7, 2017
By Doug Donnelly
Special for Second Half
CLINTON – Clinton High School has had a remarkable run of Division I college athletes over the past six years. In fact, eight have come through the halls of the northern Lenawee County school that boasts an enrollment of only 310 high school students total.
Noah Comar could become the next from the Class C school. But, he’s not worried about that just yet.
That’s because Comar, Clinton’s returning MHSAA Finals champion wrestler, has a couple more chances to bring home team and individual titles at the high school level.
“That’s what my focus is now,” Comar said. “I’d definitely like to wrestle in college. I’ve thought about it.
“It’s great for what all those guys have done. It’s inspiring, but I don’t think about that. I’m just focused on this season.”
Comar, 17, went 53-0 as a sophomore in winning the 112-pound weight division in Division 4 at The Palace of Auburn Hills. He enters the 2017-18 campaign with a career record of 108-4.
“I don’t focus on records,” he said. “I just focus on beating whoever steps on to the mat against me.”
Clinton has turned itself into a wrestling powerhouse over the past several years. Despite being in the same county as perennial Division 4 championship contender Hudson, the Redskins have made great strides with their program under head coach Jeff Rolland, who said this year’s goal isn’t just to get into the Quarterfinals on Feb. 23, but to “be wrestling on Saturday.”
If that happens, Comar will be a big reason why – in more ways than one.
“He is really good, and he’s still improving,” Rolland said. “One thing we asked more from him this year is to be a leader. He’s bringing kids with him as he improves, and that’s important.”
Comar agreed that throughout the preseason, he became more vocal despite his tendency to be quiet. When he became the fastest Clinton wrestler to 100 career wins last year, he was typically low-key about the honor, although he did pose for a photo with his parents and a large card that the Clinton staff made up with “100” on it.
“I’m speaking up more in practice,” he said. “It’s kind of new to me to do that, but I like it. I find that people are looking up to me more now.”
As a freshman, Comar finished second in Division 4 at 112 pounds, losing to Hudson’s Jordan Hamdan in the Finals by a 5-1 score. It was Hamdan’s third win over Comar that season. The two did not meet in 2017.
“He wrestled at 130, plus we weren’t at the same tournaments,” Comar said.
In 2017, Comar beat Hamden’s teammate, Tucker Sholl, to claim the title. The championship was a thriller as both scored an escape during regulation but Comar was able to get a takedown and win the match in overtime, 3-1. He wrestled at 112 last season as well but expects to spend most of this season at 125 before dropping down to 119 for the MHSAA tournament. He’s about 127 pounds now.
“It’s better for the team if I wrestle at 125,” he said. “We have some other 119-pounders. This will help the team.”
Comar has also set a goal of not giving up a point in the state tournament.
“It didn’t hit me until a few days after the state tournament that I had actually won the state championship,” he said. “It was like a dream; all of the hard work paid off. I was pretty confident in myself. The coaches are great. They gave me a lot of confidence in myself.”
Comar got his start in wrestling with the Adrian youth wrestling club. He later was involved in the Tecumseh wrestling program before deciding to go to Clinton. His father Cory and mother Monica were also big influences on him wrestling, and he had a brother who was an MHSAA Finals qualifier at Tecumseh.
Comar also plays football at Clinton and helped the Redskins to the playoffs this fall. He rushed for 336 yards and caught nine passes for 106 more yards. He also made 35 tackles.
Clinton has an experienced wrestling coaching staff. Rolland wrestled at Kent State University. Casey Randolph wrestled at Eastern Michigan University, as did new assistant coach Ben Griffen. Louis Posa, who was the most recent MHSAA champ from Clinton before Comar (in 2005), wrestled at Trine University. Assistant coach Al Regnier hails from the wrestling-rich Temperance Bedford program.
“I’ve learned a lot of stuff from them and not just about wrestling or technique,” Comar said. “They teach us all life lessons, too. It’s a good coaching staff.”
As for this season, the Redskins will have more than 30 athletes on the varsity roster – including a host of talented freshmen. Once Rolland is done tinkering with the lineup, he expects them to have a strong season.
“We are working on improving technique and getting the young kids up to speed,” Rolland said. “Our expectation level is very high for this season.”
As for Comar, he’s shooting for another undefeated season and a second MHSAA championship. He’s prepared hard in the offseason, he said.
“I feel like going into the season there is no rust,” he said. “I’m fully prepared and raring to go. I’m still improving. There’s always room to improve. I want to be better by the end of the year.”
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Clinton's Noah Comar works against his opponent during last season's Quarterfinal match at Central Michigan University. (Middle) Comar stands among teammates prior to taking on Leroy Pine River. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Bluhm Continues Building on Trenton Tradition in 5th Decade as Coach
By
Keith Dunlap
Special for MHSAA.com
December 22, 2022
TRENTON – What Tom Bluhm likes about wrestling also happens to correlate perfectly into what his program at Trenton has been about as of late.
“It’s one-on-one,” Bluhm said. “You can’t hide and you can’t make excuses. That’s what I’ve always liked about it.”
Excuses aren’t in the vocabulary of the Trenton program that’s been presided by Bluhm for going on 46 seasons.
Last season, the Trojans went 22-9, solid on the surface but incredible when considering Trenton had only 14 wrestlers on the team and forfeited just one weight class.
Again, Bluhm and his group weren’t interested in excuses. They just forged ahead with what they had.
“There’s no planning for it,” he said. “It’s just something that happens. It makes it tough to run practices. It’s not like you have a room of 30 or 40 guys where you can group them into three based on weight and get after it.”
Numbers haven’t traditionally been a problem for Trenton under Bluhm, who said his 1978 team had 100 wrestlers competing for spots on varsity and 50 freshmen.
In recent years, the lack of a program at the middle school level has negated opportunities to develop a feeder system, so Bluhm just hopes for the best when tryouts come around in November.
Bluhm said it’s become an increasing scenario where athletes come out for the wrestling team who have never before wrestled in their lives.
Bluhm said one example was a sophomore who came out for the team last year, quickly learned the sport and ended up winning 36 matches.
“His mother supposedly called the AD last year saying he needed something to do because he was driving her crazy,” Bluhm said. “So he came out for wrestling.”
Nolan Diroff, a senior who primarily wrestles in the 189-pound weight class, but has also wrestled at higher weights, said the limited number of wrestlers on the team rarely comes up as a topic.
“I can’t really say that anybody has complained about not having a lot of people,” he said. “Nobody on the team complains when they get moved around in the lineup. We wrestle where Coach needs us to wrestle. We do whatever he says to try and win matches.”
Diroff said in a strange way, having a limited roster has made who is on the team better wrestlers because it has forced them to be versatile athletes who can compete at multiple weights.
“He’s kind of built us up to realize that and wrestle wherever he needs us,” he said. “He tries to get us as many matches as possible. It makes us better wrestlers and makes the team better.”
This year, there is a slight increase in the numbers.
Bluhm said there are 17 out for the team, including the first girl wrestler during his tenure.
“She fits right in,” Bluhm said. “She gets in there and does everything the boys do.”
Bluhm entered this season fourth on the MHSAA all-time coaching wins list for wrestling, carrying an 812-416-2 record with five seasons at Taylor Center before taking over at Trenton beginning with that 1977-78 winter.
Despite the struggles with numbers, Bluhm still very much gets a lot out of coaching after more than five decades.
He drives a little less than an hour to Trenton and back every day from his home in Northville, and said he’s stayed at Trenton out of his love and respect not only for the kids, but their parents.
“He tells a bunch of other stuff and random stories,” Diroff said. “Never ones that you really roll your eyes at. They are always enjoyable and shows you how long he’s been around.”
And when Trenton wrestles this season, the Trojans will do what they always do: Fight on with no excuses.
“I enjoy coaching,” Bluhm said. “I’ve always said show me some rules, and I’ll play.”
Keith Dunlap has served in Detroit-area sports media for more than two decades, including as a sportswriter at the Oakland Press from 2001-16 primarily covering high school sports but also college and professional teams. His bylines also have appeared in USA Today, the Washington Post, the Detroit Free Press, the Houston Chronicle and the Boston Globe. He served as the administrator for the Oakland Activities Association’s website from 2017-2020. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Trenton wrestling coach Tom Bluhm coaches Connor Charping during the 2016 Individual Finals. (Middle) Bluhm and current wrestler Nolan Diroff stand in front of the program's record board. (Top photo by High School Sports Scene; middle photo courtesy of Nolan Diroff.)