Cros-Lex's Lieber Readies for Final Shot
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
November 30, 2016
Croswell-Lexington wrestling coach Joe Lilly saw championship potential in Collin Lieber when he was in sixth grade.
Donnie Corby, the best to ever come through the Cros-Lex program by any metric – for now anyway – saw it, too.
The rest of the state had to wait until Lieber’s freshman season in 2013-14, when he entered the MHSAA tournament with a single loss and made a run to the 135-pound Division 2 title match before losing against DeWitt’s Austin Melton.
It was at that point Lieber himself realized he had the ability to reach his goal of becoming an MHSAA Finals champion, something that seemed more likely than not after such an impressive start.
As he starts his senior season, however, that individual championship still remains unchecked on Lieber’s list.
“It was funny, because I really didn’t know what to expect going into the state tournament (as a freshman), and I really didn’t think I was that good,” Lieber said. “I remember waking up that morning thinking, ‘I might be a state champ today.’ Then going into sophomore year, losing in the semifinals, that was hard. Then last year (in the finals) in overtime, that was rough.”
Lieber is among the state’s best wrestlers, ranked No. 3 across all divisions by Michigan Grappler at 171 pounds. He has a career record of 165-7 and three top-three Finals finishes to his name. In 2015, he was third at 152 pounds in Division 3, and in 2016, he was second at the same weight.
He has signed to wrestle at Central Michigan University, the same place Corby put together an impressive career by qualifying for the NCAA tournament three times and winning one Mid-American Conference championship. With 35 more wins, Lieber will unseat Corby as the all-time wins leader at Cros-Lex.
“He’s gonna kill me,” said Corby, who is now an assistant wrestling coach at the University of Northern Colorado. “He’s gonna kill me. I knew that freshman year. If anybody could do it, I want it to be Collin.”
Corby is not only Cros-Lex’s all-time wins leader, he’s also its only MHSAA Finals champion, having won in 2008. Like Lieber, he placed second as a junior, something he used as motivation for his title-winning senior year.
Lieber is hoping that same driving force can help him replicate Corby’s senior success.
“It’s just more motivating that I lost,” he said. “Because now it’s like I have to win states at least once.”
Lieber’s loss in the 2016 title match came with added heartache. After a hard-fought 6 minutes that left Lieber and Dundee’s Sean Sterling tied at 2, it was Sterling who was able to get a takedown in overtime to win the match. It not only handed Lieber his second loss in a Finals title match, but also ended his unbeaten season (54-0).
“He was better at takedowns than me. I was better at top/bottom,” Lieber said. “I was really tired, too. I should have conditioned more last year. I don’t know how much time was left in overtime, but I was kind of banking on getting to double overtime because I wanted to get to top/bottom.
“The whole year, I’m going to keep thinking about that match, over and over again.”
It was a crushing loss, one that was felt off the mat, as well.
“It was devastating,” Lilly said. “Devastating. Just because I know what he’s put in, and what his desires and goals are, and ours as coaches have been the same for him. Once you get a kid like Collin, that knows what his goals are and knows where he wants to be, you push him on a regular basis to meet that. Then you’re there – we were in the same boat, just crushed. I had no idea what to say to him.”
Despite the losses at the highest level, losing is not something Lieber has had to deal with much during his wrestling career. He began wrestling at 6 years old and won a state championship that year.
“I hated losing,” he said. “I would always cry when I lost.”
The crying has stopped, but the desire to win has not. If anything, this season, it has intensified.
“I’ve sure seen so far this year in the practice room and running that it’s a step up,” Lilly said. “He’s not a kid that gives into pressure; he thrives on it. He loves it. I watch him warm up for big matches, and the routine is the same. I never notice him getting anxious or uncomfortable. He keeps it in real well.”
Lieber has focused on being better conditioned this season, and said that wrestling at 171, a weight that is more natural for him, should help.
“I think not cutting weight will honestly help me a lot, because I won’t be as tired,” he said. “I’ll be able to condition a lot better in practice. I’ll be happier. I’ll want to come in more. I’ve been lifting a lot more, too.”
Lieber feels confident heading into the season. There’s pressure to reach the top of the podium, of course, but he said he feels less of it thanks to having his college decision out of the way. He’s proud, he said, of what he has accomplished to this point in his high school career. Now he simply wants to win for himself and those who have helped him get to this point.
Lilly wants it for him as well. He said that when Lieber was in sixth grade, he had pegged him as the program’s next Corby – a wrestler with the tools to win an MHSAA Finals title. Even without a championship, Lieber has proven his coach to be correct.
“I keep telling him that to be at the state tournament is such an accomplishment,” Lilly said. “Then to be there three years in a row and place, and now we’re looking to go in his senior year, it’s a heck of an accomplishment. You’re in an elite group to begin with.
“So that has comfort for me. I’m hoping it has a burning desire in him to say, ‘I’m going to win it this year.’”
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) Croswell-Lexington’s Collin Lieber (top) wrestles Dundee’s Sean Sterling during last season’s Division 3 championship match at 152 pounds. (Middle) Lieber warms up before his match at The Palace of Auburn Hills. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Facundo Finishes Unforgettable Run as 30th 4-Time Champ
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 4, 2021
KALAMAZOO – Alex Facundo’s wrestling career has taken him around the country and across the Atlantic Ocean, and long ago into consideration as one of the top high school wrestlers in the nation regardless of weight class.
But there’s no way this week doesn’t remain a cherished memory even after Facundo leaves for Penn State and encounters more higher-level opportunities that surely lie ahead.
On Tuesday, he led Davison to its first Division 1 team championship since 2006. On Saturday, returning to Wings Event Center, he capped his Cardinals career by becoming the 30th four-time individual champion in MHSAA Finals history.
“I just treat it like another match. But then I realized the specialness of it. Before I even looked over, I heard all the cheers and stuff,” Facundo said. “I mean, I’m going to miss this a little bit.”
Facundo (25-0) stacked a pin and two technical falls at 171 pounds Saturday, including 26-11 over Kalamazoo Central senior Leonardo Gallasso (30-2) in the championship match. He ended with a 132-2 career record and championships at 152, 160 and twice at 171.
“This week has been the best moment, the best week of my high school career,” Facundo said. “Not only winning the fourth (individual title), but winning the team state title that we haven’t won in 15 years. That’s just special. That’s never going to leave us. That’s never going to leave my name – they’re going to hear four-timer, but they’re also going to hear the 2021 Davison wrestling team.”
103
Champion: Justin Gates, Davison, Fr. (23-0)
Decision, 8-4, over Caleb Weiand, Macomb Dakota, Soph. (31-1)
Not long after Facundo finished his fourth championship run Saturday, Gates capped his first.
He reached this title match with a pair of pins and a technical fall before handing Weiand his only defeat of this season.
“Nothing really compares – it’s been honestly one of the best weeks of my life,” Gates said. “I’m just hoping I can follow in (Facundo’s) footsteps. Obviously, Josh Barr just won his second next to him, and after that Jimmy Colley got his first. So, it’s a special team we’ve got here.”
112
Champion: Drew Heethuis, Detroit Catholic Central, Soph. (30-0)
Decision, 9-5, over Zach Phifer, Howell, Sr. (32-5)
DCC junior Anthony Walker and sophomore Clayton Jones finished fourth and sixth, respectively, at 119 on Saturday. They also received assists for training Heethuis up on the way to his first Finals championship.
“It’s pretty much all the difference – being able to have good partners and good people to work with and go against, it’s a main factor in being able to be good and get to the next level,” Heethuis said.
After finishing third at 103 last season, Heethuis did take those next steps with a perfect run.
“It’s kind of expected. I just want to get where I can be at the best I can,” he said. “This is what I’ve been working for my whole life.”
119
Champion: Caden Horwath, Davison, Soph. (27-0)
Decision, 6-2, over Louden Stradling, Battle Creek Lakeview, Soph. (29-1)
These two also met in the 103-pound championship match last season. The result was nearly identical this time after Horwath had won the 2020 bout with a 7-2 decision.
He reached Saturday’s finale with two pins and a major decision.
“(I was) just working hard, pushing my pace, making sure I get to all of my attacks,” Horwath said. “Not worrying about what they were doing, just try to wrestle my match and how I want to.
“Not too much (was different this season) – just getting better and better, critiquing little things.”
125
Champion: Ashton Anderson, Clarkston, Sr. (26-4)
Decision, 9-2, over Andrew Hampton, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, Sr. (34-4)
The last conversation Anderson had with his late grandfather Pete Vandermeer was about making weight. That was only a couple of years ago, and Anderson knew he was watching Saturday – “I wanted to do it for him,” Anderson said. “He’s smiling down at me.”
It surely was a proud family moment, as Anderson not only avenged a 5-1 Regional loss to Hampton to defeat the top seed this time, but in the process became the sixth member of his family to wrestle in an MHSAA Final and third to win a title for Clarkston – joining uncles Jerry Anderson (1993), Matt Vandermeer (2011) and Nick Vandermeer (2013).
Ashton also was thinking Saturday of last season’s Finals, when he fell in his first match at 125 by a 13-11 decision, then fought all the way back to finish third.
“I was supposed to be in the Finals last year, and I lost early and didn’t get to make it, and it’s my last chance,” Anderson said. “I wasn’t letting it slide by.”
130
Champion: Brendan Ferretti, Macomb Dakota, Sr. (33-0)
Decision, 6-3, over Tyler Herrema, Grandville, Sr. (30-1)
The joy was all over Ferretti’s face as he finished his high school career by joining the short list of three-time Finals champions.
After placing third at 103 as a freshman, Ferretti won titles at 112, 119 and now 130, with a combined 121-1 record over those championship seasons.
“It was honestly about having fun, because it’s my last year … and honestly just trying to get through the year with all of this COVID stuff,” Ferretti said. “We only got half a season to train for this, so it does feel pretty good, knowing that I’m winning because I worked hard in the room and stuff like that. It all pays off. Now it’s time to take it to the next level.”
Ferretti will be wrestling next season at the U.S. Naval Academy.
135
Champion: Dylan Gilcher, Detroit Catholic Central, Soph. (26-1)
Decision, 3-0, over Evan Herriman, Davison, Soph. (22-3)
These two met to close Davison’s Team Finals win on Tuesday, with Gilcher winning 5-2, and the rematch was even more low-scoring.
But Gilcher scored enough and also his second championship, adding to the title won a year ago at 112.
“I wrestling him twice earlier, so I knew I could get a takedown. I wasn’t as busy as I like, but I was in control. I felt safe,” Gilcher said. “I rode this time – last time I didn’t ride – so I got less points. But like I said, it was safe.”
Gilcher’s first three matches Saturday were far more high-scoring – he put up 18, 21 and 22 points in three tech falls.
140
Champion: Mason Shrader, Brighton, Sr. (31-0)
Decision, 7-1, over Philip Burney, Detroit Catholic Central, Sr. (22-4)
Shrader had been all around a championship his first three seasons, finishing sixth at 103 as a freshman, eighth at 119 as a sophomore and second last season at 125.
In his final high school match, Shrader arrived and earned a spot at the top of the podium.
After falling in that 2020 championship match, Shrader made a deal with himself that he wouldn’t lose this time. He hardly slept Friday night thinking about the opportunity.
“I’ve been working so hard since last year, since I lost in the Finals,” Shrader said. “The past three years, my mindset was nowhere near where it is right now. I wanted it so bad, and I just put my mind to it and got it done.”
145
Champion: Darius Marines, Detroit Catholic Central, Fr. (17-2)
Decision, 5-3, over Camden Trupp, Detroit Catholic Central, Sr. (23-3)
Very rarely, the Individual Finals pits teammates against each other. Marines and Trupp met in the championship matches at every level of this tournament, with Trupp winning 3-1 at the District and Marines taking the Regional 5-2.
“First one I was a little nervous, you know, (facing the) senior captain,” Marines said. “Second time, I knew what I was expecting.”
This time? “Nerves, everything. I was just thinking about standing on that podium and getting that trophy. That’s all I had in mind.”
During Tuesday’s Team Finals, Marines bumped up to 152 while Trupp wrestled at 145. Combined they finished 5-1 that day winning with three pins, a tech fall and a decision.
152
Champion: Trenton Wachter, Rockford, Sr. (24-1)
Fall, 5:17, over James Johnston, Davison, Sr. (25-3)
The final minute was ticking down and Wachter was a few points behind, a runner-up finish shaping up as the likely result.
In an instant, everything changed.
“I just felt his head, way too high, took it over, pinned him,” Wachter said. “I get in that position a lot in practice, so I’m used to it.”
They’d wrestled a similar match Tuesday, which Wachter won 7-5 in sudden victory after trailing 5-1.
The title finished a nice climb for Wachter, a fifth-place finisher at 130 as a sophomore and third-place finisher at 140 last season.
160
Champion: Josh Barr, Davison, Soph. (26-0)
Major Decision, 9-1, over Gary Nilson, Utica Ford, Sr. (21-2)
Moments after Facundo won his fourth championship, Barr reached the halfway point in pursuit of the same – and with a second-straight undefeated season.
“I love this man right here; he’s my training partner every single day,” Barr said as Facundo offered a quick congratulations. “That’s the person who trains me for every single situation to help me out on any mat I ever step foot onto.”
Barr will be among those who will be looked toward next, especially as Davison returns next season as the reigning team champion.
“Just keeping the momentum going,” he said. “On Tuesday we just won a team state title, and it was a great thing to do with my brothers. Keep winning team state titles, keep winning individual titles. Break some records here. … Keep pushing the pace.”
189
Champion: Manuel Rojas, Detroit Catholic Central, Jr. (29-2)
Decision, 11-5, over Remy Cotton, Traverse City Central, Soph. (28-1)
Cotton was the top seed and Rojas the second, and they reached the championship match with a combined five pins and a tech fall.
Rojas also was the reigning champion at this weight, and now he’ll head into his final season with a chance to join that three-timer list.
“Nothing’s different. Just getting to come out here and do the same job,” Rojas said comparing this season’s run to last. “Same job every year.
“Maybe getting to train a little bit harder every year. Get a little better. That’s it. Just getting better.”
215
Champion: Jimmy Colley, Davison, Jr. (19-1)
Fall, 1:00, over Ethan Green, Howell, Sr. (28-3)
Colley was one of six Davison top seeds entering Saturday, after finishing fourth as a freshman and third last season both at this weight.
“Nothing better than as a team having that bond, winning together, everybody excited, coming here excited, ready to wrestle. Everybody came here to win,” Colley said. “We all grew up together. Everybody knows each other, practice partners. It’s just great to know you’re practicing with the best guys in the state.”
He added a first place to his list with a quick pin, becoming Davison’s third champ of the day.
“I went out there pretty quick, took him down, got to my underhook, where I know I’m good there, got my takedown,” Colley said. “My goal was to go out there and dominate the match.”
285
Champion: Jayson Roy, Jackson, Sr. (31-0)
Decision, 4-0, over Joshua Terrill, Holt, Jr. (25-4)
Roy will not be soon forgotten by Jackson wrestling. And he’s hopeful what he accomplished Saturday helps the program for years to come.
Roy became the Vikings’ first Finals champion since 1975.
“I’ve always known I could do it. I’m glad I finally did,” Roy said. “I thought it was going to be last year. I lost to Nick (West of Lincoln Park) in the second round, came back (and defeated him), took third. I knew I was winning it this year. I wasn’t going to let anybody stop me.”
He’s also hopeful his championship run will spark the sport at his school.
“It will encourage people to come out and try it,” he said, “get some better wrestlers in there next year.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Davison’s Alex Facundo raises the traditional four fingers signifying his fourth Finals title Saturday at Wings Event Center. (Middle) Clarkston’s Ashton Anderson works to get control of his opponent’s legs at 125 pounds. (Below) Brighton’s Mason Shrader applies some leverage during his championship match win at 140. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)