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D1 Preview: History on the Brink
March 4, 2015
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
When 135-pound matches are wrestled at The Palace of Auburn Hills this weekend, many eyes will be watching Davison’s Lincoln Olson.
Olson – along with Richmond’s Devin Skatzka in Division 3 – will compete for his fourth MHSAA championship, hoping to join only 19 other Michigan wrestlers who have ended all four years of high school with a title.
See below for 10 contenders to watch this weekend at the Division 1 Individual Finals, plus others who enter the tournament undefeated or coming off runner-up finishes in 2014. Follow all the matches beginning with Thursday's first round on a subscription basis live on MHSAA.TV, and click here for results at MHSAA.com.
Those listed below are only a handful of numerous contenders for this weekend’s 14 Division 1 championships – in this division alone, seven athletes not listed below have lost only once this season. Come back to Second Half at the end of this weekend, when we’ll have post-match thoughts from all 14 title winners.
112: Max Johnson, Davison junior (42-7) – Last season’s champion at this weight may not have as sparkling a record as some contenders, but he entered last season’s Finals with an identical W-L on his way to winning the title.
112: Carl Antrassian, Monroe junior (54-2) – He’s a favorite at his new weight after falling to Ben Freeman (see below) in last season’s championship match at 103 and after leading his team to the MHSAA Quarterfinals last weekend.
125: Camden Bertucci, Grand Haven senior (40-0) – After just missing the Finals last season, Bertucci can add a title to his runner-up finish at 103 as a freshman and third place at 112 as a sophomore.
125: Ben Freeman, Walled Lake Central sophomore (40-0) – Last season’s champion at 103 has only one loss during his high school career and won all of his 2014 Finals matches by technical falls.
130: Trevor Zdebski, Detroit Catholic Central senior (42-5) – His high school career so far has included a championship last season at 119 pounds, a third place at 103 as a freshman and two team titles.
135: Lincoln Olson, Davison senior (48-0) – As noted above, Olson is poised to enter an elite group; in addition, he carries a 185-3 record into his final weekend before moving on to Oklahoma State University.
145: Logan Parks, Southgate Anderson senior (53-0) – After finishing third in what arguably was the toughest bracket at last season’s Finals – 140 – Parks can cap this season with a title and the last two with a combined 111-2 record.
152: Jacob Gorial, Hartland senior (54-0) – Recall the 2013 Finals, when Gorial had the difficulty of facing and falling to teammate Austin Eicher in the 130-pound championship match; he can add a first title to a seventh place as a freshman, the second as a sophomore and a fourth place last winter.
160: Myles Amine, Detroit Catholic Central senior (43-0) – Another of the latest Shamrocks stars can graduate as a back-to-back champion after winning at 140 pounds last season and finishing third at 130 as a sophomore.
285: Brian Darios, East Lansing senior (5-2) – Yes, that record is correct; Darios has battled through multiple injuries this season, but remains a favorite to finish on top after falling in an ultimate tie-breaker in last season’s championship match.
Other 2014 runners-up: Oxford junior Alex Hrisopoulos (125, 48-3, 112 in 2014), Lapeer senior Dillon Ellsworth (145, 49-2, 152 in Division 2 in 2014 for Lapeer East), Lapeer junior Devon Pingel (171, 43-3, 171 in Division 2 in 2014 for North Branch).
Also undefeated: West Bloomfield senior Matt Gudenau (140, 45-0), Dearborn Heights Crestwood junior Ali Wahab (285, 56-0), Lapeer junior Dan Perry (285, 57-0).
More of note: Saline freshman Daniel Poupore (103, 36-2), Grand Blanc senior Noah Gonser (119, 52-3), Holt senior Benny Gomez (119, 30-2), Hartland sophomore Reese Hughes (130, 49-5), Utica Eisenhower senior Connor McDill (140, 38-2), Detroit Catholic Central senior Nick Giese (189, 42-4), Brighton junior Lucas Ready (215, 48-2).
PHOTO: Davison's Lincoln Olson competes during his team's MHSAA Semifinal last weekend against eventual champion Brighton. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
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Gonzalez Locks Down Emeralds' 1st Title
By
John Vrancic
Special for MHSAA.com
March 10, 2017
MANISTIQUE — It was a celebration nearly fit for a king Sunday as the city of Manistique welcomed home its first MHSAA Finals champion.
Senior Tanner Gonzalez became the first Manistique wrestler to capture an individual title by taking a 5-4 double-overtime decision from Dansville’s Johnathon Stid last Saturday night in a Division 4 160-pound Final at The Palace of Auburn Hills.
“It was awesome,” he said. “When I came out (at the high school), the whole community and people from all over the U.P. were there. We also had the cop cars, fire trucks, ambulance and the chief of police were there.”
Gonzalez secured the title on a reversal shortly after Stid took a 4-3 lead with an escape.
He became only the third Upper Peninsula grappler to take an MHSAA wrestling title, four years after Joe Ostman and Galloway Thurston of St. Ignace were crowned champions. Ostman also captured Division 4 titles in 2012 and 2011, and Thurston additonally was a champion in 2012 and runner-up in 2011.
Gonzalez began wrestling when he was in kindergarten, but said it took him a while to really get into it.
“I always liked football, but didn’t like wrestling when I was a little kid,” he added. “I did it because my brothers were doing it, and it kind of rubbed off on me. Things started coming together during my sophomore year, and I started taking practices more seriously. I started working at it harder.”
Gonzalez came up through the ranks in the Manistique youth wrestling program, but transferred to Norway before his freshman year.
After spending two years in Norway, he returned to Manistique for his junior and senior years.
“My dad had a job in Norway which was the reason for the transfer,” he said. “Then, he got a job in Manistique as a truck driver and now owns his own company. While we were in Norway, it was nice to go to Wisconsin and see different competition. It was different once we came back to Manistique because we didn’t have (brothers) Cole or Zavier on our team. I felt a lot of kids looked up to me.”
Tanner qualified for the Individual Regional as a freshman. As a sophomore, he placed seventh in the MHSAA Finals and moved up to sixth in his junior year.
“Losing in the state tournament is a bad feeling because it’s so final,” he said. “I wasn’t putting in the extra time. I worked all of last summer and my brother Matt helped me a lot with my strength program. There was more sense of urgency this year.”
His first tournament last summer took place in early June at Disney World in Orlando, Fla.
“The first kid I had to wrestle was ranked 11th in the nation and he pinned me in about 1:30,” said Tanner. “It was kind of an eye-opener because there’s always somebody better out there. I was more calm down there because there was no pressure. I tried moves I normally wouldn’t try in a high school match and got better at finishing my shots and cradling. I finished 4-4, then I got a concussion and was out for about a month. I didn’t wrestle too much the rest of the summer. My wrestling became a little more rusty.”
Gonzalez, who finished 49-0 this season, says he had a close call with Gladstone senior Austin Demeuse at St. Ignace. Demeuse held a five-point lead before Tanner rallied for a 9-5 victory.
“That motivated me to get into better shape,” he added. “I wasn’t moving my feet as well as I did all summer and had to get my weight down. I realized I wasn’t disciplined enough and picked up my intensity level. I raised the bar after losing to him in the U.P. Finals as a junior.”
Tanner says he worked a lot with youth wrestling coach Tim Nixon prior to his transfer to Norway.
“I worked with him a lot when I was in eighth grade and learned the importance of staying disciplined and working hard,” he added.
Tanner is undecided about his college choice, but is looking at Ellsworth Community College, a wrestling power in Iowa Falls, Iowa. He plans to major in criminal justice.
“I visited the college and really liked it,” he said. “It’s a little town and I feel comfortable with the small town setting. Their team took fourth in the (National Junior College Athletic Association) national tournament. They have five All-Americans and one was a national champion.”
PHOTOS: (Top) Manistique's Tanner Gonzalez celebrates his MHSAA Division 4 title Saturday at The Palace of Auburn Hills. (Middle) Gonzalez (left) locks up with championship match opponent Johnathon Stid of Dansville. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)