D4 Preview: New Contenders On Verge
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
February 26, 2020
Only two teams have won Division 4 team wrestling championships over the last decade, and before last season only five teams had competed in the deciding match over the previous 10 years.
But Clinton broke into the mix making its first MHSAA Final last winter – and five of eight Division 4 teams competing at this weekend’s Quarterfinals are seeking their first team championships, even as the long-standing powers wait at the gate as favorites again at Wings Event Center.
The Division 4 Quarterfinals will be wrestled at noon Friday. Top seed Hudson will face Onaway, No. 2 New Lothrop will face Lawton, No. 3 Clinton takes on Carson City-Crystal and No. 4 Hart wrestles Manchester.
Semifinals are 9:30 a.m. Saturday, with the championship match that afternoon at 3:45 p.m. All matches this weekend will be viewable live on a subscription basis on MHSAA.tv. For Friday’s schedule and results throughout, check the MHSAA Wrestling page.
Below is a look at all eight teams competing in Division 4, listed by seed.
#1 Hudson
Record/rank: 26-6, No. 3
League finish: Second in Lenawee County Athletic Association
Coach: Scott Marry, 32nd season (820-191)
Championship history: Eight MHSAA championships (most recent 2019), three runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Kannon Marry (20-4) fr., 103 Dallas Pibbles (29-9) sr., 112 Bronson Marry (32-6) soph., 112 Payton Rogers (23-14) soph., 125 Jackson Miller (23-13) soph., 125 Tyler Bolenbaugh (20-19) jr., 130 Caden Natale (34-4) jr., 135 CJ Berro (25-12) jr., 152 Dylan Smith (31-8) jr., 171 Cameron Underwood (27-14) soph., 189 Kyle Moll (35-7) sr.
Outlook: Hudson has won the last three Division 4 championships and eight of the last 11. The Tigers this time emerged from a Regional where they beat No. 8 Bronson and Addison, and after Addison had defeated No. 9 Union City in the other Regional Semifinal. Although four-time Individual Finals champion Jordan Hamdan graduated, there is still plenty of experience throughout the roster – six of the individual qualifiers mentioned above are repeat qualifiers from last season, when Bronson Marry and Natale finished runners-up at their weights and Moll also was a Finals placer. This is an annual note too, but important to mention – although Hudson did not win its league, the Tigers again finished second to Division 3 top seed Dundee.
#2 New Lothrop
Record/rank: 24-1, No. 2
League finish: First in Mid-Michigan Activities Conference
Coach: Jeff Campbell, 19th season (481-92)
Championship history: 15 MHSAA championships (most recent 2016), six runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Daven Lockwood (28-12) fr., 125 Andrew Krupp (34-10) jr., 130 Alex Wolford (27-8) soph., 135 Logan Wolford (34-6) sr., 145 Harry Helmick (25-16) jr., 152 Bryce Cheney (28-3) jr., 160 Austin Barnette (35-6) sr., 189 Justin Carnahan (42-0) sr., 215 Camden Orr (38-3) jr., 285 Isiah Pasik (37-2) soph.
Outlook: New Lothrop saw its championship match streak end at five last season when it lost to Clinton in a Semifinal. But the Hornets are seeded to return to the final round after giving up only a combined 52 points over four postseason matches during this run. While last year’s team was relatively young with six seniors, this year’s has only three seniors but also six junior starters. Carnahan was an Individual Finals runner-up as a sophomore in 2018, and Krupp, Alex Wolford and Orr all were placers a year ago.
#3 Clinton
Record/rank: 28-5, No. 1
League finish: First in Tri-County Conference
Co-coaches: Jeff Rolland, seventh season (192-48); Casey Randolph, second season (58-10)
Championship history: Division 4 runner-up 2019.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Connor Busz (39-7) fr., 112 Chase Packard (31-13) soph., 112 Ethan Younts (29-18) fr., 119 Zak Shadley (28-12) fr., 130 Landis Gillman (40-8) jr., 135 George Ames (34-6) soph., 140 AJ Baxter (44-5) jr., 145 Kent McCombs (29-9) soph., 160 Spencer Konz (31-2) jr., 171 Brayden Randolph (46-4) jr., 189 Logan Badge (29-0) soph., 215 Jack Voll (35-9) jr., 285 Will Felts (26-6) jr.
Outlook: Clinton won its fifth Regional title in seven seasons and returns to Wings after reaching the championship match last year for the first time. An impressive lineup has Individual Finals qualifiers at all but two weights – 125 and 152 – and some maneuvering produces an expected starting lineup featuring all 13 qualifiers with the 14th wrestler the lone senior starter Noah Deshano (21-14). Badge is the reigning champion at 215, Brayden Randolph was the runner-up last year at 160, and Baxter, Ames, Konz and McCombs also were Finals placers in 2019. Baxter was a Finals runner-up as a freshman.
#4 Hart
Record/rank: 33-3, No. 5
League finish: Second in West Michigan Conference
Coach: Brad Altland, eighth season (221-86)
Championship history: Has not appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 112 Trayce Tate (37-7) fr., 112 Trenton Swihart (18-17) fr., 125 Spencer Vanderzwaag (34-6) jr., 130 Chance Alvesteffer (48-3) soph., 135 Mason Cantu (49-2) soph., 145 Jerry Brandel (35-7) sr., 152 Thomas Tanner (35-7) jr., 171 Leo Guadarrama (43-10) soph., 215 Braeden Carskadon (34-16) jr., 285 Tanner Breitwisch (39-5) sr.
Outlook: Hart is making its second appearance at the Quarterfinals, and first since 1990, after defeating No. 7 LeRoy Pine River to open the District and then cruising through three big wins. This run is even more impressive considering the Pirates graduated an individual champion and two more Finals placers last spring. As with Hudson above, it should be noted that while Hart didn’t win its league this winter, it did finish second to Division 2 No. 8 Whitehall in the WMC.
#5 Manchester
Record/rank: 35-2, No. 4
League finish: First in Cascades Conference
Coach: Steve Vlcek, 30th season (636-215)
Championship history: Division 4 runner-up 2008.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Jacob Bunn (43-5) soph., 112 Jared Bunn (41-8) soph., 125 Drew Gebhardt (47-3) sr., 130 Jacob Shelby (46-1) sr., 140 Adam Pringle (38-10) jr., 145 Jacob Kurgin (39-7) sr., 152 Jacob Snowden (14-7) jr., 152 Garrett Pope (38-12) soph., 160 Nick Phillips (31-8) sr., 171 Derek Guenther (41-7) sr., 189 Collin McCaffrey (41-6) sr., 285 Simon Lato (47-2) sr.
Outlook: Manchester will make the trip the Quarterfinals for the fourth time in five seasons after giving up a combined 32 points over four postseason matches and defeating No. 10 Springport in the Regional Final for the second-straight year. Six returning Finals placers anchor the lineup, with Shelby a runner-up at 130 pounds last season after falling just 2-0 to Carson City-Crystal’s Jamison Ward in their championship match. He’s also one of seven Flying Dutchmen with at least 40 wins this season. Kurgin, Lato, Gebhardt, and Jared and Jacob Bunn also are returning placers.
#6 Carson City-Crystal
Record/rank: 32-4, No. 6
League finish: First in Mid-State Activities Conference
Co-coaches: Kacy Datema, 10th season (267-74); Dallas O’Green, first season (32-4)
Championship history: Division 4 runner-up in 2000 and 2001.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 125 Jaron Johnson (35-0) jr., 135 Jamison Ward (46-0) sr., 140 Cole Stone (42-5) soph., 145 Bryce Stanley (38-10) soph., 160 Blain Mitchell (31-7) jr., 171 Nash Akin (37-9) sr., 215 Ryan Holland (33-12) sr., 285 Brian Yeakey (45-3) sr.
Outlook: The Eagles are making their fourth-straight trip to the Quarterfinals and in sixth in 10 seasons under Datema. Although Carson City-Crystal graduated a good share of star power from last year’s run to the Semifinals, plenty returns to the mat this weekend. Ward is a two-time finalist and won the title at 130 pounds last season, and Johnson and Yeakey also were Finals placers.
#7 Lawton
Record/rank: 25-10, unranked
League finish: First in Southwestern Athletic Conference
Coach: Troy Johnson, seventh season (175-59)
Championship history: Five MHSAA titles (most recent 1990), two runner-up finishes.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 103 Dustin Mallory (42-13) fr., 140 Landyn VanWyk (47-4) sr., 145 Carter Cosby (36-13) fr.
Outlook: Johnson – an individual champion as a senior in 1987 during Lawton’s string of team titles – has the program back at the Quarterfinals for the first time since his first season coaching in 2014. Eight expected starters are freshmen or sophomores. But Andrew O’Donnell (38-12/160 pounds) and Harrison Maynard (16-5/189) join VanWyk in providing senior anchors, and junior Dominic Pickett (33-18/135) also is among five with at least 30 wins this winter.
#8 Onaway
Record/rank: 11-14, unranked
League finish: Fifth in North Star League
Coach: Mark Grant, 19th season (156-223)
Championship history: Has not appeared in an MHSAA Final.
Individual Finals qualifiers: 135 Teddy Peters (17-3) sr., 140 Matthew Grant (20-1) sr., Brendan Fenstermaker (27-9) jr., Seth Enos (22-15) jr.
Outlook: Onaway has now won three-straight Regional titles and three in program history, and all four individual qualifiers mentioned above also were individual qualifiers in 2019. All 10 weights beginning with 130 and heavier are filled by juniors and seniors. Grant placed sixth at 135 pounds last season after finishing runner-up at that weight in 2018.
PHOTO: Clinton enters the competition area prior to last season's Division 4 Semifinals win over New Lothrop at Wings Event Center. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Lowell Enters Another Elite Group of Champs with 11th-Straight Finals Win
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
February 24, 2024
KALAMAZOO – There’s nothing quite like the roar of a crowd after your team has clinched an MHSAA Team Wrestling Finals title.
That’s true whether it’s for title No. 1, or, in the case of Casey Engle and his Lowell teammates Saturday, for their program’s 11th-straight Division 2 championship.
“It’s unreal,” Engle said. “It’s something I look forward to every year.”
Lowell extended its record run of wrestling team titles by defeating Freeland 49-21 in the Division 2 Final at Wings Events Center.
The Red Arrows joined the Grosse Pointe South (1976-86) and Grosse Pointe Woods University Liggett (1980-90) girls tennis programs in winning 11 straight Finals titles. Only East Grand Rapids boys swimming & diving, winning 15 straight from 1948-62, and Bloomfield Hills Brother Rice boys lacrosse – with 13 straight from 2005-17 – have longer Finals championship streaks in Lower Peninsula or statewide competition.
“I mean, it’s possible (to reach 15),” said sophomore Jarrett Smith, whose pin at 106 pounds clinched the title. “It’s hard to predict that far, four years into the future. We’re losing some key guys, but we graduated 14 last year, five this year, so we’re returning some firepower.”
Lowell is always returning firepower, and it’s consistently adding it, too, giving new waves of Red Arrows the chance to raise a wooden mitten.
That’s why for coach RJ Boudro, each title remains just as sweet as the last.
“Why would it get old?” said Boudro, who has been in charge for 10 of those titles. “Look at the crowd. When I first walked in here, I looked up, and you see that we have more fans here than anybody else, and that’s what it’s about. Next year will be fun, too. When you can still bring crowds in and you can do it 11 years in a row, there’s more to that than just winning. If it was just about winning, why else would they come? They would probably think it was a foregone conclusion. They love the kids; they love the community.”
One could forgive an outsider for believing it’s a foregone conclusion when Lowell takes the mat for the Division 2 postseason, as it’s won the Final by more than 20 points in each of the past five seasons and in seven of its 11 straight championship victories.
So to avoid that feeling creeping into his wrestling room, Boudro makes it clear the Red Arrows’ responsibility isn’t just to win on the mat, but to strive for something bigger.
“We’re not doing it to just win state championships,” Boudro said. “We’re trying to find out who we are, we’re trying to be better men, better women, better coaches. So, it’s not just about winning, it’s about being a better person. Whether I’m a coach or a kid, just trying to find a way to be better. When you’re doing that all the time, you get better, but you feel like you have a purpose. Every single guy on the team feels like they have a purpose, and that’s really important.”
Just 14 wrestlers can step onto the mat in a single dual, and the same number is the max a team can enter into the individual postseason, so accomplishing that can sometimes be as tough as anything else for Lowell wrestlers, and certainly helps motivate them throughout the season – foregone conclusions or not.
“One of our signs up there I saw, it says, ‘Tradition never graduates,’ and it’s true,” Smith said. “We just keep the kids coming. Even our B Team, C Team are competing at the highest level. At the beginning of Districts, we had 17 ranked guys, and you can only send 14. So we have just great partners all around.”
Freeland, meanwhile, was making its first appearance in a Final, after getting to the Quarterfinals for the third time in program history.
“Outstanding. Outstanding. They’ve been giving their all every match,” Freeland coach Scott VanLuven said. “They’ve been doing it all year. We beat Brighton, we weren’t supposed to. We beat (Bay City) John Glenn in our conference, then we had to beat them again in our District Final when we weren’t supposed to. No one gave us really a chance down here, I think. But they believed, and they did well.”
The Falcons (25-3) still had a shot with three matches to go, trailing 31-21. But Smith put a quick end to that with his pin at 106, and that was followed by a pair of pins from Cole and Carter Cichocki at 113 and 120, respectively.
Of the Arrows’ nine wins in the dual, eight came by either pin or technical fall, as Jackson Blum (138), Jared Boone (165) and Engle (190) also won by pinfall. Logan Dawson (132) and Owen Segorski (144) each won by tech. Cody Foss (126) opened the dual with a win by decision for Lowell (22-3).
Fabian Facundo (150) and Bringham Smith (285) each won by pin for Freeland, while Noah Graham (157), Gibson Shepard (175) and Elijah Murphy (215) all won by decision.
PHOTOS (Top) Lowell’s Cole Cichocki, left, lines up against Freeland’s Michael Wilson at 113 pounds Saturday. (Middle) The Falcons’ Elijah Murphy, left, locks up Lowell’s Ari McFarland at 215. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)