Davison's Facundo Earns Historic Opportunity
March 7, 2020
By Dan Stickradt
Special for Second Half
DETROIT — Alex Facundo suffered a blow when he was disqualified one week ago during a match at the Division 1 Team Finals against eventual champion Detroit Catholic Central.
But Facundo, the top-ranked wrestler in both the state and nation, did not let last weekend’s setback deter his goal this weekend of winning a third Individual Finals title.
Facundo, a junior who has committed to Penn State, posted a 13-5 major decision victory over Grandville’s Josh Kenny at 171 pounds at Ford Field.
“I wanted to win this really bad and prove that I was the best in the state — and nation,” smiled Facundo. “I did that today. (Last week’s opponent) didn’t beat me. I lost on a (technically). I had something to prove.”
Facundo, who finished 39-2 this winter, will try to join an elite crowd next season as he’ll pursue a fourth MHSAA individual title.
“I’m really happy with the third title. I knew I could do it,” he said. “Next year, I’ll come back and go after my fourth title.”
Kenny, a senior who was third at 152 last season, finished 38-2.
103
Caden Horwath, Davison, Fr. (43-2)
Decision, 7-2, over Louden Stradling, Battle Creek Lakeview, Fr. (51-2)
One of five finalists for Davison, Horwath wrapped up a stellar 44-2 freshman campaign.
“I got a couple of takedowns early, rode him pretty hard on top and I took control,” said Horwath. “It means a lot to me because all of my hard work paid off. It’s a little relief off my shoulders.
“There’s a lot of (history) at Davison and because we lost (in the Team Final) it feels good for all of us to do well here,” added Horwath. “Now I hope to be back next year.”
112
Dylan Gilcher, Detroit Catholic Central, Fr., (40-3)
Technical fall, 18-3 (4:29), over Aiden Smith, Brighton, Soph. (39-11)
One of the state’s premier freshmen, Gilcher joined Catholic Central’s long list of Finals champions.
“There’s so much history at CC, and it’s incredible to be able to win a title,” said Gilcher. “It’s an incredible feeling and such a blessing to wrestle here at (Catholic Central). There’s some really high expectations.”
119
Brendan Ferretti, Macomb Dakota, Jr. (34-1)
Decision, 7-2, over Andrew Hampton, Rochester Hills Stoney Creek, Jr. (52-2)
Ferretti has been nearly unstoppable the past two seasons, posting a 90-1 record during that span. The junior outlasted Hampton to capture his second straight title.
Ferretti won at 112 last season.
“I never wrestled (Hampton) in my life. I just know I’m the best in my (weight) class and I wanted this,” said Ferretti. “I was nervous coming in, but it’s always good to work out those nerves and just go out there and win. I love this. I thrive off of (the big crowds). It makes it so much better, I think."
125
Andrew Chambal, Davison, Sr., (42-5)
Decision, 5-1, over Mason Shrader, Brighton, Jr. (41-7)
Davison had five finalists, and top-seeded Andrew Chambal came through with the victory in his final high school match.
He finished second at 119 last season.
“I went to a really dark place last year after I lost,” said Chambal. “Things were different for a while. Coming out here and doing what I love and coming out on top means the world to me. This changes my life. I feel like I’m on top of the world again.”
130
Sam Freeman, Brighton, Sr. (41-5)
Decision, 3-2, over Dylan Phelps, Holt, Sr. (39-5)
Freeman put together four years of hard work to reach the summit as a senior. He ended his prep career with a narrow 3-2 decision over Phelps, an opponent he has wrestled several times.
“This is just four years of hard work,” said Freeman. “A lot of guys will peak freshman year, but I didn’t make it to states my freshman year. I kept working, and it means so much more to know that I kept working to get here. It’s a great feeling to be at the top of the mountain at the end of the day.
“It’s not confidence as much as it’s excitement,” added Freeman. “This was two guys on the same level going for it on the big stage with a great match like that.”
135
Eddie Homrock, Brighton, Sr. (43-3)
Major decision, 9-0, over Camden Trupp, Detroit Catholic Central, Jr. (35-6)
Homrock has gotten used to Finals championships.
He’s now won two of them, after also capturing the title at 125 in 2019. But this deciding match carried some extra significance.
“I was nervous (this time), not because of (my opponent), but because it was my last match,” Homrock said. “I wasn’t scared, just nervous. I went out there and got it done. I knew no matter what I was going to push through it all.”
140
Josh Edmond, Detroit Catholic Central, Sr. (43-0)
Technical fall, 23-7 (5:50), over Zach Johnson, Brighton, Jr. (41-9)
Detroit Catholic Central has produced legions of all-state wrestlers and champions. But Edmond reached an elite group at his school and statewide with his third Finals title.
“It means a lot. I really wanted to be a three-time state champ, and I worked really hard for this,” said Edmond. “I think it’s a blessing. I am just blessed to be a part of the CC wrestling family. I thank all of my coaches for helping me get here.
“The game plan was to just wrestle hard. Things opened up, and I was able to pull away,” added Edmond. “I felt pretty good that I could win my third.”
145
T.J. Daugherty, Waterford Kettering, Sr. (35-0)
Decision, 3-1 (OT), over Marc Shaeffer, Detroit Catholic Central, Sr. (32-13)
Daugherty posted bookend Finals championship wins, earring titles as both a freshman and again as a senior.
“(Shaeffer) took a shot and I doubled by and went behind and got the point, and I did it,” said Daugherty of his win. “I beat him at (Oakland) County and I beat him at the Clarkston Duals. But this is where it matters most.
“When I was a freshman, I didn’t really know what was going on,” added Daugherty, who won at 103 in 2017. “This year I wanted to win it more than anything. I was able to get the win this year.”
Shaeffer previously finished runner-up at 140 in 2019.
152
Josh Barr, Davison, Fr. (39-0)
Decision, 5-3, over Logan Sanom, Detroit Catholic Central, Sr. (42-10)
Davison’s future is bright, to say the least. There will be 11 returning starters next winter from a team that finished as the Division 1 runner-up, Barr among them.
The talented freshman was one of five finalists and three champions for the Cardinals, and a top seed at his first Individual Finals.
“I worked so hard all season to get here,” said Barr. “It’s a great feeling to win as a freshman. But this is just the beginning. I want to come back and go for it again. Plus we’re going to be really good again next year with almost everyone returning. We only had three seniors. So this is just a step (forward).”
160
Derek Gilcher, Detroit Catholic Central, Sr. (45-2)
Decision, 3-2, over Jay Nivison, Davison, Sr. (36-6)
Just a couple of hours after his freshman brother Dylan Gilcher claimed a title, Derek Gilcher followed suit with his third straight championship and fourth placing at the Finals.
“Right now I feel great. But before my match I was a little nervous, really before my brother’s match. He’s new, he’s a freshman and never been through states before like I have,” said Gilcher. “But he did his job, and I had to go do mine.”
Gilcher has been a four-year starter during Catholic Central’s four-year reign as the Division 1 team champion.
“I don’t think that’s been done before — the first time in CC history we’ve won four in a row,” smiled Gilcher. “We never won four in a row before, and now the three individual wins. It’s crazy. It adds to the legacy of the program, and the accomplishments show all of the hard work of the athletes and coaches.”
189
Manuel Rojas, Detroit Catholic Central, Soph. (46-1)
Decision, 7-3, over Colin Jagielski, Temperance Bedford, Sr. (47-3)
After getting the win with Facundo’s DQ at last weekend’s Team Final, Rojas heeded some advice from his coaches this week – and won his first individual championship.
“I went to school on Monday and sat down with (CC head coach Mitch Hancock). We decided to give up social media, stay off of it, and get away from all of the negativity. Just focus on all of the positive things,” said Rojas. “I just had to concentrate on getting prepared for this weekend and try to win here. Just be around my teammates and the people that care for me. That’s all that matters.”
Rojas was poked in the eye during the first period Saturday, which drew a little blood, and the scratch forced his eye to swell throughout the match.
“I hear it’s pretty nasty. I can’t see it yet,” added Rojas of his swollen eye. “It happens. That’s wrestling.”
215
Brendin Yatooma, Detroit Catholic Central, Sr. (45-1)
Decision, 4-2, over Luke Stanton, Brighton, Sr. (32-4)
One week after helping DCC to another team title, Yatooma aided his team’s run to nine individual state finalists and six individual champions. The reigning champ at 215 capped his prep career with a repeat.
“This is for our coach and our entire coaching staff. They work so hard for us to get to this point,” said Yatooma. “We wrestle as hard of a schedule as anyone, and we come here to win. It’s an incredible brotherhood at CC. Not just wrestling, but for everyone. There is nowhere else I’d rather be than here competing for CC.”
285
Steven Kolcheff, Detroit Catholic Central, Sr. (45-2)
Decision, 3-2 (OT), over Jake Swirple, Livonia Franklin, Sr. (58-2)
Kolcheff doesn’t mind a little overtime. He had to put some in Saturday night, and it resulted in a victory over top-seeded Swirple in the rubber match between the rivals.
Kolcheff won at the District level, while Swirple turned the tables during the Regional round.
“We’re the most conditioned team in the state,” said Kolcheff. “In overtime I felt good, felt confident. I didn’t want to win a state championship on a coin toss … so I went for it in overtime.
“It’s a great rivalry between us. For me, wrestling is my sport and it’s really dear to my heart. I want to win state titles, and that’s what I did today.”
PHOTO: Davison’s Alex Facundo (right) gets ahold of a leg of Grandville’s Josh Kenny on the way to winning his third Individual Finals championship. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Lapeer West 4-Time Finals Winner Set to Build Champions at Oklahoma
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
July 5, 2023
Roger Kish has a habit of accomplishing great things in a short amount of time.
He won an MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals title as a freshman at Lapeer West, his first of four.
He was an NCAA finalist as a sophomore at Minnesota.
He was a Division I head wrestling coach at North Dakota State University at 27.
So, it should come as little surprise that before hitting his 40th birthday, Kish is now in charge of one of the nation’s most storied college wrestling programs.
Kish, 39, was recently named the head coach at Oklahoma, a program that has won seven national titles and produced 67 individual champions in its history.
“It’s something I’m very grateful for, and I’m certainly humbled to walk the same halls of some of the Oklahoma greats,” the 2003 Lapeer West graduate said. “Being able to lead this program is nothing short of a dream come true. The administration is great, and in terms of the support system that’s in place, what they have at Oklahoma is second to none.”
Kish takes over a Sooners program fighting to get back into the conversation as one of the nation’s best. His time at NDSU portends well for that, as he had the Bison as high as No. 12 in the country a year ago, the highest ranking in program history.
NDSU also defeated Oklahoma in a Big 12 dual meet, and finished 24th at the NCAAs, with a program record 25.5 points.
“Roger knows what it takes to build a championship-caliber program, and he’s done just that at North Dakota State, with many of his wrestlers having won conference titles and earning All-American honors,” Oklahoma Director of Athletics Joe Castiglione said in a release. “His coaching philosophy aligns with our approach at Oklahoma, and I know he’ll guide our wrestling program toward achieving the standards we’ve set for ourselves.”
Had you told a teenage Kish this would be his future as he was racking up the second-most wrestling victories in state history, he wouldn’t have believed it. Not because it was too ambitious, but because coaching wasn’t even on his radar.
In fact, it wasn’t something he was considering even as he was becoming a two-time All-American at Minnesota.
“I would be lying to say that I wanted to be a high school or college wrestling coach, career-wise,” Kish said. “I had other plans.”
Those other plans were to either continue wrestling beyond college, explore a career in mixed martial arts, or become a chiropractor.
It was all on the table for him as his collegiate career came to a close, but an injury and the long recovery process that followed opened up a new avenue for Kish.
“When I had my surgery, I was off the mats for a lot of time, but I was still able to be on the mats, not as a competitor, but in a way that I could help some of my younger teammates,” he said. “I wanted to be able to give back to those guys that had helped me. That’s where it all began.”
He had been accepted into the chiropractic program at Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, Minn. But he chose to put that off to continue his recovery for a possible mat return, and to serve as a graduate assistant for the Gophers.
The following year, he was asked to join Bucky Maughan’s coaching staff at North Dakota State, and his career as a coach took off.
“Throughout that year (at Minnesota), I really enjoyed helping out those young guys,” Kish said. “I took an opportunity from Bucky Maughan, because he needed a bigger guy to train with those bigger guys. It seemed like the best route in the moment, so I took it and never looked back. I was an assistant for two seasons, and built really good relationships with stakeholders in the athletic department. Following two seasons under Bucky Maughan, he retired after 46 seasons, and the position opened up. They did a national search, and I think the relationships I had built with stakeholders, and the immediate success of the program in the two seasons I was part of it, led to a great opportunity for me to take over at North Dakota State.”
Kish built a strong program in his 12 seasons at the helm, compiling a 108-70 record. During his time, the Bison moved from the Western Wrestling Conference to the Big 12 and didn’t skip a beat. NDSU is 33-26 in its time in the Big 12, including a 6-2 mark this past season, which was good enough for fourth place during the regular season.
NDSU has sent 21 wrestlers to the NCAA Championships over the past four seasons, with nine becoming All-Americans.
While it’s now in the corner and not in the center of the mat, Kish and wrestling success have long been synonymous.
Kish was 117-27 at Minnesota, placing second in the nation as a sophomore and third as a junior. He also won a Big Ten title at 184 pounds as a sophomore.
He was 252-2 in his high school career, with both losses coming during his freshman season. The 252 wins are second in MHSAA history only to 260 won by Justin Zeerip of Hesperia. Kish was unbeaten in his last 223 matches, placing him third all-time for consecutive wins behind Zeerip and Brent Metcalf of Davison (228).
In 2003, Kish became the 11th wrestler in MHSAA history to win four individual titles. At the time, nobody had won them at higher weights, as Kish won at 160, 171, 189 and 189.
“For me, it probably didn’t feel as big in the moment as it probably did for other people,” Kish said. “For me, it was the expectation to win it as a freshman. My own father said, ‘I don’t know if he’s going to get out of the Regional.’ I took it very personal and serious. But I didn’t think of how hard it was to do in the moment. I’m in awe of how talented these (more recent four-timers) are. Doing it today is seemingly a lot more challenging.”
Wrestling has long been a family experience for Kish, as his father, Roger Kish Sr., coached alongside Hall of Famer John Virnich at Lapeer West.
Kish’s older brother James was a two-time Finals champion who wrestled at North Carolina and amassed 215 career high school victories.
“I was fortunate enough to have a father who gave a tremendous amount of care to the sport and was always trying to keep my brother and I busy throughout our youth,” Kish said. “He always had us in some sort of activity. It probably also stemmed from having an older brother that was a couple years older than myself. I was always a little bit bigger, and he was a little more agile. We were always competitors – call it a brother thing. That allowed each of us to excel in sports, having one another to compete with.”
Kish also played football at Lapeer West and was a starting varsity linebacker as a freshman.
“Wrestling was my passion,” Kish said. “I loved playing football, but it was what I did to take a break from wrestling. It allowed some different facets to cultivate in terms of building relationships and recognizing different factors that helped motivate individuals. … Understanding being on a team, and relying on and trusting other people to help you succeed, whether that’s your teammates or your coaches.”
As someone who made the most of his time in high school athletics, and now remains close to them in a recruiting aspect, Kish is fully aware of how important they are for students.
“Having an outlet for young kids to be active and learn the traits that will help them later in life – the discipline and the humility of wins and losses, the work ethic that’s necessary, understanding what goals are and how to achieve those goals, dreaming a little bigger than what’s realistic – is good for kids,” Kish said. “Athletics is a great platform to do that. Wrestling is a great platform to do that. To help them grow as young men and women, that’s extremely important.”
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PHOTOS (Top) Roger Kish stands atop the MHSAA champions podium in 2003, and was hired as Oklahoma’s head coach in May. (Middle) Kish helps Lapeer West to the Division 2 team runner-up finish with this match against Mason as a senior. (Lapeer West photos from MHSAA archives; Oklahoma photo courtesy of University of Oklahoma athletic department.)