DCC Wins D1 Clash of Annual Contenders
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
February 29, 2020
KALAMAZOO – Brendin Yatooma was blocking out all of the noise Saturday at Wings Events Center.
The Detroit Catholic Central senior 215-pounder proudly hoisted the Division 1 MHSAA Team Wrestling Finals championship trophy over his head, a smile plastered on his face as the Shamrocks crowd roared in approval.
Yatooma and his teammates had just claimed the school’s fourth straight title, defeating Davison 34-23 in a match that pitted rival powerhouses and drew heightened emotions across an entire corner of the arena.
“It means a ton to us. It means a ton to the community,” Yatooma said. “Being able to come out here and make history, especially with how rich in wrestling we are as a school. Just being able to be remembered for that makes a huge impact on us. It’s something that we’ll never forget for the rest of our lives. It’s great.”
The title was the 14th in Catholic Central history, but this was the first time the school had won four in a row.
Emotions ran highest during a pivotal match at 189 pounds, which featured two of the state’s best wrestlers in Davison’s Alex Facundo and Catholic Central’s Manny Rojas. Facundo, a two-time Finals champion who has committed to Penn State, was leading 5-2 in the second period when he was called for an illegal move.
Rojas was evaluated on the mat for a concussion, and it was determined he could not continue. Because the injury occurred on the illegal move, Catholic Central was awarded six points for the match, which gave the Shamrocks a 23-18 lead.
“Not the way we wanted it, but without that, we still win that dual by two points,” said DCC coach Mitch Hancock, who added that Rojas had been taken to a local hospital for further evaluation. “The big guys up top stepped up. It’s unfortunate; our thoughts and prayers are with Manny. We just hope he gets better quick.”
Davison’s acting coach Zac Hall – who was filling in for longtime coach Roy Hall, who had been in a car accident and couldn’t attend but is said to be doing well – echoed his team’s disappointment with how the match concluded.
“You even saw it in the atmosphere – it was very back and forth, electric. Then once that happened, it was kind of eerie silent,” Zac Hall said.
“I hope Manny is OK. I know Manny, I’ve trained Manny. He’s a really good kid. Like I said, I just wish things would have worked out differently and I wish that it could have been handled on the mat.”
Catholic Central (20-3) clinched the dual in the next two weight classes, as Yatooma and Steven Kolcheff picked up pins at 215 and 285, respectively. Davison (20-3) got decisions from Aden Williams (103) and Caden Horwath (112) to close out the dual.
“I didn’t tell (Yatooma) anything. He’s a veteran,” Hancock said. “He pinned his way through the individual state tournament last year. You don’t tell him anything, just wrestle.”
The two nationally-heralded teams battled it out throughout the dual, which featured a total of 16 wrestlers who were ranked either No. 1 or 2 in their weight class.
Catholic Central’s Dylan Gilcher bumped up a weight and opened the dual with a 6-5 win at 119 pounds. Davison countered with a pin by Andrew Chambal at 125 and an overtime win from Kyle White at 130 to take a 9-3 lead.
The Shamrocks went ahead 13-9 after Josh Edmond won by technical fall at 135, and Camden Trupp won by pin at 140.
Davison won three of the next four, however, and led 18-17 heading into the Facundo/Rojas match. James Johnston (145) and Josh Barr (152) each won close decisions, while Max Callahan won 11-5 at 171. Catholic Central’s one win in between was a 5-1 decision by Derek Gilcher at 160.
“Being a part of this is just spectacular,” Yatooma said. “I’m just speechless. I don’t have any words to describe the entire situation. It’s just something that can only be experienced.”
Davison, meanwhile, will have to focus its energy on coming back next season and stopping the Shamrocks from getting a fifth straight.
“This is already an incredibly motivated group,” Zac Hall said. “Nobody really aside from our community really gave us a shot to do this at the beginning of the year. (Catholic Central) came in ranked third in the country, and our guys came in and competed. As the year progressed, we got better. I think we came out here and put one hell of a show on. You can see in these guys’ faces how much passion, time and effort we’ve really put into this year. We’ll come back with a vengeance.”
Catholic Central defeated Temperance Bedford 68-6 in the Semifinal, while Davison defeated Brighton 35-29.
Trupp, Derek Gilcher, Rojas, Yatooma and Kolcheff all won three matches on the weekend for the Shamrocks. Chambal, White, Johnston, Barr and Horwath won three for Davison.
PHOTOS: (Top) Detroit Catholic Central’s Brendin Yatooma points to his team’s fans after his win at 215 pounds Saturday afternoon. (Middle) Yatooma battles Davison’s Jimmy Colley. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
2-Time Champion Langewicz Paving Historic Path Amid Growing Spotlight
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
December 20, 2023
Sky Langewicz knows she’s part of something special.
The Algonac junior started her high school career the same year the MHSAA Girls Wrestling Finals debuted. And as she’s brought home a pair of Finals titles to cap her first two years, she’s also watched the sport grow rapidly around her.
“There were other girls state tournaments, so I always knew I could do that,” Langewicz said. “But I’m really thankful my freshman year was the first year. … It’s kind of cool to be part of it all happening. It happened so fast. I went from being one of the only girls in youth wrestling, now there are women’s high school teams around me. It’s cool to see all these girls joining. It’s really cool to be part of it.”
Langewicz is not just part of it – she’s one of the best, not only in the state, but the nation in a sport that’s booming. She’s ranked No. 11 in the nation at 110 pounds by FloWrestling and has built up an impressive resume over her first two seasons.
Her two Finals titles – at 105 and 110 pounds – are joined by a pair of MUSAW Freestyle state championships. During her sophomore year, she won the Michigan Grappler Fall Classic and placed fourth in the USAW Central Regional Championships. She also placed second in the Macomb County Invitational and third in the Blue Water Area Conference championships, both boys tournaments.
She’s never lost a girls high school match, and this season, she’s off to a 6-3 start at 113 pounds, with all her matches coming against boys. Two of her three losses came to unbeaten wrestlers.
Most of her matches are still wrestled against boys, and she’s OK with that. She was 42-5 a year ago against the boys – 14-0 against girls – and her freshman year she was torn on whether to enter the boys or the girls MHSAA Tournament before ultimately deciding to become part of history.
“That was the big question,” said Langewicz, who was 19-0 against girls as a freshman. “That wasn’t completely my decision, but I thought it was better to win it in the girls than to be a boys state placer.”
Both of Langewicz’s Finals titles finished with wins against Gaylord’s Sunni LaFond. Langewicz won 5-3 in the 2023 Finals, and 3-0 in 2022.
She isn’t sure what weight class she will eventually wind up at for this year’s tournament, but seeing LaFond, who is also a junior, is certainly a real possibility.
“I think it’s pretty cool to have that rivalry,” Langewicz said. “It’s a pretty big part of wrestling, to have a rivalry like that.”
A girls rivalry is fairly new for Langewicz, as she’s been competing against the boys her entire life. She played quarterback on a boys football team in third grade, and in her first youth wrestling season, mostly against boys, she went 15-3.
“It was pretty quick,” Algonac coach Brian Ranger said of when he knew Langewicz could be special. “I knew if I could just point her in the right direction, and do what I can here locally, she had the ability. It was just a matter of making it happen.”
While Clawson’s Katlyn Pizzo, a two-time MHSAA Finals qualifier and 2017 placer, is the one girl Langewicz remembers watching compete when she was younger, Langewicz’s older brothers really sparked her interest in the sport.
“I always went to their tournaments and always thought it was fun,” she said. “I was already involved in other sports, football was one of those, and those boys were my friends, so I wanted to be part of it.”
Now, however, Langewicz is giving girls in Algonac and around the state someone to look up to as their interest in the sport grows. Among them is Ranger’s daughter, Emma, a third grader in Algonac’s youth program.
That’s not lost on Langewicz.
“I feel like I have a lot of responsibility with that,” she said. “Knowing that I have a lot of girls, even in Algonac, there are so many that look up to me, and so many that tell me they started wrestling because they saw me.”
As Langewicz handles the duties of being a role model, she’s also chasing her own dreams on the mat and juggling decisions about her future.
As a junior, what happens after high school is still an open question. But it’s not just where Langewicz will go, but if she will wrestle at all.
She’s undecided on that, currently, as even though the number of women’s collegiate wrestling programs is growing, it’s still relatively small. That means finding the right athletic and academic fit is tougher, and Langewicz – who has spoken with multiple colleges – currently wants to become a chiropractor.
Whether or not she chooses to wrestle in college, she has a chance to become part of an exclusive club.
Thanks to great timing – and great wrestling – Langewicz has a chance to become one of the first four-time girls MHSAA Individual Finals champions. Both her and Fowlerville’s Margaret Buurma are on pace through two years.
“That’s the vision,” Ranger said. “She’s good enough, she just has to believe in herself. Now that she’s done it a couple times, she knows that she’s good enough. There are so many factors – being healthy, having great training partners in the room. She does a lot in spring and summer. We’re excited for her to have a chance at No. 3 this year, then hopefully there’s a chance to win four.”
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) Algonac’s Sky Langewicz, left, wrestles Gaylord’s Sunni LaFond during last season’s Individual Finals at Ford Field. (Middle) Langewicz’s arm is raised in victory. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)