Lowell's Boone Ends as 2nd 8-Time Champion
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
March 7, 2020
DETROIT – Brent Metcalf. Austin Boone.
That’s it. That’s the list.
Boone, a senior at Lowell, became the second wrestler in MHSAA history Saturday to win four individual titles while being part of four team titles, as he defeated Gaylord’s Chase LaJoie 4-3 at 145 pounds during the Division 2 Individual Finals at Ford Field.
Metcalf, who eventually became an NCAA champion and competed on the international stage, was the first to accomplish the feat, achieving his at Davison from 2002-05.
“It’s cool,” Boone said. “Like I’ve been telling everybody else, I’m not really thinking about it too much. It’s kind of cool, but I don’t pay attention to stuff like that.”
He and Mendon’s Skyler Crespo became the 27th and 28th four-time individual champions in MHSAA history, nearly simultaneously.
Boone (41-0), who had defeated LaJoie by major decision a week earlier in the Team Finals, had to stave off a late reversal attempt Saturday.
It was a matchup of multiple-time champions, as LaJoie (38-2) had won as a freshman and sophomore. It was also a matchup of Division I talents, as Boone has signed with Penn State, and LaJoie will continue his career at Cornell.
“It’s a great match; it’s my closest finals match I’ve had,” Boone said. “He’s a great wrestler. He’s going to do great things in college. Today I got him.”
103
Champion: Nolan Wertanen, St. Joseph, Soph. (46-2)
Decision, 4-3, over Grant Stahl, Mount Pleasant, Fr. (39-3)
Wertanen couldn’t compete a year ago in the Finals, as he fractured his wrist shortly before the postseason started. He made up for lost time Saturday.
“I’ve been waiting my entire life to do something like this, ever since I started wrestling when I was 4,” Wertanen said. “To go out there and do something my dad could never do – I've just always wanted to win a state championship, and last year it sucked because I couldn’t, because I was hurt. Coming out here and winning it like this, especially after having a few losses that I shouldn’t have earlier in the year, it just feels great.”
112
Champion: Jacob Brya, St. Johns, Soph. (41-0)
Major decision, 19-7, over Jack Parker, Spring Lake, Jr. (44-3)
For the second straight year, Brya put on a dominant display at the Individual Finals. After winning the title at 103 a year ago, Brya had a pair of first-period falls and a technical fall on his way to Saturday’s final, which he dominated from the beginning.
“I wasn’t as nervous this year,” Brya said. “It wasn’t that much different, but I still wasn’t as nervous this year.”
Brya is already thinking of the possibility of joining the growing list of four-time champs.
“I want to be a four-timer,” he said. “That’s why I train two-a-days four days a week.”
119
Champion: Joe Haynes, Warren Woods Tower, Jr. (49-3)
Major decision, 11-2, over Trevor Marsman, Cedar Springs, Jr. (52-2)
Haynes came up one match short of a Finals title a year ago, but he wasn’t about to be denied again.
He wasn’t scored on in his first three matches of the tournament, and dominated the final, allowing only two escapes.
“I just needed to stay in good position and score when the opportunities came,” Haynes said. “I felt like I didn’t want to repeat last year, that was more of the pressure. I didn’t feel like I was the No. 1 kid – rankings don’t matter. I just go in every match thinking everyone’s the same.”
125
Champion: Andrew Hughes, Charlotte, Sr. (50-1)
Decision, 9-5, over John Henry Sosa, Gaylord, Sr. (41-3)
Hughes became Charlotte’s first Finals champion since 1997, knocking off the weight’s top-ranked wrestler.
He was dominant on his feet, setting the tone with a first-period takedown, and adding three more throughout the match.
“I’ve worked my whole season, my whole life for this,” Hughes said. “It just feels huge. I tried to get as early of a lead as I could and keep building on it, really break him. … I feel like I did it for my city, so this is big.”
130
Champion: Micah Hanau, Stevensville Lakeshore, Soph. (41-4)
Decision, 4-1 (OT), over Zeth Strejc, Lowell, Jr. (27-14)
Hanau was very nearly rolled early in overtime, but he was able to not only counter the move and stay alive but fight for the winning takedown.
“I just couldn’t control his hand-fighting – it was hard to keep him off my legs,” Hanau said. “I was able to keep him down and score. It’s fun. There's a lot of pressure, but it’s great to win.”
135
Champion: Shane Williams, Stevensville Lakeshore, Sr. (44-2)
Decision, 6-3, over Nick Matusko, Chelsea, Sr. (48-1)
Two weeks ago, Matusko knocked off Williams in the Regional final.
This time, the Lakeshore senior had a plan to turn things around.
“I think I needed to escape on bottom, because he rode me out for two periods,” said Williams, who picked up his 150th career win. “He would just stop my leg when I stood up, so I worked on that the past two weeks. It helped me out a bit that I got out right away.”
140
Champion: Nate Young, Holly, Sr. (49-1)
Decision, 4-2, over Chris Haynes, Eaton Rapids, Sr. (45-2)
After coming up one match shy of winning a Finals title a year ago, Young was thrilled to get to the top of the podium this year.
Even if the match didn’t feature the amount of points he is accustomed to racking up.
“Last year I came up a little bit short, and it always hurt knowing I was right there but didn’t quite get it done,” Young said. “So, it feels great to come back and finish what I started. I come into every match thinking that I just want to have fun and score points. Obviously, I didn’t score many points, but I still had fun.”
152
Champion: Jacob Gonzales, Holly, Soph. (55-0)
Fall, 5:52, over James Fotis, Lowell, Sr. (29-6)
Gonzales’ unbeaten season and Finals championship dreams were on the ropes in the third period, but the Holly sophomore came up big when it counted most.
Trailing 6-2 late in the match, Gonzales took Fotis to his back and was able to get the pin to claim his title.
“It was pretty amazing,” Gonzales said. “Throughout the whole match, I was thinking about how I was going to score points. I knew I needed a big move, so I went for it. I saw his legs were too close together and he wasn’t moving as he should have, and I capitalized.”
160
Champion: Caleb Fish, Eaton Rapids, Sr. (46-0)
Decision, 2-1 (UTB), over Colton Blaha, Owosso, Sr. (54-2)
After cruising through his first three matches with pins, Fish found himself in a battle against Blaha.
Fish exploded for an escape from the bottom position in the first period of ultimate tie-breaker, and held on in the second to claim his second straight title.
“In my head I was thinking, ‘I ain’t letting him up,’” Fish said. “Holding him down was my train of thought. I knew he wasn’t going to be ready for me to blow off the bottom as fast as I did. It just comes from the heart. Eaton Rapids has only had a few two-timers, so that was my dream.”
171
Champion: Omari Embree, Warren Woods-Tower, Soph. (29-2)
Decision, 3-2, over Cody Brenner, New Boston Huron, Jr. (48-3)
Embree didn’t think he wrestled his best in the Regional final when he lost to Brenner.
He made sure that wouldn’t be the case Saturday as he claimed his second Finals title in as many tries.
“I knew he wasn’t a better athlete than me – a better wrestler than me,” Embree said. “I didn’t wrestle my match when I wrestled him in Regionals. I wrestled my match, now I’m the champ when it mattered. I wanted to just stay low and focus on me.”
189
Champion: Tristan Vance, Clio, Sr. (19-3)
Decision, 8-6, over John Shelton, East Grand Rapids, Sr. (50-1)
Vance held off a late headlock attempt from Shelton, but it was close.
The Clio senior, who missed most of the season with a back injury, was able to stay off his back and not give up a takedown as the final seconds ticked off the clock.
“I gotta get my hips down; I gotta stay flat,” Vance said of what was going through his head. “I wasn’t giving up any back points, no way. I knew I had to get to my offense and not play his game. Do what I do best, and that’s how it goes.”
215
Champion: Hunter McCall, Muskegon Reeths-Puffer, Sr. (47-1)
Major decision, 9-1, over Keegan Nugent, Lowell, Jr. (35-8)
McCall put an exclamation point on a year-long quest to getting to the top of the podium with a dominant Finals performance.
He was third a year ago, which motivated him to take the next step this season.
“This is something I’ve been working for ever since I started,” McCall said. “I always wanted to be the best, always wanted to be on top. I fell short – I fell real short the last few years. I had five coaches telling me, ‘Hunter, you can be the best. You can go out there and win it.’ I just bought into what they said day in and day out. I haven’t stopped wrestling. I’ve been wrestling for 365 days straight since I lost last year.”
285
Champion: Jack Gilchrist, Mason, Sr. (45-2)
Decision, 8-2, over Joe Harper, Imlay City, Sr. (46-2)
Gilchrist said the beatings he took early in his career in the Mason wrestling room paved the way for Saturday’s triumph.
He spent time in practices with 2018 Finals champion Riley Smith, who helped shape his career.
“It’s amazing to follow my best friend Riley who was a state champ two years ago,” Gilchrist said. “He worked with me every day. He was way better than me, he would pin me in 30 seconds, but he would work with me every day. I get to work with all these guys, I’m just fortunate. (Harper) is a Greco guy, so he was trying to throw me or toss me, but it did not work.”
PHOTO: Austin Boone’s arm is raised Saturday after he became the second wrestler in MHSAA history to win four individual and four team Finals championships. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Champ Lilly Honed In on Historic Quest
By
Paul Costanzo
Special for MHSAA.com
January 15, 2020
Chris Lilly could have plenty of thoughts racing through his mind as he goes through his senior wrestling season at Croswell-Lexington.
It’s his final year wrestling for his dad, Cros-Lex coach Joe Lilly, who has been in his corner since he began wrestling at 7 years old.
It could be his final year wrestling competitively period, as he’s not sure he’ll continue with the sport in college.
He’s a returning MHSAA Finals champion, having won the Division 2 title at 135 pounds a year ago, which has placed a target squarely on his back. Lilly is also the first Cros-Lex wrestler to ever have the chance to win a second title, as the school’s previous two champions – Donnie Corby and Collin Lieber – won as seniors.
But Lilly isn’t thinking too much about any of that. He’s just thinking about wrestling.
“I’m just going to do what I do,” Lilly said. “I don’t feel pressured. I just feel like it’s my last season, so I’m going to work hard, and the outcome will be what it is. I know I have the opportunity to (be the program’s first two-time MHSAA champion), and that’s another motivation. But I don’t think about it like that all the time. I just feel free. I feel like if it happens, it happens. I want it to.”
Lilly’s approach is working as he’s 24-0 on the season and recently recorded his 150th career victory. While the possibility of creating Cros-Lex history is in front of him, what he’s already done makes him one of the program’s greatest of all-time.
“That’s awesome,” Joe Lilly said. “That’s beyond words and beyond my expectations. That’s never been put on the plate that it was what the expectation was. The main expectation for my kids is to put their best effort into everything they do. To now see where he’s come with that is phenomenal.”
As noted above, Chris began wrestling when he was 7 and has been coached by his dad the entire time. But he has been around the Cros-Lex program essentially since birth.
“I was actually looking through pictures for graduation with my mom, and she kept pulling up pictures of me in (Dad’s) arms in the middle school gym with the wrestling team,” Chris said. “Ever since I was little, I was with him there.”
It was in sixth grade, Joe said, that things really started to click for Chris. That was the year Corby, a 2008 graduate, came back to coach after finishing his career at Central Michigan University.
“I looked up to Donnie a lot,” Chris said. “I remember coming in when I was really little, and he’d mess around with me. When he went away and wrestling season would roll around, I’d always remember him and I’d look in the hall, look in the wrestling room and see his picture on the wall and think that I wanted to be that. When he came back, it made me want to buy in. Then (Lieber) comes around, and he was just another perfect role model for me. He was (a senior) my freshman year. He was a really good friend and role model.”
As a freshman and sophomore, Chris qualified for the MHSAA Finals but didn’t place. He entered last year’s tournament as a Regional runner-up with a 48-7 record, but battled through his bracket, defeating Madison Heights Lamphere’s Matthew Tomsett 6-3 in the final.
“If you would have told me that I was going to be a state champ my freshman year, I probably would have called you silly,” he said. “Honestly though, before states we were running in the wrestling room and I turned the corner and looked toward the door – that's where Collin’s picture and Donnie’s pictures are at – and that’s where I wanted to be. I felt like I had the stuff to do it. Checking into our hotel, the other wrestlers were there and I looked at every one of them and I wanted to wrestle them all in the lobby. I knew I could (win) it. We get there, and something just clicked. It was amazing. I felt like I couldn’t be stopped.”
While Chris was confident, it didn’t stop his dad from taking part in what has become a pre-Finals ritual of sorts.
“In all of my state championship matches that I’ve had kids wrestle, I’ve thrown up before we stepped on the mat,” Joe Lilly said. “In all three of them. With Chris, I was thinking I was fine, then they called his name and I threw up in the garbage can and went and met him at the mat. The component of it being your son, it’s a whole new dimension. But actually, once we got wrestling, it was the same as coaching him all year.”
Chris has a video saved on his phone of the post-match celebration, when the emotion of the moment started to hit and he jumped into his dad’s arms. It’s a video he said he watches every night.
He’s motivated to enjoy that feeling again. But more than that, he’s motivated to show everyone that he can earn it once more.
“I feel like I still have something to prove,” he said. “I feel like people kind of doubt it. I was ranked seventh, and they say it was a fluke. I have to go back, and I have to prove it wasn’t.”
To do that, he’s focused on keeping things normal and not worrying about all that surrounds this season.
“It’s business as usual,” Chris said. “I get in the room and do what needs to be done. We work hard, but I kind of try to keep it light. That’s been kind of my key this year, is to have fun, like I did last 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 Chris Lilly has his hand raised in victory during last season’s MHSAA Division 2 Individual Finals at Ford Field. (Middle) Lilly’s father and coach, Joe (front), celebrates his son’s win. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)