With Milestone Win, Lynch Continues to Help Fuel SMCC's Wrestling Resurgence
By
Doug Donnelly
Special for MHSAA.com
January 9, 2024
When her brother started wrestling in grade school, MaryAlice Lynch figured she would pick up the sport as well.
“I originally started wrestling with the Belleville wrestling club when I was in second or third grade,” Lynch said. “I wanted to do it because my brother was doing it, and I wanted to do everything my brother was doing. I really looked up to him. We did everything together.”
It did not take long, and Lynch – and her family – were hooked on the sport.
“I think it started off as just being something my brother (Michael) and I had in common, then it kind of grew into a whole family,” she said. “I still talk to a lot of people I met when I first started wrestling. It is like a family now. I still love it.”
She has stuck with wrestling over the years and today, Lynch is reaching milestones as a senior wrestler at Monroe St. Mary Catholic Central.
Last weekend she took part in a girls tournament Friday, then wrestled as part of an SMCC team tournament Saturday. Along the way, Lynch won her 100th career match, putting her in select company as one of the few female wrestlers in the state to reach the milestone. She is the first female wrestler in Monroe County Region history to reach 100 wins.
“It shows her dedication to the sport,” SMCC coach Nick Eby said.
Lynch went 11-9 as a freshman, 31-13 as a sophomore, 42-13 as a junior and is 17-5 this season, putting her at 101 wins going into this week.
“It’s cool to see all of the work I put in since my freshman year and how it all added up,” she said.
Lynch isn’t sure how many of those wins were against boys or came against girls.
“I don’t mind competing against the boys because that’s what I started with,” she said. “When I started, there were maybe one or two girls on my team, but there weren’t hardly any on the other teams.”
“At the end of the day, it’s still wrestling,” Lynch added. “I don’t really notice anything substantially different. I wrestle when I’m supposed to.”
Getting to 100 wins was no easy task. As a freshman, Lynch and SMCC had to navigate through COVID-19.
“We missed out on a whole bunch of meets,” she said. “I didn’t get many matches that year.”
She’s also experienced massive changes in Michigan high school wrestling. During her sophomore year, the MHSAA began sponsoring a postseason individual wrestling tournament for girls, something she was eager to take part in. For the few seasons prior, there was a girls state tournament hosted by the state coaches association.
“It was a big improvement,” she said. “The year prior we were wrestling in an old supermarket. I was really happy to be included with the guys and be at Ford Field.”
Lynch placed fourth at 105 pounds at last year’s Individual Finals. She is part of a wrestling rebirth of sorts at SMCC.
During the 1980s, the school – Monroe Catholic Central then – was a wrestling powerhouse, winning Class B titles in 1982 and 1983 and finishing runner-up in 1985.
There also was a season about six years ago, about the time current head coach Eby was graduating, when the team had just three wrestlers total.
“We didn’t have a youth program and there wasn’t much interest in the sport, honestly,” Eby said.
SMCC went 0-7 in duals in 2018-19, and Eby was hired the next year. His first season, the team consisted mainly of freshmen.
With his help – and athletes like Lynch dedicating themselves to the sport – SMCC wrestling is taking off again. Last season, SMCC won 17 matches. This year, Eby’s sixth as head coach, the Falcons have 24 wrestlers on the squad, and they are filling up every weight class and competing at a much higher level.
“I feel like last year really kicked it off,” Lynch said. “Last year, we got a lot of new people and they worked hard, and that brought in a lot of new people this year.
“I think as a team this year, things are going better than I anticipated. We lost a couple of good wrestlers, including my brother, but the newer guys have definitely stepped up. We are just making our way through the season.
Eby said Lynch has played a big part in the program’s rise.
“She’s definitely the most technical on the team and one of, if not the hardest workers, on the team,” he said. “She always has a good mindset going into her matches. For a couple of years, we didn’t have very many wrestlers, but we could always count on her to go out and fight.”
Lynch wrestles at 113 for the most part this season. Her sister, Brianna, occupies the 106-pound class.
“It’s an adjustment for her knowing she is carrying that weight class on her own, but she is doing well with it,” she said.
MaryAlice is the daughter of Collin and Christina Lynch. Her mom attended SMCC, and her dad went to Woodhaven. “My mom didn’t wrestle, but she did Tae Kwan Do in high school,” Lynch said. “My dad wrestled at Woodhaven.”
Lynch, 17, is a lifeguard during the summer at a park near her Belleville home. She is considering wrestling in college but also might have an opportunity to run track.
“It would be really weird if I wasn’t wrestling at this point,” she said.
Doug Donnelly has served as a sports and news reporter and city editor over 25 years, writing for the Daily Chief-Union in Upper Sandusky, Ohio from 1992-1995, the Monroe Evening News from 1995-2012 and the Adrian Daily Telegram since 2013. He's also written a book on high school basketball in Monroe County and compiles record books for various schools in southeast Michigan. E-mail him at [email protected] with story ideas for Jackson, Washtenaw, Hillsdale, Lenawee and Monroe counties.
PHOTOS (Top) Monroe St. Mary’s MaryAlice Lynch, in green, works to gain control during a match. (Middle) Lynch’s teammates and spectators celebrate her 100th career win. (Photos by Tom Hawley/Monroe News.)
Hillger Cashing in on Price of Excellence
January 29, 2016
By Bill Khan
Special for Second Half
LINDEN — The books are never too far away from Trent Hillger, even as he works to put his name in the Lake Fenton wrestling record books.
On Monday night, as he does occasionally, Hillger rode for an hour across mid-Michigan to work out with partners who could challenge him.
As his mother drove him home, Hillger studied with the aid of a flashlight. At breakfast the next morning, he squeezed in some more study time. On the ride to school, he put the finishing touches on a paper.
That preceded another full day at school, followed by time in the weight room and wrestling practice.
It's the price of excellence for Hillger, on the mat and in the classroom.
"It's something a lot of kids don't have to experience," said Hillger's father, David, the athletic trainer at Lake Fenton. "Good or bad, it's just something he's had to learn to deal with. I'm proud of him, because that's a challenge every day. It's not like a lot of kids who just go home and study for two or three hours; he doesn't have that liberty."
Hillger, perfect on the mat the last two seasons, is nearly perfect in the classroom. The junior carries a 3.97 grade-point average, with an A-minus in an advanced-placement class standing between him and a 4.0.
"I really have to schedule my time every week, because I'm so busy," he said.
The 6-foot-1, 230-pounder was already a standout defensive end/outside linebacker for Lake Fenton when he filled a need at quarterback last fall. As one of the biggest quarterbacks in the state, he ran 141 times for 1,342 yards and 19 touchdowns in a run-oriented offense. He was an effective passer on those rare occasions when the Blue Devils threw the ball, going 25 for 39 for 503 yards and five touchdowns.
Defensively, he had 13 tackles for losses, five sacks, five forced fumbles and three fumble recoveries.
"It was definitely a wildcat type of offense," Hillger said. "I ran the ball probably 20 times a game."
He led Lake Fenton into the second round of the MHSAA Division 4 playoffs, where the Blue Devils lost to eventual runner-up Flint Powers Catholic. For his efforts, Hillger received special mention on The Associated Press' all-state team.
But it's as a wrestler that Hillger has made the biggest name for himself.
After placing fourth in the MHSAA Division 3 individual tournament and going 57-8 at 171 pounds as a freshman, Hillger joined his head coach as Lake Fenton's only sophomore champions when he won the 215-pound title to cap a 58-0 season.
Vance Corcoran was Lake Fenton's first MHSAA champion, in the 1985 Class C tournament, then won again as a senior in 1987.
Shaun Mann (1994-95) and Ryan Ruddy (1996-97) are Lake Fenton's only other two-time champions.
"We've never had a three-timer, so he's got a chance to do that," Corcoran said. "We've had some really good kids come through the program; Trent's right there. Not only is he a great kid, but he's respected by all of his teammates. He's a 4.0 student, he's one of the best captains we've ever had and he's dependable."
Hillger is 39-0 in his quest to join the list of Lake Fenton's two-time champions. Of those victories, only three weren't pins or forfeits. He won one match by technical fall, one by a 6-1 decision over 2015 Division 1 qualifier Brandon Krol of Hartland ... and one in a match that exceeded the hype.
Hillger went four overtimes against Lapeer's Dan Perry on Dec. 19 in a battle between two MHSAA champions who are ranked among the top nine nationally. With an escape in the fourth overtime, Hillger escaped with a 4-3 victory in the Genesee County Wrestling Championships at Davison.
"It's exciting," Hillger said. "I like having close matches like that, but it's a little nerve-racking having an overtime match."
Hillger, who has won 97 straight high school matches, is ranked No. 6 nationally at heavyweight by InterMat and No. 8 by FloWrestling. Perry, who has signed with Michigan, is No. 4 in FloWrestling's rankings and No. 9 on InterMat. The two are expected to meet again on Saturday in the Lapeer Tournament.
"I look at them, yeah," Hillger said of the rankings. "It's cool. College is where it all matters. That's what I'm looking forward to if I choose wrestling."
Hillger's combination of academic and athletic prowess has attracted the attention of Ivy League schools for football and wrestling. He's also been recruited by Iowa, Missouri, Wake Forest and Eastern Michigan for football. In wrestling, Indiana, Iowa State, Michigan and North Carolina State have expressed interest.
While choosing which school to attend, Hillger also has to decide which sport to continue at the next level. That decision may be more difficult.
"I have choices for both," said Hillger, who wants to get into sports nutrition or athletic training. "I'd say in wrestling I have a bit more, but they're the same level, the same caliber of teams. I couldn't decide. I've been doing both of them my whole life. It'll be a tough decision when I decide next year which sport I'll go into."
Hillger is a unique wrestling athlete in that he's successfully made the jump from 171 pounds to heavyweight in two years' time. The skills that were necessities in the lower weight class serve Hillger well against the big boys in a division that maxes out at 285 pounds.
"During the summer, I knew I'd be at heavyweight, so I started wrestling up in weight classes," Hillger said. "I was wrestling really small. I'd wrestle 280-pound guys at 200 pounds, just to get used to it; it transferred over. Now I'm really comfortable at heavyweight. You've just got to use your speed and don't get stuck underneath a guy. Once you get stuck underneath, you're not getting up."
Hillger said he kept "my little-man mentality" when he moved up to heavyweight.
"I'm trying to stay fast, but I also got stronger in the other weight classes," he said. "That helped me to be faster than everyone else and still have the strength of the big guys. A lot of heavyweights wrestle up top. I like to stay low and take a bunch of shots, keep the pace going, make it a fast pace."
Like many wrestlers who enter elite high school programs, Hillger had a wealth of experience at a high level since he began competing at age 6. What set him apart was that he was having immediate success in one of the heavier weight classes.
"From day one, the kid's come in and he's mature and he's a hard worker," Corcoran said. "So, all the seniors took to him right away. They saw his work ethic. We get freshmen come in every now and then who come in like that, but not at the 171 weight class where he's wrestling men. Right away, he dominated. He's kept that same work ethic. I think it's even gotten better over the years, if that's possible."
Hillger is trying to not only repeat as an individual champion, but get Lake Fenton its first team title.
The Blue Devils are 27-3 and ranked No. 3 in Division 3 by MichiganGrappler.com. They are coming off a 42-22 victory on Wednesday over perennial power New Lothrop, the top-ranked team in Division 4.
"We should make the Finals," Hillger said. "Our team is very good, so the Finals is definitely a realistic goal. It will be tough to beat (top-ranked) Dundee; we'll have to have a few matches go our way."
Hillger has traveled across the country wrestling at a high level throughout his summers, but said the camaraderie of high school wrestling is hard to beat.
"It's an individual sport, but having your whole team cheering you on the side is nice," he said. "Seeing how far your team can go in team states is cool, seeing the whole team come together.
"When I wrestle by myself, I always have friends around at national tournaments, but it's not the same as having your team on the sidelines, getting excited for your matches."
Bill Khan served as a sportswriter at The Flint Journal from 1981-2011 and currently contributes to the State Champs! Sports Network. 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) Trent Hillger works against Grand Rapids Catholic Central's Grant Tennihill during last season's MHSAA Division 3 Final at 215 pounds. (Middle) Hillger stands at the top of the podium after winning the championship. (Click for more photos from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)