Niles' Season History in the Making
February 1, 2013
By Geoff Kimmerly
Second Half editor
Before every match this season, coach Todd Hesson has reminded his Niles wrestlers of the opportunities before them.
Calling every face-off a chance to make history has been more than just encouragement. This season is looking good to go down as the best in the Vikings’ long history.
Niles has won a school-record 29 matches, with just one loss. Last weekend, for the first time, the Vikings repeated as Berrien County Invitational champions. They wrestle in the Southwestern Michigan Athletic Conference tournament Saturday, and next week will attempt to win their District for the second straight season – which also would be a first.
“All of these kids have stuck together,” said Hesson, who was promoted to varsity coach in 2007-08. “When these seniors started, they took a beating. But we haven’t changed the competition. They've just weathered the storm.”
“We had 20 (wins) exactly, 20-16 (when they were freshmen). It was not a pretty record. But we saw a big jump (from them) as sophomores.”
And the rest, literally, is history.
The list of teams Niles has beaten this winter compares well with the best slates in the state – Division 1 No. 10 Battle Creek Lakeview, Division 2 No. 2 Lowell, No. 4 Allegan and formerly-ranked Mason, and Division 3 No. 3 Whitehall and No. 9 Saginaw Swan Valley. The lone loss came to Shelby, the No. 5 team in Division 3, 31-29.
Four seniors anchor the Niles lineup, including three MHSAA Finals qualifiers from last season. Total, four Vikings made the individual Finals a year ago – seniors Ryan Casey, Fritzel Findeisen and Casey Burandt and sophomore Brendon Meek.
Casey is 39-0 this season at 189 pounds and has tied the school career record with 76 pins. He’s ranked fourth in Division 2 at his weight class, with Burandt fourth at 145 pounds despite missing significant time with a broken hand and Findeisen sixth at 152. Senior Derek Scott is ranked seventh at 285 pounds and senior Nick Zimmerman is sixth at 119.
“They’re a tough group of kids. They work hard,” Hesson said. “Quite honestly, and I say it all the time, but I’m blessed with a good group of kids. They do what you ask.”
All four classes contribute to the Vikings' line-up, and the team bond grew strong over the summer during a week-long camp hosted by former University of Wisconsin All-American Jeff Jordan. Niles wrestlers entered Jordan’s Ohio facility and left only for morning runs and meals, even sleeping on the mats at night – although Hesson “cheated” a few times by sleeping in the team van.
Some of his wrestlers may not have been too excited about the camp at the time, but understand its worth after what they've accomplished this season. Hesson said they’ll return this summer.
And by then, the Vikings could surely be able to boast that this was their best season ever.
Banners hang in Niles wrestling room highlighting the team’s District and Regional championships. The Regional banner lists only two seasons – 1935 and 1960. Niles has never advanced to MHSAA Team Finals weekend since the team championship format was added in 1988.
An obstacle often has been powerful Stevensville Lakeshore, a Division 2 Quarterfinalist the last five seasons. But Niles, after beating Lakeshore by 7.5 points to win the 2012 Berrien County Invitational, repeated last weekend by finishing 62 points ahead of the field.
Even as Hesson admits his program still has a ways to go to join Lakeshore as a regular southwestern Michigan power, he likes to think the Vikings are headed that way. The next month could tell more of how far they've come.
“ We've had some pretty good teams going all the way back to my first year. But Lakeshore had better teams; they were stacked,” Hesson said. “Not to take away anything from them, but they made us better … another notch or two or three.”
PHOTO: Niles' Fritzel Findeisen (in white) wrestles during last season's MHSAA Division 2 Individual Finals at The Palace of Auburn Hills. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
After Back to Back Runners-Up, Detroit Catholic Central Back on Top
By
Dean Holzwarth
Special for MHSAA.com
February 25, 2023
KALAMAZOO – The Detroit Catholic Central wrestling team had grown tired of being second best.
After two straight runner-up finishes, the Shamrocks (28-2) returned to the top in Division 1 after a 41-31 victory over Hartland at Wings Event Center on Saturday.
And what did Shamrocks coach Mitch Hancock do to motivate his team to finally get over the hump?
He reminded them of their past shortcomings.
“The first day of practice I put a picture up of the runner-up trophy from last year all over the locker room,” Hancock said. “Over the water fountain, in front of the urinals, it was everywhere. They weren't too happy about it, so we left it up for a few months and then they got rid of it on their own.
“I think these guys were pretty disappointed the last two years, and we thought we were close.”
Senior Dylan Gilcher, a three-time individual champion who’s headed to Michigan next, wasn’t fond of his coach’s motivational tactic.
However, it provided all the inspiration they needed.
“It was horrible,” said Gilcher, who earned an 18-6 major decision at 150 pounds. “I mean, every time we went to the bathroom we were just staring at it. Every time we walked into the locker room. It was bad.
“Not only that, but it was my sophomore and junior years. It’s a feeling you never want to have again, especially after feeling it two years in a row. I think all of the returning guys worked really hard ourselves. The coaches didn’t have to push us as much because we wanted it ourselves as a team.”
Hancock credited his coaching staff for the diligent preparation.
“I didn’t have to do much,” he said. “Our staff is incredible, perhaps the greatest coaching staff in the state, and they had those guys ready to go.”
Gilcher said it was the perfect ending to his career, and it erased the frustration of falling short the past two years.
“It’s amazing to end like this because we couldn’t get it done my sophomore and junior year,” he said. “To go out with one is a great feeling. We are bringing it back home, and you have to love that.”
The Division 1 Final featured the top-ranked teams in the state.
Hartland (27-2), in search of its first Finals’ title since 2016, finished runner-up for the sixth time in program history.
The two programs had faced each other in early December, when DCC provided Hartland’s only other loss 47-15.
“We opened with CC to kind of see where we were at, and we tried to progress and grow so we could eventually win this in the end,” Eagles coach Kyle Summerfield said. “Obviously we came up short, but I am very proud of all the kids’ efforts from top to bottom.
“We competed in every match and we really did our very best, and you can't ask for anything more from the kids. I'm proud of them for that.”
DCC had won four consecutive Division 1 team titles from 2017-2020. The Shamrocks also captured three straight from 2012-2014.
“There’s a baseline that has been established with our program, but it’s not given to you just because you’re from CC,” Hancock said. “You have to work for it, and overall I’m just really excited for our community. The trophy is where it belongs now.”
Hartland tied the match early at 12-12 with a pin from Dallas Korponic at 120 pounds, but the Shamrocks seized control by winning five of the next six weight classes.
“(Hartland) competed really well, and they flipped a few matches from earlier in the year,” Hancock said. “He does a great job with that team, and that’s the best I’ve seen them compete. That’s a very good program.”
DCC got past fifth-seeded Romeo in the Semifinals 51-10, while Hartland earned a 38-28 win over Rockford. The Shamrocks opened with a Quarterfinal win over Warren De La Salle Collegiate, while the Eagles opened by edging Temperance Bedford 31-28.
PHOTOS (Top) DCC’s Clayton Jones, top, locks up with Hartland’s Gavin Kern at 144 pounds. (Middle) Hartland’s Dallas Korponic and the Shamrocks’ Michael Cannon work for leverage at 120. (Click for more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)