Performance: Eaton Rapids' Austin O'Hearon
February 16, 2018
Austin O’Hearon
Eaton Rapids senior – Wrestling
O’Hearon, the reigning Division 2 individual champion at 145 pounds, led Eaton Rapids to a Team District championship on Feb. 7 as the Greyhounds won their matches by a combined score of 147-3. He then went on to win his Individual District title at 160 pounds Saturday to earn the Michigan Army National Guard “Performance of the Week.”
The Greyhounds standout claimed the Individual District title with a 6-4 championship match victory over DeWitt’s Sam York – O’Hearon is ranked No. 2 and York No. 3 at their weight in Division 2 by Michigan Grappler. O’Hearon also won their rematch this past Wednesday as No. 5 Eaton Rapids upset No. 2 DeWitt 31-26 to win a Team Regional title and advance to next weekend’s Quarterfinals for the first time since 2015. The Greyhounds are coached by Joe Ray Barry, a three-time MHSAA champion at Mason from 1997-99.
O’Hearon will bring a 176-17 career record into this weekend’s Individual Regional at Vicksburg, and he ranks third in Eaton Rapids’ illustrious history in both career victories and career takedowns with 369. He finished seventh in Division 2 at 112 pounds as a freshman and then seventh at 125 as a sophomore before claiming the title last winter at 145. He’s 41-1 this season with his only loss to Portland’s Owen Guilford after bumping up to 171 pounds; O’Hearon then handed Guilford his only loss this season in a rematch earlier this month. O’Hearon has opportunities to continue wrestling at the college level, but has planned on enlisting in the U.S. Navy – following his grandfather (Army) and father (Marines), who both also served – and would like to train to become part of the SEALs special operations force.
Coach Joe Ray Barry said: “His work ethic over the four years is what separates him from his competition – early morning workouts and late night runs. He’s in the corner for his team day in and day out, constantly pushing them to work harder than they do. He’s leading by example and stays focused.”
Performance Point: “(The season) has come along how I wanted it to,” O’Hearon said. “Everything’s falling into place. … It’s just because I work hard. There’s no substitute for hard work. I’ve just always believed that the harder I work, then success has to come with it. If you work hard at something for long enough, you’re bound to reach your goals. For me, one of the spots I lacked was strength. So my (physical education teacher) was talking to me one day, said I could come up (before school) Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays and lift with him. So I was like, ‘Yeah sure, I’ll try it.’ I just liked it. It was nice. It woke me up in the morning. I noticed wrestling I was just getting a lot stronger, and so it just all fell into play how I wanted it to.”
Back to the Finals: “We knew going in (to Wednesday’s Regional) that we could win it. We were crunching the numbers, and everywhere that we crunched it looked good. We had some things that happened … but probably the biggest thing of the night was our heavyweight getting a pin against the kid he had lost to at Districts. After he got that pin, I knew that we were going to go to team states. … Everything as a team has fallen together. At the beginning of the season we were kinda distant; now it’s more team-based. We’re all trying to be better for the team. We’ve grown as a team. We’re real close right now. It’s just making everything go smooth and easy.”
We are E.R.: “My freshman year, I knew all the seniors, I knew all the juniors. I pretty much knew everybody. There were kids I’d wrestled with in the youth (programs), so we were already like family. And that’s what I think makes Eaton Rapids better than most teams, because we’re all real close and homegrown and we’re all pretty much family. We all wrestled together in the youth programs, and now we’re wrestling high school together.”
Thanks Coach Barry: “He’s just always pushed me to be the best that I can be. He helps me with technique. He still rolls around with me up at practice every once in a while. He’s getting old now and it’s hard, because he doesn’t like the beatings … (but) yeah, I love wrestling with him. He’s still quick. He’s still strong. I can’t say enough good things about him.”
My time to lead: Just the younger kids, I try to keep them motivated, show them it is possible to win a state title and to have your team be successful. You just have to stay positive. I just try to motivate the younger guys to stick with the program, because this is what a program is built on: our seniors helping out our younger guys. I remember when I was a freshman, the seniors would always help me out … so that’s just how I try to be this year.”
- Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor
Every week during the 2017-18 school year, Second Half and the Michigan Army National Guard will recognize a “Performance of the Week" from among the MHSAA's 750 member high schools.
The Michigan Army National Guard provides trained and ready forces in support of the National Military Strategy, and responds as needed to state, local, and regional emergencies to ensure peace, order, and public safety. The Guard adds value to our communities through continuous interaction. National Guard soldiers are part of the local community. Guardsmen typically train one weekend per month and two weeks in the summer. This training maintains readiness when needed, be it either to defend our nation's freedom or protect lives and property of Michigan citizens during a local natural disaster.
Previous 2017-18 honorees:
February 9: Sophia Wiard, Muskegon Oakridge basketball - Read
February 2: Brenden Tulpa, Hartland hockey - Read
January 25: Brandon Whitman, Dundee wrestling - Read
January 18: Derek Maas, Holland West Ottawa swimming - Read
January 11: Lexi Niepoth, Bellaire basketball - Read
November 30: La'Darius Jefferson, Muskegon football - Read
November 23: Ashley Turak, Farmington Hills Harrison swimming - Read
November 16: Bryce Veasley, West Bloomfield football - Read
November 9: Jose Penaloza, Holland soccer - Read
November 2: Karenna Duffey, Macomb L'Anse Creuse North cross country - Read
October 26: Anika Dy, Traverse City Central golf - Read
October 19: Andrew Zhang, Bloomfield Hills tennis - Read
October 12: Nolan Fugate, Grand Rapids Catholic Central football - Read
October 5: Marissa Ackerman, Munising tennis - Read
September 28: Minh Le, Portage Central soccer - Read
September 21: Olivia Theis, Lansing Catholic cross country - Read
September 14: Maddy Chinn, Pontiac Notre Dame Prep volleyball - Read
PHOTOS: (Top) Eaton Rapids' Austin O’Hearon (left) works for a takedown this season. (Middle) O’Hearon’s arm is raised after he earns last season’s Division 2 title at 145 pounds. (Top photo and head shot courtesy of Eaton Rapids’ wrestling program; middle photo by 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.)