Richmond 'Works Hard' to Contend Again
By
Tom Markowski
Special for Second Half
February 8, 2016
RICHMOND – Every sport seems to have its glamour position.
Baseball and softball have their home run hitters. In football, it’s the quarterback. In volleyball, the player who collects the most spikes makes the highlight reel. And for those in track and field, the fastest runner receives all the glory.
There’s nothing pretty about wrestling. It’s a blue-collar sport where athletes compete like tigers in a cage. They eye their opponent, take a few steps, then make their move. Usually the strongest wins, but quickness often trumps strength – especially in the lower weight divisions.
One fact separates an average program from those that achieve success consistently, and that’s hard work. Sounds trite, but it’s true. Unless there is a wide variance in talent, the wrestler who out-works the opponent wins.
At Richmond, a town of about 6,000 people located in rural northern Macomb County, there’s no substitute for hard work. And for the school’s varsity wrestling coach Brandon Day, there is no tolerance for a lack of hard work.
The Blue Devils have won four of the last six Division 3 titles including last season. And despite losing 11 of their 14 starters, they are one of the top contenders again and No. 3 in the final regular-season Division 3 rankings.
“We have some talented kids,” Day said. “But we get the most out of them. It’s a total community effort here. Now I’m starting to get the kids who had dads and uncles wrestle here. We have one of the smallest schools (by enrollment) at the Finals, but we’ll have some of the biggest crowds.
“I guess we’re a lot like Lowell. It’s a community. They made the football Finals and their wrestling program is among the best. A lot of our kids play football, too. The kids want to be a part of it. There’s no selfishness.”
Day, a graduate of Imlay City, is in his 12th season as Richmond’s head coach. Growing up in a rural area, Day understands the mentality of participating in small-town athletics. The student you are competing with as a senior is the same person with whom you attended first grade.
One of five seniors on the team, Aaron Kilburn, is one of the three returning who started last season. As a freshman, he finished third at the 103-pound weight division. Kilburn was an MHSAA champion at 112 his sophomore year and, as a junior, finished second at 119. He competes at 125 this season.
The other two returners are Graham Barton at 135 and Cody Keller at 119. Both were MHSAA Finals qualifiers last season.
“We’re young,” Kilburn said. “We’ve developed the young guys as the season has gone on. Here everyone busts their butts every day. There are no slackers.
“A lot of the guys play football. I don’t. I just wrestle. We get a month off a year. The rest of the time we train in the offseason getting ready. I love the sport. It’s a passion. It’s just you and the other guy on the mat. Your teammates can’t help you then. It’s just you. I like working hard.”
The Blue Devils are improving. They lost to Division 1 No. 6 Oxford in a close match early in the season and last week at the Macomb-Oakland Invitational held at Oxford, Richmond went 5-0 highlighted by a 44-24 victory over the host.
Richmond’s Team District is Feb. 10 at Algonac, and for Richmond to be successful the Blue Devils must have solid matches from underclassmen like Colton McKiernan (171), Alex Roberts (140) and Tyler Marino (215), all of whom are sophomores.
Day is hoping the demanding schedule he put together begins to pay off. He’s taken his team to tournaments in Defiance, Ohio; Fort Wayne, Indiana; and Cleveland to help the team prepare for the postseason.
“We like to have the kids go against the best as much as possible,” he said. “We beat (defending Division 4 champion) New Lothrop and we wrestled (Division 2 No. 1) Lowell in Ohio and lost.
“We’ve been fortunate here. The parents and the kids value hard work and accountability. Being a hard worker is still cool here.”
Tom Markowski is a columnist and directs website coverage for the State Champs! Sports Network. He previously covered primarily high school sports for the The Detroit News from 1984-2014, focusing on the Detroit area and contributing to statewide coverage of football and basketball. Contact him at [email protected] with story ideas for Oakland, Macomb and Wayne counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) A Richmond wrestler (right) works for control in a match against New Lothrop at Central Michigan University last month. (Middle) Richmond athletes watch a teammate during the competition. (Click for more photos from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)
Finals Experience, Expertise Shine Through as Hudson Extends Title Streak
By
Jeff Chaney
Special for MHSAA.com
February 24, 2024
KALAMAZOO – When searching for adjectives to describe what the Hudson wrestling team has built itself into over the years, wrestling fans in Michigan might say “prepared.”
The mammoth program from the small community south of Jackson comes to the MHSAA Division 4 Team Finals every year ready to go.
That was once again evident this weekend at Wings Event Center, as the Tigers cruised to their third-straight championship, and sixth over the past eight years, with a 41-17 victory over St. Louis in the deciding match Saturday evening.
Hudson has won three straight D4 titles, six of the last eight and 11 overall.
"We are who we are because of family," Hudson coach Scott Marry said. "We break our huddle on 'family' every time, because this is a continuation of what's up there."
Marry then pointed to the stands at all the Hudson fans, parents and Hudson youth wrestlers who made the trek to Kalamazoo to watch their beloved Tigers.
"It's not hard to coach, because all of these guys are awesome," Marry added. "You also have to give all the glory to God, because this is a God-loving community. And every person in these stands feels the same way I do – God first, then family, and then the rest is easy."
Hudson made it look easy all weekend, as the Tigers won 34 of 42 matches they wrestled during the two-day event.
They opened with a 72-3 Quarterfinal win over Saginaw Michigan Lutheran Seminary on Friday, then defeated Manchester 52-13 in Saturday morning's Semifinal before downing the Sharks in the championship match.
In the Final, super sophomore Nicholas Sorrow got things going with a hard-fought 6-5 win over St Louis' Colin Kuhn.
From there, Hudson won five matches in a row and were never threatened the rest of the way.
Sorrow said the wins keep coming because of a simple formula.
"It's just nice to continue the tradition," said Sorrow, who will be going for his second straight individual title next weekend at Ford Field. "This is just one percent of what we do; 99 percent of what we do is working hard in the (practice room), every day, five days a week. We work on technique, work on our grip and just get better."
St Louis coach Kevin Kuhn was impressed with his opponent, but he knew what his team was getting into when it stepped on the mat – a Hudson team that is relentless, a trait he picked up when he wrestled for Coach Marry and Hudson during the mid-1990s.
Kuhn, whose St. Louis team was making its first Finals appearance, hopes his wrestlers took away some lessons from facing a program used to getting to the championship match.
"Our goal was to be wrestling on Saturday night (in the Final) ," said Kuhn, whose team ended with a 26-3 record. "You are not in position to win a state final if you're not winning a Semifinal match (Saturday morning)."
St Louis reached Saturday with a win over Climax-Scotts/Martin in the Quarterfinal, 39-26. The Sharks then beat Benzie Central in their Semifinal match 37-22.
Hudson finished with a 27-4 record.
PHOTOS (Top) Hudson’s Barron Mansfield celebrates his pin at 190 pounds during Saturday’s Division 4 Final. (Middle) St. Louis’ Ramon Anguiano, left, and Hudson’s Cameron Miller lock up at 215 pounds. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)