Studer In 54th Year of 'Growing Good People'

By Pam Shebest
Special for MHSAA.com

February 19, 2020

BATTLE CREEK — Dave Studer knew he was too small to play varsity football in high school, and when someone approached him about wrestling, “I had no clue what it was,” he said.

“I thought they did it in a ring like pro wrestling.”

That was in the early 1960s at Port Huron High School. Intrigued, Studer decided to try it and got hooked.

In fact, he got so hooked, he is now in his 54th year as head wrestling coach at Battle Creek Harper Creek.

Although he is still going strong, he does not get down on the mats to grapple with his wrestlers any more. That is the job of assistant coach Joe Yurisich.

“I’m their practice dummy most of the days,” Yurisich said, laughing.

Studer, 75, has received many accolades, including induction into the Harper Creek High School Hall of Fame and Michigan Wrestling Association Hall of Fame.

But there is one thing missing from his resume – a trip to the MHSAA Team Finals.

This year’s are Feb. 28-29 at Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo.

“The first two years I coached, I had some outstanding teams, but they didn’t have a team state meet at that time,” Studer said. (The team championship format was created in 1988.)

“One of the best teams I ever had, every kid won 80 percent of their matches, but we didn’t have any kind of team thing.”

Last week, the Beavers took a 17-3 record into Districts, winning their fifth consecutive title. They defeated Richland Gull Lake 46-24, then swept Vicksburg 84-0.

The Beavers will host Plainwell today in a Division 2 Regional first-round match.

Temporary beginning

After wrestling for four years at Western Michigan University, Studer graduated and had a government job when he got a phone call in 1967.

“They said Harper Creek’s wrestling coach was in an accident and they needed somebody to stand in for a little bit,” he said. “I said, ‘Sure I’ll do that.’

“My very first match, we just got beat terrible. I thought, maybe I’m not doing things right but I kept working at it. By the end of the season, we won the Regional Championship.”

The school district offered Studer the position and a job teaching physical education at the elementary school, and that sealed the deal.

He eventually taught psychology, then physical education and weightlifting at the high school, retiring from the classroom in 2001.

“I just like the people and the community,” he said. “We had a lot of support. The young men I was getting were good, hard-working kids.

“I had some other opportunities to go other places but I told them no, I was real happy right here.”

He still feels that way after 54 years. Things change of course, and one he’d like to see switch back are more opportunities for dual meets – the team had only two home meets this year but used to have six to eight, which provided more opportunities to create excitement for the sport in the community.

Plus, one of those past duals remains among his favorite memories.

“We were wrestling Lakeview at the old high school,” he said. “We had over 2,700 people come to that dual meet.

“The fire marshal turned away over 300 people. That’s why I like dual meets. People had to sit on the gym floor because we ran out of bleachers.”

Second generations

Studer coached the fathers of many of his wrestlers, including Yurisich, who graduated from Harper Creek and Olivet College in the early 2000s.

“There really hasn’t been much change since I was in school,” Yurisich said. “The cool thing is that my father (Steve), who was (Studer’s) assistant a few years ago, also wrestled for Coach Studer.”

Steve Yurisich graduated in 1978 “so he wrestled for him in a different era,” his son said.

“We’ve had conversations. (Studer’s) mentality for the sport and his passion for the kids has never changed since my father can remember from ’78 to present day.”

Senior Trevor Brooks, who wrestles at 145 pounds, said he has learned a lot from Studer.

“He brings a lot of emotion and intensity and pride,” Brooks said. “We have to keep that pride up, knowing that we’re a good team and we have to keep the tradition going.

“I’ve learned a lot of life skills from him. You should never take a moment for granted because any given moment it can be taken from you because of injury. You just have to go out there and wrestle like it’s your last match.”

Yurisich, who teaches fifth grade math and science at the middle school, said Studer is in it for the kids.

Brooks joins seniors Greylon Dishman, Chandler Froehlich, Aspen Tyler Kortz, Jaden Mainstone and Ethan Shipley. Juniors are Brian DeJesus Castellanos Camacho, Joseph Edmonds, Easton Kolassa, Jake Pancoft, Noah Szarejko, Bryce Trimm and Merritt Wilson. The team’s lone sophomore is Matthew Martinez, and freshmen are Zachary Egan and Nicholas Martinez.

“The biggest thing that I notice as a coach and didn’t necessarily notice as a kid is he’s always trying to make the kid a better person later on in life, not necessarily at what they’re doing at the moment,” Yurisich said.

“Making sure that we grow good, young men, rather than just grow wrestlers.”

The outpouring of love from his wrestlers and supporters was evident four years ago when Studer was honored during his 50th year of coaching.

The school raised more than $40,000 for a scholarship and new wrestling mat.

Studer has not wavered from his original way of coaching.

“We worked a lot on mental training, getting mentally tough, not on winning and losing,” he said.

“I’ve never faulted kids when they get beat. I tell them it’s not the end of the world, it’s just one wrestling match. You’ve got your whole life to be a winner.”

Working with the athletes is what keeps him going.

“I enjoy it,” he said. “When I get to a point where I don’t enjoy it or I don’t think I’m doing a good job, then I will retire.”

Pam Shebest served as a sportswriter at the Kalamazoo Gazette from 1985-2009 after 11 years part-time with the Gazette while teaching French and English at White Pigeon High School. She can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Calhoun, Kalamazoo and Van Buren counties.

PHOTOS: (Top) Battle Creek Harper Creek sophomore Matthew Martinez locks up an opponent this season. (Middle) From left, coach Dave Studer, assistant Joe Yurisich and senior Trevor Brooks. (Below) Studer talks things over with senior Greylon Dishman. (Action photos by Jennifer Brooks; head shots by Pam Shebest.)

Performance: Carson City-Crystal's Jamison Ward

February 14, 2020

Jamison Ward
Carson City-Crystal senior - Wrestling

The reigning Division 4 champion at 130 pounds is closing in on the Carson City-Crystal all-time wins record while closing out his high school career. Over the last two weeks, Ward has eclipsed 200 career victories and this past Saturday won his fourth conference title, this one at 135 pounds, to earn the MHSAA “Performance of the Week.”

Ward is bringing a 40-0 record this winter and 208-9 career mark into Saturday’s Individual District at Bloomingdale. He finished Division 4 runner-up at 103 pounds as a freshman and placed fourth at 119 as a sophomore before climbing to the top of the podium a year ago. He’s only two wins off the school career record set by two-time Division 4 Finals champion Dallas O’Green, who serves currently as Carson City-Crystal's co-head coach. So too does Jamison’s father Trent, who formerly led the Eagles program and won a Class C Finals championship at 119 pounds in 1994. 

Jamison Ward also helped Carson City-Crystal to the Division 4 Team Quarterfinals his first two seasons and the Semifinals a year ago. He had two pins Thursday as the Eagles won their Team District in pursuit of another trip to Wings Stadium. Ward ran cross country his first three years of high school, making the MHSAA Finals his first two seasons, before switching to football this past fall and earning all-league while leading the Eagles in rushing. He is still finalizing his college plans but would like to study criminal justice and earth science in preparation for becoming a Department of Natural Resources officer.

Co-head coach Kacy Datema said: “Jamison has been a huge point scorer for our team for all four years of his career, and we have come to heavily depend on him in team competition. He has grown into a great leader for our team. He leads by example and works with every kid in the room to get the most out of them. He is approaching our school’s career wins record and may have it by the end of this weekend. His father is our assistant coach, CCC alumni and a former state champion as well. It is awesome to be able to watch them share these special moments together. Our program is blessed to have had such a quality kid come through.” 

Performance Point: “I'm just trying to soak it in more,” Ward said of his final weeks of high school wrestling. “It's my last year wrestling here at Carson, and high school total. (I'm trying to) take it slow. Take it as it comes. (Thursday) night, the District, winning it for the eighth time, going into Regionals and I think we have a good shot of winning in Regionals. (The 200 wins) was definitely something I was looking for my whole high school career. Something I was gunning for is the school record, and that's just part of getting there. ... I wanted to go down as one of the best in Michigan. Four-time (champion) was on my mind coming into high school, but that was big-headed. I didn't quite get there, but I think I'm now becoming one of the greats in Michigan. 

Full circle: “Growing up, with my dad being the coach, I would always be wrestling with everybody, and he would always teach me things. And there were things I'd pick up here and there from the good wrestlers. It was nice growing up and actually becoming one of those people that maybe someone looks up to.”

Thanks Dad: “I think it's really helped me throughout my years, having him as coach telling me what to do, and a dad. Watching my weight is what he's doing now, but back then he would help me and critique me at home. We've recorded every wrestling match that I've had, and we look back on it and try to improve. ... He always rode legs (when he wrestled), and I ride legs too. But definitely skill-wise, I'm a lot more skilled than my dad is. He (knows). He calls himself the farm boy, and I'm the wrestler.”

Gridiron great: “My freshman year I really wanted to (play football). I broke my ankle eighth grade year. My dad, he was like, ‘I would stick with cross country and get in shape for wrestling.’ I really wanted to do football, but listened to dad: If I wanted be a state champion, I had to do cross country. And then my senior year, I won it my junior year wrestling, and my dad said, ‘You know what, you can play football if you want to this year. You’ve already got a state championship. If you get hurt, you’ll still have time to recover and still be good.’ … I thought it was awesome. I always wanted to play under the lights.”

Destination Kalamazoo: “I was born into the sport, but I started when I was 4. … I understood where we were going (as a program). I knew once I got into high school we were going to make it far – I was hoping (Finals) four years in a row. We'll see this year if we make it there.”

– Geoff Kimmerly, Second Half editor

Past honorees

Feb. 6: Elena Vargo, Farmington United gymnastics - Report
Jan. 31:
Michael Wolsek, Trenton swimming - Report
Jan. 24:
Kensington Holland, Utica Ford bowling - Report
Jan. 17:
Claycee West, White Pigeon basketball - Report
Jan. 10: 
Seth Lause, Livonia Stevenson hockey - Report
Dec. 5: Mareyohn Hrabowski, River Rouge football - Report
Nov. 28:
Kathryn Ackerman, Grand Haven swimming - Report
Nov. 21:
Emily Van Dyke, Southfield Christian volleyball - Report
Nov. 14:
Taylor Wegener, Ida volleyball - Report
Nov. 7:
Carter Solomon, Plymouth cross country - Report
Oct. 31: 
Jameson Goorman, Muskegon Western Michigan Christian soccer - Report
Oct. 24:
Austin Plotkin, Brimley cross country
- Report
Oct. 17:
Jack Spamer, Brighton cross country - Report
Oct. 10:
Kaylee Maat, Hudsonville volleyball - Report
Oct. 3:
Emily Paupore, Negaunee cross country - Report
Sept. 26: 
Josh Mason, South Lyon soccer - Report
Sept. 19: Ariel Chang, Utica Eisenhower golf - Report
Sept. 12: Jordyn Shipps, DeWitt swimming - Report

PHOTOS: (Top) Carson City-Crystal's Jamison Ward wrestles at Olivet earlier this season. (Middle) Ward celebrates his 200th win with, from left, Eagles assistant coach Jake Patterson, assistant and dad Trent Ward, co-head coach Dallas O'Green and co-head coach Kacy Datema. (Top photo by Alex Freeman/Greenville Daily News; middle courtesy of the Carson City-Crystal athletic department.)