This Time, for the 1st Time, it's Hartland
February 27, 2016
By Jeff Chaney
Special for Second Half
MOUNT PLEASANT – Todd Cheney sat on his chair in silence and wiped tears from his face.
With sophomore 119-pounder Carter Hankins losing by just a decision to Davison returning MHSAA individual champion A.J. Facundo, Cheney knew his Hartland wrestling team has locked up the Division 1 championship at the Team Wrestling Finals at Central Michigan University's McGuirk Arena Saturday evening.
The reason for the tears: it finally happened for Cheney and his program. His team won a title after so many near-misses, beating Davison 36-23.
"That runner-up stuff was for the birds," Cheney said. "Just to look at the kids’ faces, and to see everything that they worked for – this was huge."
For 15 straight years, Cheney's Hartland teams qualified for the Finals. During that time, the Eagles made it to the Semifinal round 12 times, and five times were MHSAA runner-up, including after a heart-breaking loss to Brighton in last year's Division 1 championship match.
But this team was focused, and Davison coach Roy Hall knew that coming in.
"Those guys made a commitment, they cut down to scratch weight and they were focused for this," Hall said. "They came here on a mission this weekend."
After falling behind 3-0, Hartland went on a huge run, getting a decision from Reece Hughes at 140 pounds and pins from Sage Castillo at 145, Logan Vish at 152 and Lucas LaForge at 160.
That made the score 21-3, and the Eagles (34-1) never looked back.
"That was huge," Cheney said of the three straight pins. "We pinned them at 152 and 160 last time, and we beat them by one. This was good to get them early."
Cheney said the way some of his wrestlers lost was big as well, like Hankins and freshman Corey Cavanaugh, who lost by technical fall to past MHSAA individual champion Max Johnson but did not give up a pin and six points.
"Gosh, these kids, I hope you get pictures of their faces," an emotional Cheney said. "This means so much."
Hartland and Davison (24-5) earned their way to the Final with two totally different Semifinal wins.
Hartland had little trouble in beating Oxford 42-19, as the Eagles won the first four matches to jump out to a 20-point lead, and never looked back from there.
In all, Hartland won 10 of 14 matches wrestled against Oxford, five of those by bonus points, and three by pin (Castillo at 152 pounds, Vish at 160 and Brandon Krol at heavyweight).
In the other Semifinal, another highly anticipated match in Division 1, Davison beat Detroit Catholic Central 29-25. Kurt Schlak secured the win for the Cardinals with a 16-8 major decision over Tyler Johnson in the final match of the dual at 145 pounds.
That Semifinal was tight throughout, as each team won seven matches. But of Davison's seven wins, four were bonus-point wins (by major decision or pin), while the Shamrocks had only two bonus-point match wins.
The MHSAA Wrestling Finals are presented by the Michigan Army National Guard.
PHOTOS: (Top) Logan Vish celebrates a pin at 152 pounds that put Hartland up 15-3. (Middle) Hartland coach Todd Cheney (right) and assistant Garnet Potter share a moment during the Eagles’ first championship win. (Click to see more at HighSchoolSportsScene.com; bottom photo by Jeff Chaney.)
D4 Preview: Brackets Full of Stories to Be Told
By
Geoff Kimmerly
MHSAA.com senior editor
April 1, 2021
Clinton, Hudson and New Lothrop have dominated Division 4 wrestling’s team tournament over the last eight seasons – only those three have appeared in a championship match since 2014, including Clinton’s win over the Hornets in Tuesday’s Final.
But Saturday’s Individual Wrestling Finals at Van Andel Arena could see many more schools in the title mix.
Clinton has five top seeds, and New Lothrop and Hudson have two apiece. But total eight schools have No. 1-seeded wrestlers among the 14 weights – with favorites from Bark River-Harris, Iron Mountain, Rudyard and Vermontville Maple Valley representing their schools’ best chances at claiming a first title.
Below we look at 10 contenders to watch, plus list all of the top seeds heading into the tournament, champs and runners-up back from 2020 and every wrestler who will make the trip to Grand Rapids with an undefeated record.
Even then, we surely missed a few who will end up making headlines Saturday – but make sure to come back to Second Half late that evening as we’ll interview and report on all 14 Division 4 champions.
Wrestling begins Saturday at 10 a.m., and this season it’s a one-day event. Spectators remain limited, but all matches will be broadcast live on MHSAA.tv. See the MHSAA Wrestling Finals page for more information and to follow results this weekend.
103 Bradley Hall, Rudyard senior (16-0) – The top seed at 103, Hall finished fourth at the same weight last season and will be competing to cap his career as the first Finals champion in Rudyard history.
119 Shawn McGuire, Iron Mountain sophomore (29-1) – The top seed at this weight is a combined 70-3 over his first two high school seasons and finished runner-up at 112 a year ago.
125 Manus Bennett, Marlette sophomore (20-2) – He’ll wrestle for a second individual title in his second try after winning the 103 championship last season.
130 Bronson Marry, Hudson junior (22-0) – The top seed at this weight is going for a second-straight title after winning 112 last year and also finishing runner-up at 103 as a freshman.
145 Caden Natale, Hudson senior (23-1) – Natale has risen from third at 103 as a freshman to second at 119 as a sophomore to winning 130 last year and returning to the Finals as a top seed this weekend.
152 Bryce Cheney, New Lothrop senior (20-0) – The runner-up at this weight last winter is back as the top seed this weekend and carrying a combined 53-4 record over the last two seasons.
171 Trenton Holden, Grass Lake senior (23-1) – He had only one loss last season on the way to finishing 46-1 and claiming the 160-pound championship, and his only defeat this winter was at the Individual Regional to this weekend’s top-seeded Brayden Randolph of Clinton (see below).
171 Brayden Randolph, Clinton senior (27-1) – He’s the top seed at this weight after finishing runner-up at 171 last season, and he’s looking to add a first title also to a runner-up finish at 160 as a sophomore and third place at that weight as a freshman.
189 Logan Badge, Clinton junior (27-1) – The top-seeded Badge went over 100 career wins (he’s 101-5 overall) during Tuesday’s run to the team championship and he’s looking to add a third individual title to those he won at 215 as a freshman and 189 last year.
215 Camden Orr, New Lothrop senior (21-1) – He’s the second seed at this weight but the reigning champion, and his only loss was a forfeit in the Regional Final. He also finished sixth at 189 as a sophomore and quarterbacked the football team to the Division 7 title in January.
Other 2020 runners-up: 140 Andrew Krupp, New Lothrop senior (19-2, 125 in 2020); 145 Kent McCombs, Clinton junior (26-2, 145 in 2020).
Additional No. 1 seeds: 112 Matthew Slaght, Vermontville Maple Valley junior (33-0); 125 Nik Shadley, Clinton freshman (25-1); 135 Dillon Raab, Bark River-Harris sophomore (30-1); 140 George Ames, Clinton junior (24-0); 160 Spencer Konz, Clinton senior (22-3); 215 Caden Ferris, Delton Kellogg junior (29-2); 285 Isiah Pasik, New Lothrop junior (21-0).
Also undefeated: 125 Randy Frailey, Hanover-Horton senior (25-0); 130 Zach Ouillette, Oscoda senior (27-0); 145 Parker Stroud, Iron Mountain junior (21-0); 145 Carsen Young, Martin senior (28-0); 171 Cole Hopkins, Evart sophomore (19-0); 189 Trent Hocter, Hanover-Horton senior (16-0).
PHOTO: Hudson’s Bronson Marry, left, and Iron Mountain’s Shawn McGuire lock up during last season’s Division 4 Final at 112 pounds. Both carry top seeds into this weekend. (Click for more from High School Sports Scene.)