White Pigeon Emerging as D4 Hopeful
January 10, 2017
Ten years removed from a Regional Finals appearance, the White Pigeon wrestling program has awakened from its hibernation.
The Chiefs’ 18-7 overall record isn’t particularly astonishing. But given that several losses were to bigger schools outside of the state of Michigan, including three to Indiana squads this past weekend, it’s a solid mark so far.
A victory over third-ranked (in Division 4) Decatur earlier this year opened White Pigeon’s eyes as to how good it could be this winter.
“The kids’ resiliency and perseverance,” 14th-year head coach Jay Sosinski said when asked what has stood out to him this season. “It doesn’t matter to them who they’re going up against. Big or small, good or bad, they go out there and wrestle hard and give it their best. That’s all I’ve ever asked of any of my teams. They do it probably better than any team I’ve had before on a consistent basis.”
To put that statement in context, Sosinski hypes his team as often as most people stick to their New Year’s resolutions.
There’s no denying that confidence has trickled down to the individual wrestlers, four of whom are among the top-10 ranked athletes in their respective weight classes in Division 4 by MichiganGrappler.com.
Ranked No. 3 at 130 pounds, sophomore Kyle Black is 22-2 on the year and eyeing a return trip to the MHSAA Finals. He’ll likely drop down to 125 to do so. Classmate Evan Atherton is ranked No. 10 at 130 but has since moved to 125.
“It makes us feel good,” Atherton, who is 20-3, said of the high praise from Sosinski, “because they used to talk about how there used to only be three kids on the team. “I’m pretty excited about it. It pushes me harder.”
Junior Nate Weber is 21-4 and ranked No. 6 at 135. He, too, will probably move down a class by the end of the year in order to try to get back to the Palace of Auburn Hills. Meanwhile, senior Hunter Rummler, ranked No. 7 at 171, just eclipsed the 100-victory mark for his career over the weekend and is pushing toward his first Individual Finals appearance.
Especially for the young men in the lower weights, stiffer competition is rarely found outside their own practices this year.
“We do a lot of live wrestling in the room, and it sure helps to have those guys around with all the variety it brings,” Weber said. “Me, Evan and Kyle all wrestle different styles. We see all these different techniques, and it sets us up to wrestle all these other teams.”
Black had just one word to describe practice sessions: “Intense.”
The other word that came up frequently was inspiration. The source? Sosinski.
“I would never have guessed that is the answer they would have given,” Sosinski said with a laugh. “As a wrestler myself and growing up in the sport, when people get beat, either as an individual or a team, I know how that feels. They beat themselves up and are upset. Me being upset with them or screaming and yelling at them doesn’t make them feel any better.
“I believe it probably makes them feel worse and can have a negative effect. My goal is to help them reach their goals. I’m happiest when I see them reach their goals and their potential. If being more soft-spoken and more of a fatherly type figure and voice does that, and it has worked so far, that’s what I’ll continue to do.”
With only two seniors on the varsity roster, the Chiefs are undefeated in the Berrien-Cass-St. Joseph Conference. Rummler, who said reaching the century mark “hasn’t really hit me yet,” knows the strength of the team is in the lower and middle weights, which includes stalwarts Hunter Jourdan, Sebastian Castro and Carlos Castro, and feels a responsibility to hold up his end of the bargain.
For Rummler, a gifted running back and sprinter, most of the battle is mental — a fight he admits struggling with last season. Sosinski believes the senior is primed for a noteworthy finish to his career.
“He is confident,” Sosinski said. “I believe he has high goals and expectations of himself. He is confident he will meet those goals. Sometimes you need that swag, I guess. If I had to take a guess at (what’s different this year), just from knowing him for four years, it’s just his mentality.”
The same can be said for the rest of the wrestlers on the team, many of whom have sacrificed for the betterment of the squad.
“They want to be good as a team, and that’s first and foremost,” Sosinski said. “They have their own individual goals in their head, but they’re finding a way to do both.”
Wes Morgan has reported for the Kalamazoo Gazette, ESPN and ESPNChicago.com, 247Sports and Blue & Gold Illustrated over the last 12 years and is the publisher of JoeInsider.com. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Berrien, Cass, St. Joseph and Branch counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) White Pigeon’s Kyle Black works to gain control during a match against Berrien Springs. (Middle) Evan Atherton, here working from the top, also powers the Chiefs’ strong lower weights. (Photos courtesy of Wes Morgan.)
Gaylord Rules North, Seeks to Take State
December 6, 2018
By Chris Dobrowolski
Special for Second Half
GAYLORD — The town of Gaylord is surrounded on all sides by more than an hour of northern Michigan roads and landscape.
But when it comes to high school wrestling, Gaylord is like an island.
Few wrestling programs in the northern Lower Peninsula are on par with the Blue Devils, who have made team success an annual occurrence and churned out elite individual performers year after year.
“Everyone who wrestles us, they know they’re going to get a battle,” said Gaylord head coach Jerry Lajoie, who is entering his 24th season leading the Blue Devils. “We’ve been to the state tournament several times — three or four times in the semis, a couple more times in the quarters and one time in the finals. Last year we put out two state champs and three other medalists. Not bad out of 14 weight classes for us.”
As good of a run as Gaylord has had in wrestling — the Blue Devils are working on a string of consecutive Big North Conference and District championships that goes back more than a decade and have won Regional titles in three of the last four years — last year was the program’s best. As a team, the Blue Devils advanced to the Division 2 championship match for the first time and had Chayse Lajoie and Derek Giallombardo reach the pinnacle of the Individual Finals at Ford Field, winning championships at 112 and 125 pounds, respectively. Gaylord had five others qualify for the Individual Finals, with Joe Markham third at the 285-pound class, Jacob McKnight fourth at 140 and Cade Foster sixth at 171.
“It was a great environment to be in,” said John Sosa, who was among Gaylord’s seven individual state qualifiers in 2018 and a Finals placer as a freshman in 2017. “Everybody wanted to be there. Everyone put in 110 percent, and it showed at the end of the year when we were in the state finals match. Everyone was willing to work. I could pick anyone in the room and everyone would give 110 percent, which I very much appreciate.”
The Blue Devils are motivated by last season’s 43-17 loss to five-time reigning Division 2 champion Lowell in the Final and are hoping to replicate their trip this winter, with perhaps a different result in the last match.
“We’ve got a team that I think we can get back to team states with,” said Jerry Lajoie. “We’re going to be focusing on winning conference, then Districts and Regionals. Once you get (to the Finals), you never know what can happen.”
The challenge will be replacing seniors like Giallombardo, Markham and 160-pound individual qualifier Nick Brewster. This year, more than half of the 33 grapplers on the roster are freshmen. That prevalence of youth doesn’t faze a veteran coach like LaJoie.
“We just had this discussion when we had a meeting on Wednesday — we’re starting a lot of young kids,” he said. “I said, ‘I don’t care if you’re a freshman or not. Expectations are the same. We’ve had freshman state champions. Why not you?’”
The Blue Devils are fortunate to be able to lean on veteran leadership while they get their younger group ready to compete at a high level. Foster is back as a senior to handle the 171 or 189-pound division, and the junior class led by Chayse Lajoie, who can wrestle anywhere from 119 to 130, Sosa (125 or 130) and McKnight (152 or 160) is strong and figures to rack up a lot of wins over the next few months.
“I’m just hoping our team can push through and make it to states again, and hopefully contest for the state championship again,” said Chayse Lajoie, the most accomplished member of the squad as a two-time MHSAA individual champion as well as a Junior Greco-Roman national champ at 120 pounds. “We’re just trying to get everyone together right now. Towards the end of the season we’ll start focusing on that. We kind of take things step by step.”
Hard work is the most common response the Blue Devils give when asked what it takes to become an exceptional wrestler, and that helps explain Gaylord’s success – there’s no shortage of work ethic in Gaylord’s wrestling room. Lajoie demands that and dedication, though he also makes sure wrestling is fun for his team, too. With all of those factors in the equation, he doesn’t have much trouble getting his squad to meet the expectations of the program.
“Kids are probably the best judge of character out of anybody. More so than adults,” said Lajoie. “They figure out if you care about them or not. And if you do, they’ll buy in.”
It doesn’t take Gaylord’s wrestlers long to realize their coach is willing to put in just as much time as they do, creating a mutual respect that strengthens the bond between coach and athletes.
“He’s a great guy,” Sosa said of Lajoie. “Very appreciative that we can give him our time. He says, ‘If you give me your time, I’ll give you mine.’ Very knowledgeable on and off the mat. You can call on him any time of the day, and he’ll help you out.”
The end result is what has become a wrestling dynasty in northern Michigan, built from the youth level up with a group of kids who take pride in being from Gaylord and everything for which the wrestling program stands.
“We only have so many kids to choose from, and no one in our area,” said Jerry Lajoie. “You can’t move five minutes and go to a different school. That’s where our badge of honor is. We’re up here, we’re all local boys — let’s go battle.”
Chris Dobrowolski has covered northern Lower Peninsula sports since 1999 at the Ogemaw County Herald, Alpena News, Traverse City Record-Eagle and currently as sports editor at the Antrim Kalkaska Review since 2016. He can be reached at [email protected] with story ideas for Manistee, Wexford, Missaukee, Roscommon, Ogemaw, Iosco, Alcona, Oscoda, Crawford, Kalkaska, Grand Traverse, Benzie, Leelanau, Antrim, Otsego, Montmorency, Alpena, Presque Isle, Cheboygan, Charlevoix and Emmet counties.
PHOTOS: (Top) Gaylord’s Cade Foster works toward a pin during last season’s Division 2 Semifinal win over Warren Woods Tower at Wings Stadium. (Middle) The Blue Devils, including coach Jerry Lajoie (left), cheer on a teammate. (Click to see more from HighSchoolSportsScene.com.)