Rife bows out of FILA Junior Worlds
8/25 - Paige Rife of Fowlerville was eliminated yesterday from the FILA Junior World Championships when she lost to Jenny Fransson of Sweden in the opening round. Rife, a Junior Women's National Champ, was the World Team member at 158.5lbs. Team USA finished tied for 4th overall. Click more for recap from TheMat.com. ....More...
MHSAA reverses decision, coaches avoid suspension
8/16 - Canton High School's appeal to the one-year suspension that was handed down to Coach Casey Randolph for his involvement at the NHSCA Senior Nationals last spring was reversed this week. The MHSAA will allow Randolph, and all other affected coaches to retain their jobs and coach throughout the regular season, however, they must sit out the MHSAA Team & Individual Districts, Regionals, and States. Among other coaches that this ruling will apply to are Highland Park Coaches Glen Washington and Jamar Whitfield (pictured), who had their appeal turned down in June. Read Detroit Free Press article
Lowell Fair attracts loaded high school division
8/11 - The Lowell Fair Tournament started yesterday with high school and open action. The tournament ended a perfect split with 7 champions hailing from Michigan and 7 gold medals leaving Michigan with out of state contestants. One of Michigan's winners was Tylor Cook of Caledonia (pictured) who defeated Jaron Licatovich of Pennsylvania in the152lb finals by decsion 7-2. Click below for results.
Michigan teams place 5th & 12th at Junior Olympics
8/4 - The AAU Junior Olympic Games wrapped up in Knoxville, TN on Friday. The Michigan Red team finished 5th out of the 23 team tournament and the Michigan Blue squad came in 11th. 5 Michiganders earned individual medals for their performances, most notably 103lber Andrew Brackins of Waterford Kettering took home the silver with a 14-1 record. Click more for a full recap of the Junior Olympics....More...
Weber is Junior National runner-up, MI 13th as a state
7/26 - Mark Weber fell in 3 periods to Colin Johnston of Pennsylvania in the Junior Freestyle finals in Fargo. Johnston took the opening period but Weber bounced back and took the 2nd. Trailing 1-0 late in the 3rd, Weber got in deep on a single leg but failed to finish and came up just short. David Johnson, Cam Simaz, and Jarod Trice also finished as All-Americans, click more for full Junior Freestyle recap, goto Fargo Coverage Section for complete coverage of the Cadet & Junior Nationals.
Dubose electrifies Fargo fans en route to Junior Greco title
7/23 - Marcel Dubose in one word: electrifying. Dubose cruised through his pool the last two days, hitting big throws and lifts left and right along the way and that didnt change when he got to the big stage. In the 215lbs finals Dubose put on a show, beating 4x Fargo National champ Tyrell Fortune of in one of the most exciting matches of the final Click more to read full story ...more....
College Recruiting Roundup
7/10 - The 06-07 recruiting season has come to an end, now check out who UM, MSU, CMU, EMU, and Olivet has signed with Michigan Grappler's Recruiting Roundup. Roundup includes full lists of the schools' recruiting classes as well as in depth analyses of how these additions will impact the schools of Michigan.
Click here to view the Recruiting Roundup!
4 Michiganders claim freestyle national titles
7/7 - The Asics Kids Freestyle/Greco National Championships wrapped up today in Green Bay, Wisconsin with 21 Michigan youths earning all-american honors and 4 claiming freestyle national titles. Mark Hall, who won the midget 87lb class, completed the USA wrestling triple crown with his title to become one of only 10 wrestlers in the US to earn the feat this year. Zac Hall took home the gold at novice 80lbs to make him a double champ on the weekend as he won the greco roman title as well. The feat marks the 3rd straight year for Hall being a double champ. Also earning national titles were midgets Dominic Sutemeister (75lb) and John Norton (103). Read full story.
Top sophomores earn national ranking
7/6 - Intermat recently released their national prep sophomore class rankings and 5 Michigan standouts made the cut. 2x state champ Kyle Waldo of Rockford (pictured) was the highest ranked Michigander, landing 8th at 103lbs. Also making the ranking were Pete Rendina (Dundee), Craig Eifert (Mason), Dan Yates (Hesperia, and Adam Miller (Sparta), click here for more, including the full rankings from InterMat.
2 Michigan teams place top 4 in Disney; 6 wrestlers end perfect
6/29 - The AAU Scholastic Duals wrapped up yesterday in Disney. The highest placing team was Freeze, who defeated MI red in the final bout. In one of the bigger upsets of the week, 2x state champ Kyle Waldo of Rockford was handed only his 2nd loss of the tournament by freshman to be Joey Rendina of Dundee. Dream Teamer Erich Smith was also upset in the final bout by Bryce Rajabain on Saline. MI Blue finished 11th while MI Gold ended in 15th. Goto coverage section for final standings as well as match by match results of every Michigan dual.
Individuals finishing the weekend undefeated were: Zach Jones (112), Justin Zeerip (160), Cam Simaz (171), Tyler Dickenson (189), Marcel Dubose (215),and
Freestyle duals team bows out; Burge, Marcicki & Dormer lead way individually
6/30 - It was a rough week for Team Michigan at the Freestyle and Greco Junior Duals in Oklahoma. Freestyle wrapped up Sunday as Michigan fell to Wisconsin in the consolation bracket. Three individuals finished freestyle action with 5 or more wins: Jacob Burge (160) of Mason went 6-1, Cody Marcicki (135) of Flint Powers went 5-1 with his lone loss coming when he was forced to injury default during his final match, and Josh Dormer of Eaton Rapids went 5-2. Goto our Junior Duals Coverage section for all the details from OK.
12 Michigan wrestlers earn All-American status at NHSCA Nationals
Michigan brought home 11 medals from the NHSCA National Open Championships as 4 high schoolers, 1 middle schooler, and 6 elementary grapplers earned All-American honors by placing in the top 8. There were 3 champions from Michigan as LJ Helbig (pictured) won the 189lb high school crown while Joey Ostman and Garrett Stehley claimed elementary national titles.
Click here for more, including full list of Michigan's all-americans.
Warren is only Michigander to make World Team
Hrovat, Cunningham finish 2nd...
6/11 - Joe Warren is set for another run at the World Championship as he continued his dominance over the 60kg weight class. Warren defeated Joe Betterman in the best of three challenge series without losing a single period. He won the first match 6-0, 7-2 and then finished Betterman off with a 2-1, 6-0 win in the 2nd match. Former Wolverine Andy Hrovat, former Chippewa Casey Cunningham, and former Spartan Nick Simmons were the closest to joining Warren on the World team...read full article...
Justin Zeerip is MI Grappler Prep Wrestler of The Year
6/8 - The accomplishments of Justin Zeerip keep piling up. After the senior capped off one of if not the best high school career in Michigan history which included
260 wins, 0 losses, and 4 state titles, Zeerip has placed 3rd at senior nationals and won the Michigan “Mr. Wrestler” and Dave Schultz awards, among others. You can now add another award to that list as Michigan Grappler has announced Justin Zeerip of Hesperia as the 2007 High School Wrestler of The Year .read full story...
**2007 Dream Team/Wrestler of the Year posters are here and on sale!! click here to learn more**
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