Michigan Grappler's 2nd Annual
Palace Awards
2009 MHSAA Individual State Finals
Palace of Auburn Hills - March 12-14
All-Tournament Outstanding Wrestler - Ryan Nieman (Bullock Creek)
Division 1 - Kyle Waldo (Rockford)
Division 2 - Taylor Massa (St Johns)
Division 3 - Ryan Nieman (Bullock Creek)
Division 4 - Brandon Zeerip (Hesperia)
Nieman scored a huge win over Roger Wildmo in the finals at 130lbs
against returning 112 state champ Roger Wildmo of Durand. Both wrestlers
came in undefeated and were returning state champs. While this win was
impressive for Nieman, who is one of the top juniors in the state, it was his
road to the finals that made his title even more astonishing. He ousted the
eventual 3rd and 4th place finishers in the quarters and semis by knocking
off Kirk Britton and Josh White, who are both senior multiple time state
placers before scoring his dramatic third period fall over Wildmo in the finals.
The Division 1 outstanding wrestler award has to go to Rockford
senior Kyle Waldo as he capped off a story-book career in grand fashion
by winning his 4th state title. The only other Division 1/Class A wrestlers
to ever do that were Brent Metcalf (arguably the best wrestler in college
right now) and Brandon Chesher of Adrian, so Waldo is in elite company.
His 4th title was definitely his most impressive as Waldo pinned a very good wrestler in Robbie Bidlinmaier in the semifinals in a match that many thought would be a true test for Waldo. As Waldo leaves for Nebraska next year look for freshman Alec Mooradian and Freddie Rodriguez, who both won their 1st D1 title last weekend, to be the next candidates to possibly win 4 D1 titles.
The D2 OW goes to freshman freak Taylor Massa who destroyed everyone he came across up to the finals where he downed another freshman stud in Jordan Thomas in the finals. It is rare for a freshman to be competetive at 145lbs and it is insane for a freshman, or a pair of freshmen, to set themselves apart from the competetion the way that Massa and Thomas did.
Brandon Zeerip of Hesperia capped off his prep career by dismantling the competetion at 152lbs and he showed why he is in a complete league of his own among Division 4 wrestlers. Zeerip's teammate Dan Yates was similiarly dominant at 160lbs and his brother Collin put on a good display at 119lbs, downing returning state champ Zeb Hilyard in the finals.
Most Impressive Team Performance - Rockford
Division 1 - Rockford (3 champs, 6 finalists, 7 overall placers)
Division 2 - St Johns (3 champs, 5 finalists, 5 overall placers)
Division 3 - Swan Valley (2 champs,4 finalists ,10 overall placers)
Division 4 - Hudson (2 champs, 3 finalists, 8 overall placers)
Rockford had 7 wrestlers place in Division 1 and they were all in the
top three! With three champs and six finalists in the state's deepest
division, they showed why they were the Division 1 state champs and
arguably the state's best overall team.
St Johns officially arrived in division 2 with 3 champs and 5 finalists.
Swan Valley showed their firepower by placing 10 wrestlers in the top 8
and getting 4 to the finals. 7 of Swan Valley's placers will be back next
year so don't expect them to go anywhere in the D3 team race. Hudson,
much like SV, returns 6 of their 8 placers next year as they proved their win at team states was no fluke with 3 finalists and 2 champs last weekend.
Outstanding Rookie Performance - Taylor Massa (St Johns)
Division 1 - Alec Mooradian (DCC), 1st @ 112
Division 2 - Taylor Massa (St Johns), 1st @ 145
Division 3 - Garrett Smith (Allegan), 5th @ 135
Division 4 - Devan Marry (Hudson), 1st @ 135
There were about a dozen very good freshmen who put on a good
showing this year at The Palace, so picking these 4 was not an easy task.
Read the OW write up above if you are wondering why Massa was picked
as the outstanding overall freshman. Mooradian won it at 112 over some
very talented juniors and Devan Marry won the state title at 135 as a
freshman, which is not common or easy to do. Smith flys under a lot of
radars, however, he placed 5th in a very deep 135lb weight class in division
3 and he could be one of the state's best in the years to come.
For the record....
Prior to this year's state tournament Michigan Grappler, along with Matside Michigan Radio, put together our picks for the state champs at every weight in every division. We are not big on bragging here at Michigan Grappler, however, I would love to make note of the fact that Michigan Grappler successfully picked 39 of the 56 state champions (70%), as opposed to Matside's Michigan 27/56 (48%).
Our picks, which are usually suspect to intense criticism and turmoil, were the most accurate in division 2 and division 4, where MIG picked 11 of the 14 champions correctly. I would like to convey the utmost respect to Matside Michigan as I announce these statisics, however, when it comes to high school wrestling in the state of Michigan, nobody can contend with Michigan Grappler!
5 Things we may never see again in the near future
1. Female wrestler placing top 4 - CC Weber of Goodrich finished up her inspring prep
career as the highest placing female wrestler in Michigan history. There has only been
woman grappler to place in the top 8 before CC, and there will likely be few in the future.
CC was a legitimate state title contender in Division 3 at 103lbs, as she lost 4-3 to
eventual champion Nate Jaworski in the quarterfinals. It is very rare for a female to
place in the state, but what is even more unique is that Weber was a realistic threat to
win it all. Weber will almost undoubtedly go on to be one of America's top female
wrestlers and it is very unlikely that we will ever see a lady take the mat and acheive
the success that she acheived at The Palace last weekend. Congratulations CC.
2. 4x Division 1 State Champion - Kyle Waldo of Rockford, as mentioned above, won
his 4th state title in Division 1, something that is not easy to do. D1 is traditionally a very deep division and the difference between the top few wrestlers is usually very slim. Therefore, it is difficult to see many wrestlers acheiving this feat in the near future, although Mooradian and Rodriguez are on their way after winning #1 this year. The question will be this - can they continue to win state titles as they grow and the competetion gets deeper?
3. Freshman impact - I know we are beating this freshman thing to death, however, what happened this year was pretty amazing. The amount of freshman winning state titles and being competetive, especially those that were not at 103lbs, is remarkable. Massa, Thomas, Jordan Wohlfert, Marry, and Garrett Smith were all freshman who advanced to the semifinals at 135 or higher, which is usually dominated by older, stronger, more mature upperclassmen. In addition, freshman studs like Tyler Daniel, Freddie Rodriguez, and Alec Mooradian all won state titles in the lower weights as well. This freshman class may end up being the best group of prep grapplers Michigan has ever seen - time will only tell.
4. Candy Striped Singlets - Stevensville Lakeshore caught the attention of just about everybody in The Palace last weekend with their red and white striped singlets. Say what you wish regarding your opinion of these uniforms, but the fact of the matter is just about everybody who attended the state finals noticed the Lancers, and I would be surprised to see any singlets like these popping up in the near future.
5. 9 second fall - According the MHSAA record book the fastest fall ever in the state of
Michigan by a heavyweight was :04 seconds, and it was done by 4 different wrestlers.
Usually when you hear about a wrestler earning a fall in under 10 seconds you think it
must be due to one of several things: clock error, very poor competetion, referee error,
staged occurence, fluke, etc. Therefore, Ethan Lambes of Onsted pinning Frank Taylor
just 9 seconds into the 285lb final bout is truly remarkable. No D3 heavyweight has won
the state title with a pin since 2000 and I don't know the exact numbers, but I would be
willing to bet that no wrestler in the past 20 years has ever been pinned that fast in the
state finals. Since it was the state finals you almost have to rule out referee error, clock
malfunction, and very poor competetion as the reason for this occurence. Therefore my
only answer is that it was a fluke thing that will probably never, ever happen again, or at
least as long as I am following high school wrestling.
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