Lyon and Yates win Senior National Titles
8 Michiganders earn All-American leading state to 3rd place finish
Senior National Coverage Home

4/6 - For the second year in a row a pair of Michanders are
coming home from Virginia as Senior National Champions. 
Brenan Lyon of Ithaca and Dan Yates of Hesperia won their final
matches last night to claim titles at their respective weights. In
all, there were 8 Michigan wrestlers who placed top 8 in their
weight, earning all-american status, and Michigan finished 3rd
overall as a state behind California and New York.

Lyon scored a 10-8 decision in the 103lb finals over Ohio state
runner up Brian Hauser to win his 1st national title.  Lyon has
been an all-american in freestyle/greco 6 times over the past 3
years, however, he finally got to the top of the podium this
weekend in folkstyle.

Yates capped off arguably the most impressive performance of
the tournament with a 5-1 finals win over Iowa state champ John
Nicholson.  Yates, who entered the weekend ranked 12th in the
country by Amateur Wrestling News, defeated a pair of nationally
ranked wrestlers on the weekend in Nicholson (#5 by AWN) and
Kyle Lang (#7) who beat in the quarterfinals 6-2.  Yates is one of
the top recruits in Michigan who remains unsigned for next year
and now, after this performance, he will emerge as one of the
best wrestlers in the country who is still available.

The third finalist for Michigan was Michael McClure of West
Ottawa, who finished runner up at 285lbs.  McClure fell in the
finals 3-2 to #1 ranked Eloheim Palma of North Carolina. 
McClure, who was a D1 state champ this year but relatively
unknown on the national scene entering this weekend, defeated
the #5 ranked heavyweight in the country, Jeremy Johnson of
Ohio, 4-2 in the semifinals and placed over 4 wrestlers currently
ranked in the top 12 nationally by Amateur Wrestling News.  To
this point he remains unsigned for college, however,  McClure
has defintely proved that is capable of being a premier Division 1
College heavyweight.

Kyle Waldo of Rockford came back from his semifinal loss to
eventual champion Sean Boyle to rattle off a pair of wins
yesterday to finish 3rd.  Waldo downed IL state champ Joe Roth
6-1 and California runner up Steven Salinas 5-2 to finish his
weekend 3rd with his lone loss coming to Boyle.  The 119lb
champion Sean Boyle will be headed to Ann Arbor next fall to
wrestle for the Wolverines.  Waldo, meanwhile, solidfied his status as one of the elite lightweights in the country as he heads south to wrestle for the University of Nebraska next fall.

Jared Germaine also earned All-American honors at 119lbs.  Germaine lost to 8th ranked NJ state champ Vinnie Dellafave in the consolation brackets before scoring a 6-3 win in the 7th place finals over Chandler Jones of Ohio.  Germaine defeated the eventual 6th placer finisher Roth in the 2nd round of the tournament.

Robert Nash was one of the big suprises of the tournament, placing 4th at 145lbs in the first big time national competetion of his career.  Nash fell in the semifinals to Zach Clemente of New York, however, he bounced back with a win over California placer Jordan Hart to advance to the consolation finals.  Nash lost his finals match 4-1 to California state champ Scott Sakaguchi.  Nash entered the weekend much like McClure, virtually unknown on the national scene, however, his performance makes a claim for himself as a D-1 prospect and this weekend should open some doors for him.

After advancing to the 140lb semifinals, Mason 3x state champ Craig Eifert fell to 7th ranked Max Ortega of New Mexico.  Eifert suffered an injury during his semfinals match and injury defaulted out following that to finish 6th at 140lbs.  Eifert is commited to wrestle for the University of Cornell next year.

The final all-american was 2008 state champ Andrew Schutt of Yale, who finished 7th at 135lbs.  Schutt scored a big time win over 2x Missouri state champ Tony James in the round of 16 before falling to Kodie Silvestri of NJ.  Once in the consolation bracket, Schutt scored a win over Andrew Bannister of Maryland to solidify all-american status.  He then lost to 3x AZ champ Josh Chang before scoing an overtime win Ohio state placer James Hillcock in the 7th place match.  Schutt is one of the top recruits who remains unsigned.

Michigan's performance further reinforces our state's status as one of the elite in wrestling after finishing 2nd last year with 10 all-americans, the Wolverine state was 3rd this year with 8 all-americans. 

Check back to Michigan Grappler.com in the next couple weeks as our Top Wrestler rankings by grade will be released, starting with the Top Seniors recruiting rankings later this week.  The 2009 Michigan Grappler Dream Team and Michigan Grappler Wrestler of the Year will be released soon as well.  Stay tuned!

For full brackets click below.


Tournament Brackets


Michigan All-Americans
103 - Brenan Lyon (Ithaca) - 1st
119 - Kyle Waldo (Rockford)- 3rd
119 - Jared Germaine (Swan Valley) - 7th
135 - Andrew Schutt (Yale) - 7th
140 - Craig Eifert (Mason) - 6th
145 - Robert Nash (Roseville) - 4th
160 - Dan Yates (Hesperia) - 1st
285 - Michael McClure (West Ottawa) - 2nd


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State Champ, 6x Fargo All-American, and now Senior National Champ Brenan Lyon.
3x State Champ, now Senior National Champ Dan Yates will become one of the most highly sought after recruits in the late signing period, not in Michigan but in the country.