2010 brings blend of familiar and not so familiar faces to Battle Creek
by Sean Garner
MichiganGrappler.com
2/25 - This year's team state finals features an array of usual suspects in familiar positions.
Holt, Rockford and Hartland in Division I; Stevensville Lakeshore and Greenville in Division II are among a number of teams continuing their annual quest for championship glory in Battle Creek this weekend.
However, like every year, there are also a number of teams in different positions from the year before. A number of teams this time around, like Oxford, Corunna and Allegan, are moving up a division from where they competed in their last trip to Kellogg Arena, whereas programs like Edwardsburg and Portland are in for a new experience altogether.
After last year's runner-up finish in Division II, Oxford coach Paul McDevitt knew his program was on the right track, but what level his team would compete at in the future was a mystery.
Oxford had long carried one of the largest enrollments in Division II, and after the school's February count enrollment was actually lower than the year before, so he figured his Wildcats would be relegated to spending at least one more year amongst the not-so-huge schools.
However, massive migration out of Michigan significantly reduced enrollment at most schools across the states, thus bringing the cutoff between the divisions went down with it.
The reduced cutoff brought Oxford and Lowell, the team that bested the Wildcats in last year's Division II finals, up as the last two teams above the cutoff for Division II. Though Lowell was beaten by Rockford in the regional finals, McDevitt said the two school's moves has created one of the deepest, most competitive state championship races in recent history.
"If you look at when they moved us and Lowell up as the last two teams in Division I, it made an already tough division just incredible," McDevitt said. "If you look at it now, DCC, with getting 14 guys through to the state tournament, which I don't think has ever been done in Division I, and then you've got Hartland who's real good, Rockford, Holt and us; we can all win it."
McDevitt said the change in divisions did not alter their training much during the season since they already wrestled a Division I schedule every year anyways, but it is interesting facing new competition at the end of the year.
The Wildcats qualified eight wrestlers to the state tournament and while he admitted that the D-I has better depth for the individual run, he believes the road to a Division II team title this year might be just as difficult.
"If you look at the competition at D-II this year, Allegan, St. John's and Greenville might be as good as any team in the state."
For John Rinehart, head coach of Edwardsburg High School, Battle Creek itself will be a whole new experience.
Edwardsburg was also fortunate because of a change in divisions, after the mighty Allegan Tigers moved back up to Division II following their single season in D-III last year.
"That move really opened the door for us," Rinehart said. "Our original goals were only to win conference and districts for the third straight year, but as we moved closer; we realized we had a legitimate shot to make it to Battle Creek."
The Eddies did just that by upsetting traditional Division III contenders in South Haven and Hamilton at Regionals.
Rinehart, in his tenth year directing his alma mater, said the key to rebuilding the Edwardsburg program was the tried-and-true formula of developing a respectable feeder program and maintaining continuity at the coaching and organizational levels.
"The biggest problem we had for a long time was that we just had a revolving door of coaches going in and out," Rinehart said. "We've now been able to keep pretty much the same group of coaches around the past decade, and that's made all the difference in the world. The kids grew up with us; they know us, and they can trust us."
For both teams the goals remain a little bit different. McDevitt believes his team can win it all, even after losing seven seniors from the starting line-up a year ago. He believes early season whippings at the hands of more veteran teams helped prepare his team for the run they are trying to complete, starting with returning runners-up Holt on Friday.
"It sort of got some of our young guys thinking, 'I'm not in JV anymore,' " McDevitt said. "Our biggest obstacle is that we'll have to win three tough duals to pull it out. Whereas, the other teams might have an easier time in the first round, if we don't prepare for Holt, we'll lose."
Rinehart, meanwhile, is focusing on making this a memorable experience for his young team, which could have as many as seven freshman and sophomore starters take the mat when they face Allendale on Friday.
"We've talked about this a lot as a team, and we're definitely not going to be happy just to be there, but regardless of the outcome, it will be a great experience," McDevitt said. "We're definitely happy to have the draw we have, and our goal right now is to beat a very good Allendale squad."
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