Michigan Grappler - Everything wrestling in Michigan

Michigan Grappler's 4th Annual

Palace Awards

2011 MHSAA Individual State Championships

Palace of Auburn Hills

March 3-5

3/10 - As we put our finishing touches on the 2011 High School season, Michigan Grappler would like to reflect on what went down in Auburn Hills last weekend. 56 State Champions were crowned across the four divisions, and sometimes within all of the madness even the most focused fan can miss some very intrigueing storylines.

Therefore, we have prepared for you a rundown of the notable notes and memorable memories from this year's State Finals.

All-Tournament Most Outstanding Wrestler: Joey Golani (Dearborn Hts Crestwood)

Division 1 - Shayne Wireman (Holt)

Division 2 - Joey Golani (Crestwood)

Division 3 - Joey White (Dundee)

Division 4 - Sam Mehan (Sand Creek)

Joey Golani scored one of the biggest upsets of the weekend when he

knocked off 4x Fargo All-American Jacob Schmitt in the D2 112lb finals. It was a

rematch of last year's 103lb finale that Schmitt won without too much struggle

and if you polled a large audience of wrestling fans you would have been hard up

to find anyone who had their money on Golani. He hit a big headlock in the

second period and then used his strong hips and upperbody skills to slow

Schmitt down, give him fits, and inevitably hold off a comeback attempt.

Shayne Wireman of Holt was also an upset winner. Wireman knocked off

Mitch Rogaliner who is the returning 103lb champ in this year's 103lb D1 finals.

It is rare to see a champ from 103 return to 103 and not repeat. Especially

considering that Wireman is back at 103 as well and last year he did not even

place. Big upset, great match, outstanding performance.

Sam Mehan was an upset special as well and it was especially notable

because it put an end to Devan Marry's quest for 4 state titles. Marry is one of

the most well-known wrestlers in Division 4 and last year he beat Mehan in the

finals, so a loss this time around was not expected. What is even best is that

this rivalry may not be over - these two will both be back next year.

Joey White won a much anticipated matchup in the Division 3 125lb finals.

It was a rematch with Buddy Poyner of Lake Fenton, who beat White last weekend in the D3 Team Semifinals in the last bout of the Dundee-Lk Fenton dual. Poyner beat White to propel his squad to the D3 State Finals, however, this time around White bested Poyner in overtime to win an Individual State Title. White's road to the finals was not easy by an means as he knocked off 3x all-state senior Chris Thiele of Swan Valley in a barn-burner 3-2 just to get to the semifinals.

Most Impressive Team Performance - Dundee

Division 1 - Detroit Catholic Central (8 placers, 6 finalists, 3 champs)

Division 2 - St Johns (9 placers, 5 finalists, 3 champs)

Division 3 - Dundee (10 placers, 6 finalists, 4 champs)

Division 4 - Hudson (10 placers, 4 finalists, 1 champ)

There were a few teams that were very dominant this weekend

Auburn Hills, but the most impressive of them all was Dundee. After

being shutout of the D3 Team Finals last weekend in Battle Creek, the

Vikings turned in up at the Palace with 10 placers and 6 wrestlers in the

state finals, both numbers that tied any other team in the state for the

most. In addition, they were the only team from any division last

weekend to crown 4 individual champs. White, Rendina, Rau, and

Heiserman pulled through and finished their stellar careers with titles.

The issue now for Dundee is replacing that amazing group of seniors as

6 of their 10 placers will gradutate this spring and their nemesis

Richmond seems to put together solid teams every year.

Like Dundee, DCC bounced back from Battle Creek dissapointment

nicely as they advanced six wrestlers to the Championship Finals, with

three of them winning state titles. Of DCC's placers, 7 of the 8 are

returning next year and of their champs, they all return with one

state champ junior, sophomore, and freshman, showing the crazy depth

that the Shamrocks are working with right now.

St Johns solidified themselves as the kings of Division 2 last weekend with 5 in the finals and 3 champs. A Joey Golani upset at 112 and Brant Schafer losing his first match of the year at 125 is all that kept the Red Wings from winning an amazing 6 state titles. St Johns 9 placewinners was not the most in the tournament, however, the impressive thing is that 8 of those 9 placers were Top 3 in the state and NONE of them finished lower than 4th! Even more impressive/horrifying is the fact that Taylor Pemberton (4th at 215) is the only state placer who does not return, in fact he is the only one of St Johns 12 State Qualifiers who does not return!

Hudson continued to be the class of D4, however, they had some stiff competetion this year in Hesperia and New Lothrop. NL actually was the only D4 squad with multiple champs, however, they had only 7 placers to Hudson's 10. 7 All-Staters return for Hudson, so don't expect much of a drop off anytime soon from the Tigers.

Breakout Rookie Performance - Justin Oliver (Davison)

Division 1 - Justin Oliver (Davison) - 1st @ 112

Division 2 - Kyle Simaz (Allegan) - 2nd @ 119

Division 3 - Doug Rojem (Dundee) - 5th @ 119

Division 4 - Cole Weaver (Hudson) - 2nd @ 112

It is tough to pick one freshman performance that stands out

above the rest across all the divisions. Justin Oliver finished an

undefeated season in grand fashion as he cruised through the loaded

112lb bracket including an 8-4 win over returning runner up Josh Wood.

While Oliver was super-impressive, you could argue another freshman

in his own division that was more eye-opening and that is Logan

Marcicki who battled through an upper-classmen heavy 130lb bracket

to win a state title in his first try. Jordan Cooks of Davison was

impressive as well finishing 3rd at 145lbs, a weight normally

dominated by upperclassmen.

In Division 2 you could make an argument for Zac Hall, who was

the only freshman to win a title and did so in dominant fashion.

However, in terms of a breakout there is no doubt that Kyle Simaz

takes the cake. The youngest of the wrestling stud-family showed

he will live up to the family tradition as he knocked off two former

state champions in his first two Palace matches en route to an un-

expected finals appearance. In the finals he got roughed up a little by 3x champ Conor Youtsey, but the way he got there was amazing.

There were no freshman in Division who won titles, but Doug Rojem was impressive in taking 5th at 119lbs

Hudson's Cole Weaver lost a tough finals match to returning champ Luke Bell, however, the freshman stud proved that he can compete on the big stage with an upset win over the top ranked wrestler in his weight, Jacob Perrin. Weaver has been a high-profile freshman since knocking off nationally ranked Phil Laux of Iowa at the Grappler Fall Classic last October and he solidified it with his performance this weekend. Kenneth Dittenber of Carson City Crystal was the lone freshman champ in D4, winning it at 103, and another notable freshman performance came at 130lbs where Zehlin Storr of Leslie finished 3rd in a stacked weight class.

Biggest upset of the weekend - Matside Michigan upsets Grappler for Pick Em Title

Michigan's major wrestling media outlets predicted the state champions for every weight in every division prior to the start of action and for the first time since we started predcting three years ago, Michigan Grappler was beaten! Matside Michigan Radio's Mychal Grenawalt successfully picked 36 of the 56 state champions, just one more than Michigan Grappler and Wrestling Addix, who picked 35/56 correct each. Paul Costanzo and The Times Herald finished 4th with 33 of 56 correct. Michigan Grappler was the favorite going in but this just goes to show you that anyone can be beat on any given day.

Top Championship Celebrations

It is always interesting to see different wreslters react differently to winning a state title. Some wrestlers appear to have well-planned out celebrations while some others appear to be pure emotion. Here is a look at a few that stood out:

1. "Swing Batter, Batter" by Derek Davison, Monroe - Following his win over

arch-nemesis Brian Gibbs of Bedford in the D1 140lb Finals, Davison pretended

to throw a ball high in the air and hit it with a bat. He then put the finishing

touch by watching the ball fly far over the fence. Creativity points galore for this

unique idea, congrats Derek!

2. Shooting Arrow by Andrew Morse, Lowell - After winning his first state title,

Lowell junior Andrew Morse hit a celebration that referenced the Lowell mascot

- the Red Arrows - as he pretended to shoot an arrow up to the Lowell section

of the crowd. Creativity points were a plus and the fact that it correlated to his

team mascot, double kudos!

3. 100% raw emotion, by Camryn Jackson, Lansing Eastern - The finals got off

to a hot start as the opening weight class (135) saw a close, slow match erupt

in the final 10 seconds as Cam Jackson scored a last second takedown to

beat Joe Johnson of South Lyon and following the takedown Jackson switched

gears from holding position for 6 minutes to and explosion of pure, raw emotion.

The moment was so emotional that his father nearly tackled him to the ground

in the center of the mat.

The UP has Officially Arrived

A few years ago the Upper Penisula joined with the Lower Penisula for the State Championships. Prior to that the UP had a separate state tournament. Since combining the two penisulas, no Upper Penisula wrestler has won a State Championship, until this year. Joe Ostman of St Ignace scored a big upset when he reversed returning state champ Matt Smith of Hudson and scored a fall in the 3rd period to knock off Smith and win the first ever UP State Championship.

While Ostman was the storyline for the UP, a handful of others competed well this weekend in what could be classified as a break our for the Northerners. Galloway Thurston, just a sophomore, who is also from St Ignace advanced to the finals as well, finishing runner-up at 171lbs. Thurston has two more years to join Ostman in the UP Champ Club.

At least three other UP placers that I am aware of include Lou Radecki-St Ignace at 145lbs in D4, Chase Gendron-Iron Mountain at 135lbs in D3, and Dylan Maher-Marquette at 215lbs in D2. Congrats the to the yoopers on performing well in Auburn Hills!

History in the making?

5 wrestlers became three-time state champions last weekend - Freddie

Rodriguez (Grand Ledge-D1/119), Alec Mooradian (DCC-D1/135), Conor

Youtsey (Mason-D2/119), Taylor Massa (St Johns-D2/160), and Roger

Wildmo (Durand-D3/152).

Strangely, both Mooradian and Wildmo won their third state titles by default

as both of their opponents opted not to compete.

The real story here, however, is that three of this year's 3xers will be back

next year shooting for their 4th state title. The 4x state champ club is an

elite one. Their have only been 15 ever 4x MHSAA State Champions and

their could very well be three next year alone, including Taylor Massa who

could become just the 5th ever 4xer to go undefeated in his career. Their

could be an argument made that next year's senior class is the best group

the state of Michigan has ever seen - only time will tell.

Improvements that could be made?

We at MichiganGrappler.com would like to thank the MHSAA for a

wonderful weekend. They continue to improve media coverage with live

results, live video stream, and excellent event accomodations for all media outlets.

While we appreciate all the MHSAA has done to make wrestling a priority and continue to improve our great sport and our championship events, there a few things that stood out to us this weekend that may be possible areas of improvement for the future.

1. Coach Celebrations - Now we are fully aware that coaching athletes is an emotional thing and you invest a lot of time and emotion into coaching. When a coach gets to see his athlete suceed and see all those countless hours of work finally pay off it is one of the most gratifying times for a coach. We get that. With that being said, it seems innapropriate when a coach celebrates more than his athlete. The attention should be focused on the athlete, not his coach. In addition, the losing athlete is already upset and dissapointed and then he has to watch the opposing coach throw it in his face. It just doesn't seem appropriate it seems like it should be addressed. I spoke with with one coach this week who made a good point, he said, "It seems wrong that if I go to Senior Nationals and coach my athlete in a with 100% perfect sportsmanship and represent the state of Michigan in a great way I will be suspended by the MHSAA, but if I make a spectacle of the state finals all I receive is a verbal warning." The MHSAA puts regulations in place to protect the integrity of the sport and promote sportsmanship. Coaches have a responsiblity to be leaders of the young men they coach and they should be held accountable because the crazy coach celebrations that went down last weekend are not setting a very good example.

2. The Awards Presentation - This idea might see alot of resistance from traditionalists who like to see things done the same, but I think it would make the finals go more smoothly. Rather than presenting the awards after each weight class, which creates large breaks in the action and makes everything feel like it is dragging along, I think we should do the award presentations all at the end. This would force all of the parents of all of the all-state wrestlers to remain in The Palace until every wrestler has competed. This way the final few weight classes should have a larger audience. With the current format it seems like the wrestlers who are in the final few weight classes get cheated. For example, the 135-152lb state champions got to win their state title in front of a jam-packed Palace of Auburn Hills while the 119-130lb state champions won their title in front of a crowd that would fit inside most Middle School gymnasiums. This should be addressed.

One could make a counter-point that if we do all of the awards at the end then their will be nobody in the arena to watch the awards. Good point. However, I would rather have a small crowd watching me receive my chart as opposed to a small crowd watching me compete.

3. Seeding the State Tournament? - I know this has been talked about on message boards for years and it is a very complex issue with a lot of layers that would need to be addresssed. The current format uses a placement formula to place the wrestlers into the brackets based on their placing at Regionals. Therefore, the 4 Regional champs are split up and will not meet until the Semifinals. This would be wonderful if the top 4 wrestlers were split into different regionals, however, the regionals are created geographically and there always seems to be certain regions that are tougher than others. It feels like this year there were more marquee Quarterfinal matchups than in year's past and it is never good to see two of the top 3 or 4 wrestlers in a weight meeting before the semis. The MHSAA changed the Team Seeding to create better Semifinal and Final matchups. It would be awesome to see something similiar in the Individual Tournament. Now, obviously this would be a much more complex idea to take on and I am not even going to get going on how it should be done, by I think it is time to start thinking about moving in that direction.

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