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Individual State Finals Recap

2008 MHSAA Individual State Finals

Palace of Auburn Hills - March 6-8

DIVISION 1

103 -- Andrew Brackins of Waterford Kettering proved that he is one of the top 103lbers in the state as showed dominance en route to the title. Brackins closest match came in the semis to eventual third place finisher Anthony Pavlich of Westland John Glenn where he won 7-5. In the finals he controlled Grandville's Jacob Scholten en route to a 8-2 win. Brackins is the first state champ ever from Waterford Kettering. A note of interest, not one of the D1 103 placers were freshman.

112 -- Rockford's Kyle Waldo made a statement this weekend, proving that he is can he is the top lightweight in Michigan. Many people doubted that the he could win his 3rd title in a weight other than 103, but Waldo did just that and he looked good doing it. His biggest test came in the quarters where he beat returning runner up Justin Fleeson. In the finals he shutout Terrance Frank 5-0 to become a 3x champ and next year he will bid to become the 14th 4x champ in Michigan history.

119 - Cameron Amaties has officially arrived as he won this star-studded weight class. Coming in many considered Bryan Rickard and Paul Hancock as the men to beat in this weight and Amaties beat them both. In the semis he beat Rickard 4-3 then he proved too solid for Hancock in the finals, catching him on his back multiple times to win the state title with a 21-9 major decision.

125 - Zac Stevens ended his illustrius career by finally winning a state title. After finishing runner-up last year and losing multiple times to Westland John Glenn's Jeremiah Austin this year, Stevens cruised to the finals and then finished it off with a solid win over Austin in the finals, 7-3. Austin won a close match in the semis over Davison's Zach Davis. Davis, a junior, was the highest placing wrestler who will return next year.

130 - Much like Stevens at 125, Christian Cullinan finally got the monkey off his back and won his first state title. Cullinan, who has entered the Palace as a favorite to win the past few years, won a tough weight with a few hard fought wins. He won in the quarters 9-3 over Paul Crowe, then edged Holly's super sophomore Josh Houldsworth in the semis 5-4, then capped his weekend off with a 8-7 win over Zach Johnson of Rockford. Johnson was one of the big surprises of the tournament after expierencing an injury riddled season and finishing 4th in his regional. He upset Nick Bara, Bill Osborne, and Grant Ankney to make the finals.

135 - John Houseman of Grand Haven entered the weekend undefeated and finished undefeated as well as he beat Sexton's Bebeto Yewah in the finals 6-4. Yewah is an interesting story as he just began wrestling a couple years ago, and did not make the state tournament last year. He edged AJ Pratt and Josh Stout in close matches to reach the finals.

140 - Justin McDermitt left no doubt in anyone's mind as he dominated everyone he wrested this weekend. The Davison senior finished his career off in grand fashion as he outscored his opponents 48-14 in the first three rounds and then was handling DCC's Shea Hasenaur in the finals before an injured shoulder caused Hasenaur to default.

145 - In one of the D1's best final matches Jeremy Bommarito of Hartland edged Jake Dorulla of Rockford 1-0. Bommarito rode Dorulla out the entire second period, which proved to be the difference as Dorulla cut him loose to start the third and then couldn't muster enough offense to score the winning takedown. Bommarito also survived a barnburner in the semis over Belleville's Steve Coak. Dorulla, only a sophomore, has now finished runner-up to a Hartland wrestler twice after losing in the finals to Owen Wilkinson last year.

152 - Lake Orion's Jake Varilek completed his impressive senior season with a state title. His road to the title was not easy as he won close bouts from the quarterfinals on. Varilek defeated Oakland county rival Nick Kacznowksi in the finals for what seems like the 10th time this season as they have met numerous times.

160 - This was the starting weight and Alex Ortman and Jake Bohn kicked the finals off with a bang. In one of the most exciting matches of the finals Ortman scored a takedown in the final seconds to break a tie score and defeat Bohn 6-4, claiming his 2nd state title.

171 - Rockford's Ben Bennett finished his storied career in dominant fashion with two tech falls and two pins. Bennett, who is ranked top 10 nationally in almost every poll and has not lost to anyone from the state of Michigan in the past two seasons, dominated Adam Lauzun in the finals for two periods and then polished him off with the fall in the third period. Bennett will keep his skills in Michigan for the next 4 years as he has signed to wrestle for coach Borelli at Central Michigan University.

189 - This was probably the deepest most evenly matched weight in all of Division 1 and it was Royal Oak's Raylen Davis who came away with the title. Davis knocked off Davison's Richard Kirksey in the semis and then edged Lake Orion's Evan Gros 3-2 in the finals to secure the title. Davis, a senior, will be going D1 next year but not for wrestling; he will be playing football for Air Force (maybe they will convince him to wrestle 197 for them as well?)

215 - The Marcel Dubose era ended in dramatic fashion as the Oak Park senior won his 3rd state title. Dubose, who won his first two titles in Division 3 for Highland Park, added a D1 title to his resume with many high flying throws from start to finish. His last match was a 15-5 major decision over Holt's Mitch Zajac in the finals. Dubose, a Junior Greco champ, has commited to be a Spartan next year for MSU.

285 - DCC's Mike Martin is probably the only wrestler in the state that is more physically intimidating then Marcel Dubose. The 6'6 giant blue-chip football nose guard turned grappler dominated the heavyweight division and avenged his regional loss to DJ Charneski with a 7-3 finals win. Martin, who started wrestling last year, has now won two titles in two years in wrestling - not bad. Unfortunately for wrestling fans he will be playing football for the University of Michigan next fall, not wrestling. Joe McFarland might be knocking at his door following bowl season next year.

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