Jeff Chaney
Sports Scene
Another year of high school wrestling in the state of Michigan has come and gone.
I know that is hard to grasp if you are like most wrestling fanatics and can’t get enough of the sport. The good thing is that, with how the sport is nowadays, you can always get your fix with off-season tournaments that run year-round.
But the purpose of this column is to look back at another incredible year in the state.
As a person who has covered this sport for 17 years, I can tell you that wrestlilng has never been deeper than it is right now. I just returned from the NCAA Division I Wrestling Championships in Des Moines, Iowa, where I talked to several Division I college coaches who told me that exact same thing.
Michigan has several nationally-ranked teams and individuals that are on college coaches’ radars throughout this country. Teams like Detroit Catholic Central, Davison, and Hartland in Division 1; St. Johns and Lowell in Division 2; Dundee and Richmond in Division 3; and Hudson in Division 4.
One team that piqued the interest of several college coaches in Iowa this past weekend is St. Johns.
Iowa State University’s Kevin Jackson and Indiana assistant coach Nick Simmons are two Lansing-area natives who were standouts at the high school, college, and international levels, and both brought up the Redwings this weekend.
And why not, considering that St. Johns just won its fourth straight Division 2 team championship in February, and in early March crowned seven individual state champions out of 14 weight classes.
That’s up one state champion from last year’s incredible mark of six.
Junior Zac Hall won his third state title this year at 125 pounds and senior Jacob Schmitt won his second at 130. Senior Ben Whitford won his fourth at 145 pounds – the first two were won in Illinois and the second two in Michigan.
Sophomore Logan Massa won his first at 135, senior Josh Pennell won his first at 152, sophomore Angus Arthur won his first at 171, and senior Payne Hayden won his first at 189.
St. Johns may have won eight individual titles if senior Brant Schafer hadn’t hurt his knee and been knocked out for the season, which prevented him from winning his second state title.
The college coaches have already called, as Whitford and Hayden have signed on to wrestle at the University of Michigan next year, joining former teammate Taylor Massa. Pennell will join former teammates Jordan Wohlfert and Travis Curley at Michigan State University, Schmitt will wrestle at Northwestern, and Schafer will take his talents to Indiana.
Former St. Johns standout Dan Osterman just finished his fine career at Michigan State University this past weekend.
So as of now, eight former Redwings will be wrestling in the toughest college conference in the nation – the Big Ten – next year.
And don’t be surprised to see Hall and the younger Massa wearing a Big Ten singlet in the near future, too.
It’s been quite a run for former coach Zane Ballard and current coach Derek Phillips.
The question now, is how long will a run like this last?
Current teams like Detroit Catholic Central and Hudson are on current runs of success, although not as spectacular to what St. Johns is doing now.
The only team to really compare the present Redwings to is the Davison teams of the 2000s which produced three NCAA Division I National Champions in Paul Donahoe, Brent Metcalf, and Jon Reader and which also won five straight MHSAA Division 1 team titles.
Is St. Johns that good?
Maybe not that good, but the Redwings are in the discussion.