About the author: Tony Greathouse is the founder and owner of MichiganGrappler.com as well as the Associated Wrestling Press. He wrestled collegiately at Michigan State and scholastically at Mason HS and is currently the Head Wrestling Coach at Brighton High School.
Greathouse can be reached via email at associatedwrestlingpress@gmail.com
Questions for Tuesday Morning Takedowns can be submitted via email or by messaging us on twitter @michgrappler
It was another action packed weekend with the US Senior World Trials (phase I) and the Junior World Trials going on in Madison, Wisconsin.
Friday was Junior FILA all day long, and then the Senior level trials were spread out across Saturday and Sunday. It was pretty sweet following the event all weekend through video and text results, especially with all the Michigan people who were competing.
The FILA Junior stuff was awesome - Adam Coon and Gabe Dean wrestled like flat out studs in the freestyle tournament and Kevin Beazley dominated to make the Greco world team. I really think we are going to see Dean and Coon winning NCAA titles in the very near future, maybe even next year!
A couple interesting fun facts from the weekend:
For a recap of the FILA Junior Trials, click here.
For a recap of the US Senior Trials, click here.
So last week I responded to a mailbag question about the popularity of freestyle wrestling and USAW in Michigan, and if it will ever change. The focus of my response was really on the youth levels, and I tried to stick to answering the question.
Since the article was posted, I got a few comments (see the article to view them) and I posted one response, then I just stopped responding because I figured I could do a follow up on this week's TMT.
My original comments last week were focused on youth wrestlers, and what the primary style of wrestling is currently at the youth level, and what I think it should be. As I talked about last week, youth wrestlers are primarily wrestling folkstyle across the country, not just in Michigan, and Freestyle and/or Greco-Roman is a supplemental addition if desired. I agree with this trend, I think youth wrestlers should be wrestling folkstyle primarily as youngsters, because that is what they will be doing primarily as high school and/or college wrestlers if they take it that far.
Most of the readers comments that came in response from the article were regarding what high school wrestlers do in the off-season. At no point did I say that I did not agree with high schoolers wrestling freestyle in the off-season, or even youth wrestlers participating in freestyle. As a coach, I have always had a good amount of my top tier wrestlers training and competing in freestyle and greco, and I have even coached many of our MUSAW national teams over the last few years, so am I big fan of wrestling freestyle and greco in the offseason, if that is something you like to do.
My overall take on off-season wrestling in general, is that it is huge for high school wrestlers to train and compete throughout the off-season, regardless of what style they are competing in, because mat-time is mat-time. For some kids, wrestling folkstyle all off-season after the end of the high school season can be draining, so they like to change it up with freestyle and greco. For some, they dont like learning new rules and they want to stick with folkstyle, it is really a matter of preference to me. Regardless, off-season training and competetion is a core fundamental in learning, growing, and getting better as an athlete. We are very fortunate to have a ton of great opportunities in Michigan to train and compete in the off-season at an extremely high level, so take advantage of them!
This week's Advocare spotlight is Rehydrate, which is an elecrolyte replacement drink made by Advocare, that is a much better version of Gatorade. Rehydrate contains a better blend of carbohydrates and electrolytes than Gatorade plus it has less sugar, less carbs, and less calories. Throw in that Rehydrate has the following things that Gatorade does not: essential minerals, antioxidants, amino acids, L-Arginine, chromium, and other awesome stuff that gives you way more than just electrolyte replacement. With Rehdyrate, you will have less cramping, faster recovery, and the amino acids/L-Arginine will even help with muscle strength & function. Click here to see a more detailed comparison of Rehydrate and Gatorade.
Rehydrate will cost you less than Gatorade as well - at full retail a box of #14 pouches will cost you $19.95, which is about $1.40 a piece. Purchase a canister at full retail for $57.95 and you get #56 servings, almost exactly $1.00 each,
If you are buying Gatorade at a gas station or 7-11, you are looking at a $2.00+ bill each time, and if you go the more economical route of buying the Gatorade powder (not too many folks who actually do this) than the cost is almost identical to Rehydrate - $19.99 for #16 servings.
Morale of the story - Rehydrate is WAY better for you than Gatorade and will save you money along the way.
You can buy it now at our Advocare store by clicking here.
If you wanna see how it tastes first, shoot me an e-mail at associatedwrestlingpress@gmail.com and I can send a free sample!
Who do you think will be the next Brent Metcalf caliber kid to come out of Michigan? Multiple NCAA titles, multiple World Teams? - Paul
Before I propose who might be the next Brent Metcalf, lets discuss if there has ever been a Brent Metcalf before? We have amazing kids come out of Michigan every year, and over the last decade or so we have a bunch of them go onto great college success - NCAA Champs come to mind like Metcalf, Jon Reader, Paul Donahoe, and Cam Simaz. 4x All-Americans also come to mind like Nick Simmons and Ben Bennett. We have had some guys do well on the international circuit as well, Metcalf on 3 World Teams now, Simmons made a world team in 2011 and was 5th in the World, and guys like Reader, Trice, the Churellas, Casey Cunningham, and others have knocked on the door to make World Teams and done really well at the Senior Level.
With all the great wrestlers to come out of Michigan over the years, I think (correct me if I am wrong) that the last multiple-time NCAA Champ at the DI level who was a native of Michigan was Mark Churella who won 3 in a row from 1977-1979. So we are talking pretty exclusive company to be a multiple time NCAA Champ, and to make numerous World Teams, I can honestly say that I don't have the records in front of me, but off the top of my head I can give you Joe Warren and Steve Fraser on the Greco World Team and then Kevin Jackson & Zeke Jones on the freestyle squad. Warren and Fraser won World/Olympic Titles in Greco, Jackson won World & Olypmic Titles in Freestyle, and Jones was the man throughout most of the 90s when he was the mainstay at 114lbs back when that was a weight class, and won a couple world medals along the way. But with all of those multiple time World Team members, pretty sure you have zero NCAA titles, let alone a multiple-time NCAA Champ.
So with all this being said, I am going to go out on a limb and say that we have NEVER seen a wrestler from Michigan have a college and senior level career to the caliber of Brent Metcalf. Churella won 3 NCAA Titles, but never made a World Team (to my knowledge). Jackson, Jones, Warren, and Fraser all had phenomenal international careers, but never won an NCAA title. To accomplish both those feats, I am pretty sure Brent Metcalf is a company of his own.
Now, to try to offer some options for who may have a chance at being the "next Brent Metcalf" from the state of Michigan. Current young collegiates who come to mind - Adam Coon, Taylor Massa, and Gabe Dean are the obvious choices. All three of these guys are curently the elite freshman college wrestlers in the country and have all made World Teams for their age level. I think all three will also contend for NCAA titles next year as sophomores and are all capable of winning multiple NCAA titles if things work out for them. Then, if they pursue international careers, making a World Team could be in their future. While I thoroughly believe that we have more talent being produced on yearly basis than ever from our sport in our state, I think there are some external factors that come into play and make it a pretty daunting task to have a long, sucessfull international career. First off, just making the world team is getting harder and harder as weight classes keep getting eliminated and the talent pool gets deeper at each weight class. Also, many young stars who make a world team and get a medal on the world level relatively quickly are jumping into their college coaching career which either leads to retirement or a drop-off in their training/competetion schedules that in turn, leads to not making another World team. And finally, many world level wrestlers are passing up on international wrestling all together and pursuing a career MMA which is much more lucrative financially, so we may see some of our best wrestlers not in the running to make world teams.
Some other names that have the physical pedigree to be pretty special down the road in college and at the international level include guys like Ben Whitford, Logan Massa, Zac Hall, and Mark Hall (I dont care that he goes to school in Minnesota, he will always be a Michigander to me), along with about a dozen others that could be thrown into that mix. But with all these guys I have mentioned, they need a lot of things to go there way, and they need to be able to stay hungry for as long as Metcalf has, which is pretty tough to do.
Who you got winning team state titles next year? It seems like the same couple teams each year in each division, do you think any new faces will show up this year? - Scott
Your absolutely right, the last few years it seems like deja vu, we have the same teams battling it out for the state title in each division. D1 always seems to end up being DCC-Davison, with a couple other contenders in the mix. 2009 was the last time that DCC or Davison were not in the D1 Finals and in the last 15 years there has only been 3 years that either Davison or DCC were not in the D1 Finals.
In the last 6 years, D2 has been all about St Johns-Lowell for sure. 2008 (Greenville) was the last time a team other than St Johns or Lowell won the D2 State Title, and they have both met in the finals the last three years.
D3 - Same story, 2009 was the last time a team not named Richmond or Dundee won it (Goodrich), and it has been 9 years in a row that Richmond or Dundee have been in the D3 Finals.
I would call D4 more of a three-horse race, with the same horse ending up on top pretty much every year. Up until last year Hudson had won 5 in a row, pretty unbelievable, and New Lothrop knocked them off last year. But it seems like Hudson, Hesperia, and New Lothrop are the consistent forces to be reckoned with every year in D4 for the last 10 years or so. 2005 was the last time that the D4 finals did not feature Hudson/Hesperia/or New Lothrop.
Now looking into next year, I would say it is a safe bet to expect those normal players to continue to be the teams to beat in each division. This year seems like a year where a lot of those power programs graduate really good senior classes. Davison loses #6 top 100 seniors, DCC sends off #5 top 50 seniors, Lowell has #4 in the top 150 with #3 in the top 75, Dundee has #3 guys in the top senior rankings, Hudson has #4, New Lothrop has #4, Richmond has #3. We had one of our best senior classes last year and a good number of those studs come from the traditional powerhouse programs. With that being said, will it open the door for new programs to emerge? Maybe it will, however, those good programs got good for a reason, so I wouldn't expect them to pack it in and call it a "re-building year". Like the old saying says, good teams don't rebuild, they reload.
Here is my early (really early) look at the top teams for next year, and I will admit that Steve Widzinski is probably the person to talk to about this because he has way more in-depth knowledge than me at this point.
D1 - DCC and Davison are the teams to beat until they get beat, the rest of the pack including Hartland, Brighton, Dakota, Grandville, Oxford, Bedford, and others will be knocking at the door, but I am going to resist from giving an in-depth response on D1 because I coach at a D1 program so I am naturally a little biased.
D2 - The St Johns-Lowell rivalry will continue. Last year Tecumseh almost broke through and beat St Johns in the semis, but it will be hard for them or anyone else in D2 to knock the juggernauts off this year. St Johns has almost everyone back and although Lowell graduated a really good senior class, they have 3 State Champs & 5 total placers returning, along with a really good freshman class coming in and tons of depth throughout to make up for their graduating seniors. The title will boil down to the Wings and Arrows again, buckle your seat belts!
D3 - It is really hard to see anyone beating Dundee and Richmond. Both teams return a ton, and I am not sure what Richmond has coming in but I know Dundee has a couple hammers, most notably Brandon Whitman who will compete for a state title as a freshman 160ish pounder next year. I have seen Whitman wrestle and the kid is the real deal - expect to see him make a name for himself on the national stage this summer at Cadet Duals and Fargo. The likes of Whitman and their incoming freshman make me a believer that as of now, I think the Vikings will 3-peat next year.
D4 - Hudson graduates 6 state qualifiers, including nationally ranked Cole Weaver, but the Tigers still return 8 state qualifiers and seem to just keep pumping new faces in that can compete right away, so I have a hard time believing that they are going to fall off anytime soon. New Lothrop graduates their best senior class ever led by State Champs Wendling and Krupp, but they also have 7 returning state qualifiers and they proved this year that they can compete with the best in the state across all divisions. Hesperia will always be solid, and they should be in the mix next year, as well as other teams that return a lot of firepower like Lawton, Addison, Springport, etc., but I think it will end up being Hudson-NL in the finals again.
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I would love to get some coverage on these Michigan based tournaments like the States Games, Northern Exposure, Olivet Duals, the Rumble Series..... Just sayin'! I'm in GA dying for some results.
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Missing these weekly reads
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TMT is coming back next week! Sorry for the hiatus, things have been slow in the wrestling world, but we are ready to get it going again!
Allegan can very much win D3 next year!
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