Day 3: Live Coverage of MHSAA Individual Wrestling State Finals

AUBURN HILLS - The MHSAA individual state wrestling finals take place Thursday-Saturday; Patch is live at the Palace and will be providing updates. Check back often to see how all the Rochester-area wrestlers are doing.

It will be a battle of underclassman in the finals of the 112 pound weight class later today when Rochester's Josh Wood wrestles Justin Oliver from Davison for the state title. Oliver is just a freshman and is undefeated this season at 52-0. In the semifinals he beat Malik Amine, a very good wrestler out of Detroit Catholic Central, on a technical fall (19-0; 4:56). The finals are scheduled to start at 4:45 tonight, check back for coverage of the big match later today.

Saturday

4:20 p.m. – Rochester schools had mixed results in the consolation medal rounds.

Rochester junior Cody Devoe lost his Division 1 160-pound weight class fifth place match to Mike Henige of Clarkston on a 9-4 decision. Stoney Creek’s Serge Andreou also lost. The junior was pinned (1:38) at the start of the second round by Tyler Culp of Holt in the Division 2 285-pound weight class.

The only winner was Kaelan Richards. The sophomore had Kyle Hill from Oxford’s number at the state finals. He beat Hill on Friday in a  4-2 decision and on Saturday he won a major decision over Hill 10-2. Richards’ win gives him a third-place finish in the Division 1 125-pound weight class.

1:50 p.m. –  It wasn’t how Avondale wanted to go out in the state tournament.

Both Victor and Dean Vettese lost their consolation matches on Saturday and ended up with fourth- and sixth-place finishes, respectively.

Victor wrestled Taylor Simaz from Allegan for the second time at the tournament and had the same problems he had Friday with the junior. Simaz didn’t allow Vettese to pick up a single point in the match and the three points Simaz scored in the third round ended up being the difference (3-0).

Vettese couldn’t hide his disappointment as he walked off the mat, but he had really set the bar high. 

He made the state finals all four years and the fourth place finish is actually the lowest of his career. He was the runner up last year in the 130-pound weight class and has two state titles under his belt (2009 112-pound champion and 2008 103-pound champion).

His brother Dean started strong in his match against Travis Kern of Fowlerville in the Division 2 140-pound weight class, but Vettese made a mistake in the second round that put Kern in the driver’s seat. Kern rolled over on a takeover attempt of Vettese’s and locked in a pin attempt. Vettese couldn’t escape and lost the match (1:50).

Dean is a sophomore and will have two more years to compete for a state title.

11:00 a.m. – Avondale's Victor Vettese won’t have another shot at a state title, but he will get a chance at a third place medal and some revenge in the consolation bracket finals later today.

This morning, Vettese beat Austin Cottongim from Fowlerville on a 4-1 decision and Travis Dragomer from St. Clair Shores Lake Shore on a 3-0 decision to advance. His opponent will be Taylor Simaz from Allegan. Simaz eliminated Vettese on Friday from the winners bracket in the 135-pound weight class. Simaz lost in the semifinals to Joe Johnson of South Lyon last night to set up the rematch.

In the 140-pound weight class, Victor's brother Dean Vettese will wrestle for fifth place. Dean split his two matches this morning in the consolation bracket to set up a battle for fifth with Travis Kern of Fowlerville.

Friday

9:40 p.m. – Rochester’s Josh Wood is headed back to the finals in the Division 1 112-pound weight class. The sophomore beat Doug Zundel of Roseville in the semifinals on Friday night 6-3.

Wood came out with three takedowns in the first three minutes of the match for an early 6-2 lead. After the match, he said that was his strategy going in.

“I tried to come out really aggressive, try to wear him out a little bit,” Wood said.
Zundel wasn’t able to get any takedowns in the final round and Wood stayed on top of him for much of the final minute.

In the quarterfinals, Wood had a tough match against Jourdain Spurlin (52-5) of Southgate Anderson. He turned a lot of heads by pinning the sophomore in the second round (2:44).

 “That was huge,” Wood said. “Everyone was picking him over me, I was the underdog, I’m really glad I pulled that off.”

Wood was pinned in last year’s finals at the Palace by Freddie Rodriguez of Holt,  and that was on his mind all weekend.

“It just gave me motivation,” Wood said. “I worked so hard this year. I came so close as a freshman. This year I have a really good chance of winning this thing. I want to win it so bad.”

His fellow sophomore wasn’t so lucky in the semifinals. Rochester's Kaelen Richards lost his match to Alex Calandrino of Howell on a 5-2 decision.

Calandrino, the runner-up in the 2009 103-pound weight class,  didn’t allow Richards to get in a rhythm.

Richards couldn't string any offense moves together. He had one takedown in the second round and that was it. In the final minute he lost control and allowed Calandrino to get the advantage. A late takedown by the Howell junior sealed the win.

Richards still has a shot at third place in the consolation bracket, where he will face either Dominic Trevino of Holt or Evan Hoshaw of Brighton.

8:40 p.m. – Earlier today, Nick Gajdzik’s coach said his wrestler liked wrestling in close matches. Boy, he wasn’t kidding.

Gajdzik is going to the finals in the Division 1 215-pound weight class after beating David Pope from Monroe in overtime 6-4 – and the Stoney Creek junior did it with literally no time on the clock.

Pope tied the match late in the third round with a takedown to make it 4-4. In overtime Pope was aggressive and tried to end the match at the start of extra time. Gajdzik fended him off and finally found an opening in the final 10 seconds.
Gajdzik had Pope’s arms in a double underhook right on the edge of the out-of-bounds line. He knocked Pope over as time expired. The head referee didn’t signal a takedown, but the side judge called him over and said that Gajdzik was in bounds on the takedown.

“I heard (the crowd) counting down,” Gajdzik said. “I said to myself, let’s go for it.”

It paid off. Gajdzik was awarded the points, and the match, in one of the closest bouts of the weekend.

“It’s fun; that’s where the pressure is on,” Gajdzik said. “It forces you to compete, and that’s the best part. Pinning the kid doesn’t show what you know. This kind of close matches show off what you know.”

Monroe’s coaches and fans protested the call, but it didn’t matter. Gajdzik couldn’t hide his excitement at having a chance at a state title.

“I’m really excited,” Gajdzik said, smiling. “There’s one goal, a state championship, and I just need one more.”

And Gajdzik will be facing a familiar foe. He will wrestle Prescott Line from Oxford. The two meet earlier in the season at the county championships. That match went to triple overtime and Gajdzik lost. He now has a chance for revenge on a much bigger stage.

“I’m looking forward to this,” Gajdzik said. “It’s going to be fun.”

3:25: Rochester semifinal matchups in the Division 1 winner brackets are:

• 112 Pound Weight Class: Josh Wood vs. Doug Zundel – Zundel is a junior from Roseville that is 42-6 on the year. He beat Keegan Cantera from Oxford in the quarters to advance on a close 4-2 decision.
• 125 Pound Weight Classs Kaelen Richards vs. Alex Calandrino – Calandrino is a junior from Howll. He’s breezed through the early rounds and hasn’t allowed a single point in his two matches so far. He won his quarterfinal match against Ian Stirton from Northville on a technical fall (basically mercy rule for wrestling) at the 3:37 mark, he was winning 16-0.

2:20: A pair of Rochester sophomores are headed to the semifinals. Josh Wood pinned Jourdain Spulrin from Southgate Anderson in the 112 pound weight class and his teammate Kaelan Richards beat Kyle Hill of Oxford on a 4-2 decision in the 125 pound weight class.

“There are no best wrestlers here,” Rochester coach Frank Lafferty said, pointing out how good every wrestler is at the tournament. “Both our kids are very accomplished and we knew that if they wrestled well they could get there.”

Richards wouldn’t give an inch in the third round of his match. Hill spent most of the round on his stomach and Richards wouldn’t let him up. The referee called two stalements, but Richards stayed aggressive to pick up the win.

Laffery was impressed with how Wood dispatched Spulrin in their match. Spulrin was 51-4 on the season.

Now both wrestlers will have until about 7:00 p.m to prepare for their semifinal opponents.

“We are going to relax for a little bit,” Lafferty said. “Then just focus on being calm. We try not to do anything different in big events.”

1:25: Stoney Creek’s Nick Gajdzik is in the semifinals at the individual state finals. The junior beat Lucas Luchonok of Dearborn Edsel Ford 9-4 to keep his title hopes alive in the Division 1 215 pound division.

In the quarterfinals match Gajdzik just wore out his opponent from Edsel Ford. Luchonok tried to get Gajdzik off his feet, but just couldn’t do it. None of Luchonok’s points came on takedowns. Gajdzik let his opponent get to neutral four separate times, which was a point for Luchonok each time.  

“That’s his style, he hardly lets anybody score off him,” Stoney Creek coach Jeff Smart said. “He positions himself really well.”

One thing Smart would like to see his wrestler do in the next round is be more aggressive.

“I’d like him to be a little less conservative,” Smart said. “I don’t want one slip up to cost him the match.”

But at this point Smart isn’t going to push to hard for Gajdzik to make any changes.
“He is who he is,” Smart said, smiling, “He’s just really good in close matches.”

Gajdzik’s win guarantees that he will finish better than he did last year in the state finals (seventh). He will face David Pope from Monroe later today in the semifinals. Pope is a senior with a 49-5 record.

11:50: Victor Vettese finished runner-up in the 135-pound weight class last year at the individual state finals, but he won’t get that far this year. The senior lost a 3-1 decision to Taylor Simaz of Allegan in the Division 1 quarterfinals. There were no takedowns in the match and the difference proved to be a reversal in the second round.

“You have to give credit where credit is due, he wrestled someone that is now 58-0,” Avondale coach Ray Went said.

Simax used his strength to keep Vettese on the mat in the third round and prevent the Yellowjackets wrestler from executing any sort of offensive gameplan. Vettese drops down to the losers bracket where he will face Jesse Smith of Warren Lincoln later today.

11 a.m.: Avondale had mixed success to start off the second day of the individual state finals in the Division 2 losers bracket. Dean Vettese won his match over Dallas Blank of Linden on a 7-3 decision in the 140 pound weight class. In the same bracket, his teammate Kyle Reinhart was pinned in the first round (1:31) by Travis Kern of Fowlerville. Dean’s brother Victor wrestlers later today in the 135 pound weight class in the winner’s bracket.

Thursday

Wrapup: had six wrestlers in the tournament and a win by Kaelan Richards put the school even on the day with a record of 3-3. Richards beat Evan Hoshaw of Brighton in a close 4-1 match to move on for a match against Kyle Hill of Oxford on Friday.

It was also an up-and-down kind of day for . Mac Fisher’s big win over Brother Rice’s Shon Powell was a highlight. The next two Adams wrestlers to compete were not as lucky. Paul Mikhijan lost a 5-3 decision to Miles Trealout of Detroit Catholic Central in the 189-pound weight class and Ryan Howcroft lost to Terry Turner of Davidson on a 16-4 major decision in the 130-pound weight class. Trealout and Turner were two of the top wrestlers in their respective Division 1 weight classes.

finished the day at .500 when Serge Andreou dropped his match to Ryan Hankins of Davison by pinfall in the final five seconds of their match (5:58).

Avondale had a mixed day, finishing 2-2 to open the tournament.

Here was the Thursday tick-tock, match by match:

7:06 – Avondale’s first day at the individual state finals ended with a win. Trevor Wright won a close 5-3 match over Trevor Knouse from Gaylord in the 119-pound weight class. Wright was one of four Yellowjackets in the tournament.
The results from earlier in the day included a split for the Vettese brothers. Senior Victor Vettese defeated Devon Lehman from Greenville with a pin (5:16) and his younger brother sophomore Dean Vettese was pinned (2:42) by Kenny Cross from Hastings. Victor is in the 135-pound weight class and Dean is one weight class heavier (140). Senior Kyle Reinhart is also in the 140-pound weight class for Avondale, he lost a major decision to Gabe Morse from Lowell (13-3).

6:55 – Adams has two wrestlers in the Division 1 135-pound weight class. Kevin Jock and Andrew Sabuda started off the day on opposite sides of the bracket and now they are in opposite brackets. Jock beat Nolan Solomon from Sterling Heights on a 10-8 decision and Sabuda lost to Alec Mooradian from Detroit Catholic Central to drop to the losers bracket earlier this afternoon.
Mooradian is one of the top wrestlers in the state and so far this season is an impressive 52-0.

6:45 – Josh Wood picked up a nice win for Rochester in his opening match in the 112-pound weight class. He beat Zach Henderson in extra time on a 13-8 decision. The match was tied 8-8 at the end of the third round, but Wood didn’t waste any time in the extra period. He immediately grabbed a takedown, then finished off Henderson with a near fall to win.

6:25 – Rochester’s Justin Kim struggled with Martin Rodriguez from Grand Ledge in their match in the 103-pound weight class. Rodriguez dominated the bout and won a major decision 20-8 over the Rochester sophomore. Kim couldn’t handle Rodriguez quickness and feel behind in the first round 8-3. Rodriguez finished the match with nearly a half-dozen near falls to get the win.

5:50 – Stoney Creek’s Nick Gajdzik, one of the top ranked 215 pound wrestlers in Division One, dispatched Dimitrus Renfroe from Wayne Memorial with ease in their opening-round match. The junior, who is 47-3 on the season, won 9-0 and had takedowns in all three rounds.

4:20 -  Mac Fisher (47-13) from Rochester Adams faced Shon Powell (48-4) from Brother Rice in their opening-round match in the 152-pound weight class, but Powell didn't look like he was 100 percent. The freshman ran to a garbage can and vomited profusely before the match. Asked if it was nerves or the flu after the match, his coach said he wasn’t sure, but “could be a little of both.”

When the match did get under way, the normally aggressive Powell wasn’t as sharp as he has been this season. Neither wrestler had a takedown in the opening round. Powell scored the first takedown in the second, but late in the round Fisher grabbed his leg and launched him into the scorer’s table as they were going out-of-bounds.

Powell wasn’t hurt, but it seemed to zap the rest of his energy. Fisher grabbed two takedowns and locked him up in a cradle hold in the final 20 seconds. Up 6-5, all Fisher needed to do was run out the clock. He did one better, he applied some more pressure and scored the pin with one second on the clock. 

Final: Mac Fisher pins Shon Powell in the second round of the opening day match.

More wrestling coverage: 

All but one Farmington wrestler win opening day matches; Harrison wrestler Sanders advances.

Two Lakers lose in opening matches; both move on to consolation rounds. 

Ferndale: Chavez Farris wins, Donovan Jackson loses in opening matches. 

Birmingham Brother Rice: Shon Powell loses to Rochester Adams wrestler in opening match.