Big brother, little brother win regional wrestling titles for Hartland
HARTLAND — Bodie Abbey of Hartland hasn’t performed like a freshman in his first state tournament as a high school wrestler.
That’s because, while winning a regional championship Saturday was a great accomplishment, it was just another high-caliber event in a wrestling career that began at the age of 3.
“I’ve been on this stage before,” Abbey said. “I’ve been to a lot of national tournaments, state tournaments. I had some experience.”
He also had some inside knowledge of what to expect when he joined Hartland, one of the premier wrestling programs in Michigan.
His brother, Vinnie, a junior in his third season with the Eagles, also won a championship in the Division 1 individual regional at Hartland.
“I just got to watch him and how he acts, his demeanor out there, what he accomplishes,” Bodie said. “I just look up to him and try to be as good as he is.”
After watching his younger brother win championships at the youth level, Vinnie tried to warn him that the step up to high school would be more challenging. The biggest challenge, it turns out, has been for any wrestler who has taken the mat against Bodie.
“I always told him it’s going to be a lot harder when he’s wrestling a lot older kids, but he’s doing great,” Vinnie said. “He’s doing super good for a freshman.”
As far as Hartland coach Kyle Summerfield is concerned, the younger Abbey couldn’t have a better role model than the one under his own roof. Summerfield speaks glowingly of Vinnie Abbey’s work ethic and leadership any time his name has been mentioned.
“Both brothers are very special,” Summerfield said. “If you ever ask Bodie if his brother was his role model, he’d probably laugh. They beat each other up quite a bit. The whole family, their dad was a couple-time state champ. They’re a wrestling family, top to bottom. He’s got little brothers who are killers, too. They just do everything right. They work hard. They want the best for themselves and the team. They’re good leaders and good wrestlers.”
Summerfield had no doubt Bodie Abbey and fellow freshman state qualifier Dallas Korponic would make an impact this season.
“He’s wrestled the best of the best, in Kansas nationals, which is one of the biggest youth tournaments, him and Dallas Koropnic,” Summerfield said. “We’re lucky we have a lot of really good kids who want to get better and want to work hard and they want to be at Hartland. That’s all we can ask for. We’re home grown. Our home-grown kids are doing great things.”
The Abbey brothers delivered two of Hartland’s three championships. Nick Rochowiak won the other at 165 pounds.
Bodie won by a 7-3 decision over Clarkston sophomore Preston Lefevre, improving his record to 37-3.
“It feels great,” Bodie said. “Just all the hard work we’ve done through the season and all the hard work I put in with my partners paid off.”
Vinnie, a three-time state qualifier, won his second straight regional championship by pinning West Bloomfield’s Jason Onwenu in 3 minutes, 50 seconds in the 157-pound title match. Abbey, ranked second in Division 1 by MichiganGrappler.com, has pinned the sixth-ranked Onwenu three times in the individual and team postseason.
“It’s go time now,” Vinnie said. “I’m just trying to stay locked in. It’s postseason; you’ve got to be on your ‘A’ game.”
Rochowiak, ranked third at 165, won his first regional championship and qualified for his third state tournament. He won his first two matches with pins in 15 seconds and 1:15 before winning by forfeit over fifth-ranked Max Callahan of Davison.
“I was really looking forward to that match and training hard for it,” Rochowiak said. “I’ll probably see him at state. Much respect for the opponent. I know he’s been battling an injury. It is what it is.”
Hartland qualified 10 of its 13 wrestlers for the state tournament from a regional that got considerably tougher with the addition of third-ranked Davison and fifth-ranked Clarkston.
Seniors Gabe Cappellano and Brayden Bobo reached championship matches and lost to unbeaten wrestlers, Cappellano by a 4-3 decision to Midland’s Cole Schelb at 150 and Bobo by a 20-5 technical fall to Davison’s Josh Barr at 175.
Finishing third for the Eagles were Korponic at 120, junior James Butzier at 165, junior Jacob Pretzel at 215 and senior Vincent Cox at 285.
Sophomore Easton Culver was fourth at 132.
“We’re proud of the guys today from top to bottom,” Summerfield said. “Everyone performed as best as they can today, and that’s all we can ask for. In total, we got 10 through, which we’re happy about. We had 13 qualifiers here. We were hoping to get a couple more through, but we’re very proud of all the guys’ efforts and the 10 who are going on.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Big brother, little brother win regional wrestling titles for Hartland
