State championship 'or bust' mindset for Hartland wrestlers
As he stood in the annex arena at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo shortly after his first Hartland wrestling team lost in the state semifinals, Kyle Summerfield was defiant.
He didn’t sound like someone who was content to keep losing to a Detroit Catholic Central powerhouse that seems unstoppable.
“Reload and repeat,” Summerfield said a year ago. “We’ve got a lot of really tough freshmen coming in. I don’t plan on skipping a step. I’m pretty competitive. We’re a year-round program, just like the big ones. We’ll be back and ready to go.”
Hartland wrestlers got back to work, traveling the country over the summer to seek out the best competition. Summerfield didn’t duck anyone when putting together the Eagles’ schedule for the winter, starting with a spotlight assembly dual at Catholic Central in the season opener.
All the effort was to be ready for this moment.
The Eagles make no secret about where they want to be and whom they want to face at 3:45 p.m. Saturday in Kalamazoo.
“We’re after C.C.,” senior Nick Rochowiak said. “We have been all season. That’s the match we want.”
To get another shot at the Shamrocks, second-seeded Hartland must win two matches, beginning with its quarterfinal at 2:15 p.m. Friday against seventh-seeded Temperance Bedford. If things go according to form — the Eagles beat Bedford soundly, 60-17, on Jan. 21 — Hartland will face third-seeded Rockford or sixth-seeded Holt in the semifinals at 9:30 a.m. Saturday.
Hartland beat Rockford, 47-20, on Dec. 14 and hasn’t faced Holt.
Barring upsets, Hartland and Catholic Central will battle for the state championship. Hartland lost decisively to the Shamrocks in the last two state semifinals, 55-18 in 2021 and 43-16 in 2022.
“It was a very humbling experience,” Rochowiak said. “We’ve been working very hard as a team. This year, we’re just taking it to another level. Guys are ready to go out there and battle. We did battle last year; we’ve just been doing the small things in between to take it to that real next level.”
The Shamrocks have handed the Eagles three of their four losses in 82 matches over the past three seasons. The most recent was a 47-15 loss Dec. 7 in the season opener.
“We opened the year with C.C. on purpose,” Summerfield said. “We wanted to see where we were out of the gate. The kids weren’t down to weight. We wanted to wrestle and see where we’re at. It definitely inspires us to work harder. Ultimately, our goal is a state championship; it’s that or bust for us. We’re going all-in.”
Jake Gillespie, Easton Culver (No. 6 at 132 by Michigan Grappler), Michael Cappellano, Liam Wiitanen, Vinnie Abbey (No. 2 at 157), Gabe Cappellano (No. 5 at 150), Nick Rochowiak (No. 2 at 165) and Brayden Bobo (No. 5 at 175) return from the lineup Hartland used in last year’s semifinals.
The roster has been bolstered by the addition of freshmen Bodie Abbey, the regional champion and top-ranked wrestler at 113, and Dallas Korponic, who is No. 7 at 120.
“The team’s doing really good right now,” Vinnie Abbey said. “I think a lot of people really want to make it to finals this year, not end in the semis again like the last couple years.”
While Hartland is in the quarterfinals for the 22nd straight year, a streak second only to New Lothrop’s 23 in Division 4, Fowlerville is back for the first time since 1998.
The fifth-seeded Gladiators will face fourth-seeded Gaylord in a Division 2 quarterfinal at 6:45 p.m. Friday in Kalamazoo. The winner will likely get nine-time defending champion Lowell in the state semifinals at noon Saturday.
“It’s nice going back to state, but obviously it’s a lot different than it used to be,” said Dan Coon, who coached Fowlerville to the 1994 state Class B championship. “This is a freshman group, so hopefully this is the beginning of a lot more years. I’m a little bit ahead of schedule with this group.”
The Gladiators have five state-ranked wrestlers in Dalton Daniel (No. 9, 126), Levi Baker (No. 12, 126), Ben Blyveis (No. 11, 150), Layne O’Neil (No. 12, 175) and Richard Davis (No. 13, 190). O’Neil and Davis are in weight classes with Gaylord wrestlers who are ranked in the top three. Gaylord has seven ranked wrestlers.
“It’s unbelievable,” said freshman Connor Stankov, whose victory by injury default in the final match of the regional final punched Fowlerville’s ticket to the quarterfinals. “It’s amazing. I knew we had a good group as soon as the year started. I never saw this coming. I’m really happy to get this opportunity, especially as a freshman.”
Blyveis will be facing his former team, having wrestled at Gaylord last season after wrestling at Battle Creek Lakeview as a freshman.
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @BillKhan.
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: State championship 'or bust' mindset for Hartland wrestlers
