Swiss makes Petoskey history as first-ever undefeated state champion

DETROIT — Petoskey senior Trevor Swiss has been kind of a Northmen wrestling history buff his whole life.

Even from a young age you could have asked him which wrestlers earned state titles or what some of the best finishes ever for Northmen were and Swiss would rattle off names.

“I always had all the names memorized and what year they took first,” he said. “A lot of just the all-state wrestlers from Petoskey, I always knew what year they placed or how highly they placed because I envisioned myself up on that wall.”

Now, Swiss is part of that Petoskey history.

Over the weekend at Ford Field in Detroit, Swiss became just the fourth wrestler ever at the school to become an individual state champion, as he claimed the Division 2 150-pound state title.

For Swiss, the championship is something he’s worked his entire wrestling career for, from starting in first grade, to Saturday afternoon. Describing that final moment isn't something he can really even put into words just yet.

“It’s pretty tough,” said Swiss. “When there’s something you’ve been thinking about and has been your goal for so long, it’s just really overwhelming almost when your dream finally comes true.”

The championship match came in a 10-4 decision over Jack Conley of Lake Fenton, making Swiss join three others within the program as a state champion.

Tom Evashevski earned the first title in 1971 as a Northmen, then was followed by Chris Johnecheck in both 1992 and 1993 and Keith Sterly in 2004, all names Swiss had engraved into his mind.

As it has been throughout his career, Friday and Saturday came as a family moment for Swiss. His father, Josh, is the head coach of the Northmen, his mother, Amanda, is there keeping score and rooting on for every match and brother, Brendan, also competes for Petoskey and did so Friday at the finals.

“It’s exciting, especially since they had the opportunity to be down on the mat with me,” said Trevor on everyone supporting him. “My dad was right there and has been supporting me the whole way, my brother had a wrestling pass, so he could come right down on the floor and everything. Even though he didn’t make it through to the next day, he really helped me get prepared for that (final) match, helped me warm up.”

When the championship match closed, Trevor leaped into his father’s arms and later embraced his mom with a giant hug.

The weekend for Swiss began with a pin victory in 2 minutes, 36 seconds over Gavin Beach of Northwest, then a 6-0 decision over Zach Taylor of OA Carlson followed in the quarterfinals.

Friday then closed with a 3-2 decision over Harrison Meekhof of Allendale, the toughest match Swiss felt he was in over the weekend.

“He was a junior and he’ll be back next year and I’m sure he’ll do very well because he was tough and really fast on his feet,” said Swiss. “That was a really hard match, especially at the end of the day when both of us wrestled two matches before just to get to the semis. It was a battle.”

Saturday’s championship then came with Swiss scoring first against Conley, giving him the early edge that he then leaned on.

“One of the big things going into matches that I know really helps me win is if I get the first takedown,” he said. “If I can get a takedown in the first period, it definitely gives me a lot more confidence and I know the match is in my control after that. So I knew after I got that first takedown that it was going to be my match to win.”

Along with Swiss, Petoskey’s Bobby Patrick took part in the 132-pound finals and came out of a bye with a pin loss against Landon Thomas of St. Joseph. Patrick then fell in a 12-0 decision against Tyler Parmeter of Cedar Springs.

Brendan Swiss competed at 144 pounds at the finals and finished up a 38-8 season, falling to Sean Kinane of Orchard Lake St. Mary in an 8-5 decision, before a 3-2 loss against Zack Gibson of Thornapple Kellogg closed his season.

Big brother is looking forward to seeing what’s ahead for Brendan next season.

“I’m excited to see what Brendan is going to do in his senior year,” said Trevor. “I think he’s really going to do some good things.”

As a big fan of Petoskey wrestling history, Swiss not only became just the fourth wrestler ever to earn a state title at the school, but also became the first-ever undefeated state champion in Petoskey history.

Evashevski completed the first state title at 29-1, Johnecheck earned a 56-2 record in his '92 title season, then 52-2 in '93 and Sterly finished out a 57-1 season in 2004. Swiss finished the 2022-23 season 47-0.

“It’s something that feels so hard to grasp,” added Swiss on an unbeaten state title. “It’s almost hard to fathom. It was my last match I’ll ever wrestle in high school, probably be my last wrestling match ever. It’s a great way to end, but also bittersweet because that’s going to be it. It’s still pretty wild.”

It might be over for Swiss physically, though it’s a season that’ll always live on in Petoskey wrestling history.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Swiss makes Petoskey history as first-ever undefeated state champion