Click the AUDIO buttons to hear interviews with Myles Nehring, Cooper Raab, and Coach John Raab. (NCA wrestlng photos)
ST. IGNACE---The North Central High School wrestling team won its first-ever MHSAA Division Four regional championship Wednesday night, beating Indian River Inland Lakes, 42-39, in the semifinals, and then knocking off the St. Ignace Saints in the championship, 43-32. St. Ignace defeated Gwinn, 39-36, in the other semifinal.
It's the first time in the short three-year history of Jets westling that they've won a regional championship. One other championship came as part fo a co-op team with Bark River-Harris. This NCA Jets team will head down to Kalamazoo for the state finals at the end of the month. In the meantime, the boys will comepete in the individual regionals this Saturday in Charlevoix.
Jets Coach John Raab says this is a great accomplishment for such a young team.
"Cooper (Raab), Adam (Janczewski) and AJ Holle are only juniors, with no seniors," he said. "We have three or four freshmen, and the rest are sophomores. Three kids who never wrestled before this year came out. The kids who got matches stepped up, and they got the wins when we needed them. And when they couldn't win, they kept ot close (avoided being pinned) to minimize the team points that you give away. That's the name of the game when there's team scores on the line."
Myles Nehring got a pin at 215 pounds in the semifinal, and got a pin at heavyweight in the final.
"I love being with this group of guys and Maizy (Olson)," Nehring said. "There's a lot of people on the team, my close friends, like Nick Dani who got bounced in the districts. So to be able to carry in with more practices and just hanging out with them more weekends, it felt great to go on and move on."
The Jets' best wrestler, last year's state semifinalist at Ford Field, Cooper Raab, did not get to wrestle at all Wednesday as both opponents forfeited to him.
"It sucks quite a bit," Cooper Raab said. "I was hoping to involve myself in the duals, and play a bigger role, but it is what it is. It happens. The better you get, the more likely it is to happen, I suppose."
Freshman Nick Bertrand wrestled up to 215 pounds against Indian River and earned a pin against Trentin Hickey, and then against St. Ignace, Bertrand was at his normal 190-pound weight and battled to a 8-7 loss to St. Ignace's Brodie Leipold. Coach Raab said that was important, as Bertrand gave away only three points as opposed to six if he had been pinned.
"He kept the score really close, which minimized the amount of team points that St. Ignace got," Raab said. "That was unexpected. It turned out to be big for us."
Janczewski, who moved to the Upper Peninsula from Poland, won four team points against St. Ignace by winning on a 12-2 major decision over Kollin Bird. Janczewski also battled to a 3-1 loss to Indian River's Avery Enos, as he gave up just three team points as opposed to six if he had been pinned. The Jets ended up winning the semifinal dual by three points.
"We've spent a lot of time on that (avoiding pins)," Coach Raab said. "This is our best season ever, although we've only had three."
North Central advances to the state finals in Kalamazoo, where they will likely face powerhouse Hudson in the first match.
"We know we're the underdogs going down to Kalamazoo," Coach Raab said. "It's kind of a tradition that whoevet wins up here in Division Four gets seeded eighth seed. So, we will probably see Hudson right off the bat. We'll give it our best, We have some kids who can win some matches. It (seeding) is just your strength of schedule. It's not wrong. We've got a weaker schedule up here. We're up against it with Hudson, but we're just going to make the best of it and everybody gets to enjoy the experience of going down there."
Nehring is happy just to keep wrestling.
"You never really see a team three years in-the-making and go down to the state finals,so it's just an awesome milestone for that," Nehring said, and then added, only half-jokingly, "Hudson ain't ready!"
"I'm real excited," Cooper Raab said. "This has defiintely been my favorite team out of my three years. We've just got a great team dynamic, and we're always having fun together."
The Hudson Tigers have won the MHSAA Division Four state championship in each of the last four years.
The Tigers won their regional championship Wednesday night, beating Springport, 65-6, amd whipping Hanover-Horton, 75-6. They also beat Sand Creek in the district final, 77-4.
"We'll go down there and learn," Coach Raab said. "And when we go there next year, we'll be tougher."
Before the trip to Kalamazoo, there will be five NCA wrestlers competing in the MHSAA individual regionals this Saturday in Charlevoix. Four of them will go as district champions. The top four finishers in Charlevoix in each weight class will advance to the state indivudual finals at Detroit's Ford FIeld.
