By Robert Tomlinson
News Director
KALAMAZOO — As the old saying goes, if you want to be the best, you have to beat the best.
In Saturday’s Division 2 team wrestling state semifinals, Three Rivers’ wrestling team got to face off against the best in the business – the 11-time defending state champion Lowell Red Arrows. Despite their best efforts, the Wildcats were no match for the Red Arrows, as Three Rivers was sent home from the Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo with a 55-19 loss to end their season.
The loss ends what was a historic season for Three Rivers, who made it to the state semifinals in team wrestling for the first time in school history, a fact that was not lost on head coach Jeff Smith.
“It’s something huge for these guys, especially for our school too,” Smith said. “It’s the third time in history we’ve ever made the tournament, and this is the farthest we’ve ever made it as a school, so that’s huge. All hometown kids.”
Through the first few matches, Three Rivers’ heavier weight classes kept pace with the state champs. After the Wildcats’ Braylon Faile lost by pin to Lowell’s Owen Segorski in the second period at 165 pounds, Three Rivers’ Louis Smith responded at 175 pounds by pinning Lowell’s Gabe Olin in just 49 seconds, tying the match at 6-6. At 190, Joey Anglemyer lost by a technical fall to Lowell’s Casey Engle 15-0 in the second period, giving the Red Arrows an 11-6 lead, and then Jaxon Smith won by major decision at 215 over Lowell’s Braylen Meeuwsen 14-2 to make it an 11-10 game for Lowell. Sam Reynolds would win the heavyweight bout for Three Rivers with a pin of Henry Oesch in 75 seconds to give the ‘Cats a 16-11 lead.
However, Lowell would dominate the lighter weight classes the rest of the way, winning the next eight bouts to seal the deal. Mason Santos was pinned by John Carter McKay at 106 pounds 35 seconds into the second period, Kyler Snellenbarger lost by pin 46 seconds into his 113-pound match against Carson Blum, then Brody Morrill lost by tech fall 18-3 in the second period at 120 pounds against Jarrett Smith. Due to Jak Monroe’s broken nose suffered in the semifinals, Three Rivers voided the match at 126 pounds.
Gaven Babcock lost by pin near the end of the second period in the 132-pound match, Ethan Moreland lost by a tech fall 21-4 in the second period at 138 pounds, Ayden Keller lost by a tech fall 19-2 in the third period at 144 pounds, and Landon Moreland lost by a 15-0 tech fall in the second period at 150 pounds. Those results gave Lowell an insurmountable 55-16 lead.
At 157 pounds, Evan Harper got the final points for the Wildcats, winning 13-10 against Lowell’s Jack Lamoreaux to end the night on a winning note.
“We wrestled as best we could. We were missing one guy who broke his nose yesterday, and we had our 190 starter who wasn’t in the lineup, so we were out two guys, but we wrestled as hard as we could,” Jeff Smith said. “That’s all you can ask for.”
Smith said he was proud of his team’s effort this year, which included a Wolverine Conference championship, a district title and a regional title. It was tinged with a bit of heartbreak, though, as the Wildcats had two assistant coaches, Brandon Morrill and Art Keller, pass away in the offseason. However, Smith said his team overcame adversity many times this season.
“I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Smith said. “Adversity, life just keeps giving it to you, and that’s a lesson wrestling teaches you. It’s one of those things; this moment is bigger than wrestling. or them to accept the challenge, come in every day and put the work in when all the other stuff is going on in their life, it’s huge and it feels really good. I’m super proud of them.”
Three Rivers made it to the semifinals by defeating Greenville 47-19 in a rematch of last year’s quarterfinal matchup won by the Yellow Jackets. Three Rivers got wins from Harper (157, third period pin), Faile (165, 23-8 tech fall), Louis Smith (175, first-period pin), Anglemyer (190, third period pin), Reynolds (285, 1-0 decision), Brody Morrill (15-3 major), Snellenbarger (120, 7-2 decision), Babcock (132, second period pin), Ethan Moreland (12-3 major) and Ayden Keller (144, 17-1 tech fall).
Smith thanked the Three Rivers community for their support of the team during the year.
“To see how the community supports these guys is just unbelievable,” Smith said.
Lowell would go on to win their 12th straight Division 2 title with a 55-14 win against seventh-seeded Fowlerville in the finals. Dundee were the champs in the Division 3 finals, defeating Yale 74-0 to complete a dominant state tournament. In Division 4, Hudson beat Martin/Climax-Scotts 45-25 to win a state title. Detroit Catholic Central won in Division 1, defeating Davison 50-18.
Robert Tomlinson can be reached at 279-7488 or robert@wilcoxnewspapers.com.
