The Michigan High School Athletic Association is looking forward to its return Feb. 24-25 to Wings Event Center for the Team Wrestling Finals – and excited for the opportunity to provide more record-setting opportunities as contenders new and old finish the season in Kalamazoo.
This will be the sixth year of Team Finals at Wings, and once again all four championship matches will be wrestled side by side on a raised center stage that Saturday afternoon. The Friday Quarterfinals and Saturday morning Semifinals also will feature side-by-side action, allowing spectators to track all four matches during each round.
Wrestling has one of the longest championship traditions in Michigan high school sports history. This season’s Finals will build on a run that saw the sport award its first MHSAA Finals champions in 1948.
Contenders come from all over
Teams and their fans again will converge on Kalamazoo from all over our state for this event. And there’s something special about the variety of schools represented over the weekend.
Last season’s field included the state’s largest school by enrollment – Macomb Dakota with nearly 2,800 students – and also some of the smallest, down to Decatur with about 200.
Total, 21 counties sent at least one team to last year’s Quarterfinals – with Genesee and Monroe counties leading the way with three representatives apiece and seven other counties each with two.
32 … to 16 … to 8 … to 4
Over the course of roughly 30 hours, 32 wrestling teams from all over Michigan will be whittled to four champions. Wrestling is the only head-to-head MHSAA sport featuring a format with Quarterfinals, Semifinals and Finals all contended on back-to-back days at one location.
The tournament is split into four divisions based on school enrollment (the largest schools compete in Division 1, the next-largest in Division 2, etc.). The Arena floor is set up with four wrestling mats in a line, adjacent to each other. At noon Feb. 24, eight Division 4 teams will wrestle Quarterfinal matches simultaneously on those four mats, followed by Division 1 teams at 2:15 p.m., Division 3 at 4:30 and Division 2 at 6:45. The next morning, on Feb. 25, four Semifinals will be wrestled simultaneously at 9:30 and then noon, setting up the grand finale – all four championship matches getting underway together at 3:45 that afternoon.
Perennial Powers Rise
Lowell continues to make Wings a championship destination, as the Red Arrows have won an MHSAA-record nine straight Finals championships in Division 2.
Dundee has won five straight Division 3 titles, while Davison is coming off its second straight in Division 1. Hudson last season earned its first Division 4 title since 2019, and ninth overall under coach Scott Marry, the winningest active coach in MHSAA wrestling history and second winningest overall after entering this winter 862-201 since taking over the program for the 1988-89 season.
Copy and content provided by: Geoff Kimmerly, Michigan High School Athletic Association
For more information on the 2023 MHSAA Team Wrestling Finals, click here.
