MHSAA Team Wrestling Finals Returns To Kalamazoo, Michigan
The Michigan High School Athletic Association looks forward to its return Feb. 23-24 to Wings Event Center for the Team Wrestling Finals, continuing one of the longest championship traditions in Michigan high school sports history.
This will be the seventh year of Team Finals at Wings, building on a run that saw the sport award its first MHSAA Finals champions in 1948.
Once again, all four championship matches will be wrestled side by side on a raised center stage on Saturday afternoon. The Friday Quarterfinals and Saturday morning Semifinals will also feature side-by-side action, allowing spectators to track all four matches during each round.
CONTENDERS COME FROM ALL OVER
Teams and their fans again will converge on Kalamazoo from all over our state for this event. In total, 23 counties are sending at least one team to this year’s Quarterfinals – with Monroe County leading the way with three representatives and eight other counties sending two.
The field includes the state’s second-largest school by enrollment – Macomb, Dakota, with nearly 2,800 students – and a pair of our smallest communities teaming up as a cooperative program, Martin and Climax-Scotts, both with fewer than 200 students.
32 … TO 16 … TO 8 … TO 4
Over 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 contended on back-to-back days at one location.
The tournament is split into four divisions based on enrollment (the most prominent 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 on February 23, 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 following day, on Feb. 24, 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 10 consecutive Finals championships in Division 2.
Dundee has won six straight Division 3 titles, while Hudson is coming off its second straight in Division 4. Detroit Catholic Central broke Davison’s two-year hold on Division 1 by earning the 2023 championship.
Two of the winningest coaches in Michigan high school wrestling history will be among those leading their teams this weekend – Hudson’s Scott Marry, who began this season second on the all-time coaching wins list with 890, and Manchester’s Steve Vlcek, whose 701 wins at the start of this winter ranked 12th all-time and fourth among active coaches.
Copy and content provided by Geoff Kimmerly, Michigan High School Athletic Association
For more information on the 2024 MHSAA Team Wrestling Finals, click here.
