All-Michigan Dream Team: 145-285

All-Michigan Dream Team: 145-285

Presenting Michigan's Best High School Wrestlers From 145-285 Pounds

May 6, 2021 by Mark Spezia
All-Michigan Dream Team: 145-285
The final week of Alex Facundo’s storied high school wrestling career was his finest.

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The final week of Alex Facundo’s storied high school wrestling career was his finest.

The Penn State signee was simply dominant in leading Davison to its first team state title in 15 years before becoming Michigan's first, four-time Division 1/Class A state champion at weights above 145 pounds.

Only Adam Coon (Fowlerville), Roger Kish (Lapeer West) and Brandon Whitman (Dundee) have done so in any division.

In five matches that week, Facundo recorded four technical falls – outscoring opponents 96-35 – and a 41-second pin. The nation’s top-ranked, 170-pounder finished 27-0 this season and 134-4 in his career.

Meanwhile, Dundee junior Casey Swiderski captured his third state championship and Davison sophomore Josh Barr his second, keeping them on a four-title track.

Presenting part two of our All-Michigan Dream Team (145-285 pounds):

145 POUNDS

Casey Swiderski, Dundee: Seventh in the current 145-pound national rankings and No. 72 on the Class of 2022 Big Board, the Iowa State recruit finished the season 30-0 in taking a third state Division 3 championship.

Swiderski, who a has a 115-3 high school record, pinned his first three state-tournament foes before knocking off Alma’s Dametrius Castillo, 20-7, in the state title match. 

Swiderski was state champion at 135 pounds as a sophomore, also defeating Castillo by major decision (16-7), and 103 as a freshman. Castillo was 119-pound state champion as a freshman.

Last fall, Swiderski was Grappler Fall Classic champion and fourth at Super 32. During the offseason, he beat Iowa’s Drake Ayala, ninth in the current pound-for-pound rankings and No. 2 at 126. Swiderski decisioned the Iowa recruit and three-time Iowa state champion, 6-4. 

He also defeated New Jersey's Nico Nardone, a Penn recruit who is ranked No. 19 in the nation at 132 pounds, and Tom Crook, a three-time Florida state champion ranked No. 8 at 138. 

Second team: Darius Marines, Detroit Catholic Central (Fr.)

Third team: Camden Trupp, Detroit Catholic Central (Sr.)

Michigan Dream Team 103-140

152 POUNDS

Jacob Gonzalez, Holly: The junior has been virtually untouchable the past two seasons. He won his second consecutive Division 2 state championship and finished unbeaten for the second straight year (21-0). 

Gonzalez shut out previously unbeaten Jacob Halsey of St. Joseph, 4-0, in the state title match. Gonzales boasts a 127-3 high school record, 76-0 the past two seasons. Davison’s Josh Barr is the only other Michigan high school wrestler who has gone unbeaten the past two seasons.

Next season, Gonzalez will attempt to become Holly's first three-time state champion. 

Second team: Trenton Wachter, Rockford (Sr.)

Third team: James Johnston, Davison (Sr.)

160 POUNDS

Josh Barr, Davison: The sophomore, ranked ninth nationally at 160 pounds, won a second straight Division 1 state title and finished unbeaten for the second straight year with a 28-0 mark. He has gone 67-0 the past two seasons.

Only Holly’s Jacob Gonzalez has finished the last two seasons unbeaten among Michigan high school wrestlers.

Barr, a 152-pound state champion last season, decisioned Utica Ford’s Gary Nilson (9-1) in the title match.  

Recently, Barr finished third in the Cadet Freestyle World Team Trials at 71 kilograms. Among those he beat were two-time Wisconsin state champion Braeden Scoles, ranked 10th at 160, and Pennsylvania state champion Grant Mackey.  

Last fall, Barr captured the Grappler Fall Classic championship at 160. 

Second team: Tyler Swiderski, Dundee (Sr.)

Third team: Doak Dean, Lowell (Sr.) 

171 POUNDS

Alex Facundo, Davison: The country's No. 2 pound-for-pound grappler steamrolled Central Michigan recruit Leo Galasso (Kalamazoo Central) with a 26-11 technical fall in the state title match. 

Facundo joins two-time NCAA champion Brent Metcalf (Iowa) and former Oklahoma State and Central Michigan wrestler Lincoln Olson as Davison's only four-time state champions. 

During his prep career, Facundo lost only two matches that went the distance. As a sophomore, he was decisioned by future University of Michigan All-American and three-time state champion Cam Amine (Detroit Catholic Central), whom Facundo had beaten for his first state title the previous season.

As a junior, Facundo dropped a decision to Ohio State recruit and Lakewood (Ohio) St. Edward standout Paddy Gallagher, the nation's top-ranked pound-for-pounder. Facundo's other two losses were by injury default while he was leading.

He recently resumed competition in the 71 kilogram division of the UWW Junior and Senior Nationals, finishing third. 

Among those Facundo defeated were Wisconsin recruit and three-time Illinois state champion Dean Hamiti, currently ranked No. 7 pound-for-pound and No. 3 at 160. 

During the past offseason, Facundo edged California’s Cael Valenica (No. 16 pound-for-pound) at Who’s #1 and again at the UWW Junior and U23 Nationals where he finished third in the 74-kilogram, freestyle competition. Also at UWW, Facundo decisioned Princeton University sophomore Grant Cuomo, a 2020 NCAA qualifier. 

Other significant offseason victories came against Rutgers recruit Brian Saldano (New Jersey), who is ranked third nationally at 182, and Oregon's James Rowley (No. 6 at 170).

Second team: Dominick Lomazzo, Dundee (So.)

Third team: Jacob Lee, Lowell (Sr.)

189 POUNDS

Manny Rojas, Detroit Catholic Central: The junior was stunned by a 6-5 loss to Traverse City Central's Remy Cotton during the season's opening weekend, but Rojas avenged the loss when it mattered most, decisioning Cotton, 11-5, for his second straight Division 1 state championship. 

Cotton came into the match unbeaten while Rojas reached the final with three pins. He wrestled only five minutes, 23 seconds of a possible 18 minutes in the those three matches. 

Rojas, ranked No. 4 in the nation at 182 pounds, was 32-2 this season, including a win over Division 1, 215-pound state champion Jimmy Colley (Davison).

The Iowa State recruit's only other loss was to four-time state champion and No. 2 pound-for-pounder Alex Facundo of Davison. Rojas takes a 99-12 career high school mark into next season.  

Rojas recently pinned New Jersey's Peyton Craft, ranked No. 8 nationally at 170, for fifth place in the 79-kilogram competition at UWW Junior and Senior Nationals. Craft is committed to Cornell. 

During the last offseason, Rojas knocked off Oregon's James Rowley, who just made the Cadet World Championships team and is ranked No. 6 at 170. 

Second team: Stoney Buell, Dundee (Sr.)

Third team: Remy Cotton, Traverse City Central (So.)

215 POUNDS

Jimmy Colley, Davison: The junior captured a Division 1 state championship this season after placing third as a sophomore and fourth as a freshman.

Colley began the state tournament with two pins and a decision before pinning Howell's Ethan Green in one minute in the title match. 

The only faster pin in 280 state championship matches across all four divisions the past five seasons was Hudson's Jordan Hamdan needing just 55 seconds to stop New Lothrop's Logan Zell in the 2019, Division 4 135-pound final. Hamdan was an NCAA qualifier for Michigan State this year.

 Colley finished 20-2 this season and owns a 71-18 high school mark.  

Second team: Ira Jenkins, Whitehall (Jr.) 

Third team: C.J. Krum, St. Johns (Sr.)

285 POUNDS

Keegan Nugent, Lowell: The senior won his first Division 2 first state championship after taking second at 215 pounds a year ago and finishing 35-8. 

Nugent was down 2-0 to Romulus' Jaylen Culver in the state title match before outscoring him 8-0 the rest of the way. 

Nugent finished with a 32-0 record this season, also helping Lowell to an eighth straight team state title. His record the past two seasons is 67-8. 

Second team: Jayson Roy, Jackson (Sr.) 

Third team: Dan McKiernan, Richmond (Sr.)