Alex Facundo Becomes Michigan's Second Dave Schultz Award Winner

Alex Facundo Becomes Michigan's Second Dave Schultz Award Winner

Davison's Alex Facundo, a Penn State recruit, is the state of Michigan's second Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award winner.

Aug 16, 2021 by Mark Spezia
Alex Facundo Becomes Michigan's Second Dave Schultz Award Winner
Alex Facundo is eagerly counting down to the next chapter in his storied wrestling career.

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Alex Facundo is eagerly counting down to the next chapter in his storied wrestling career.

No. 2 on the Class of 2021 Big Board, Facundo will soon begin practicing on a regular basis in the loaded Penn State wrestling room. The Davison High School standout committed to the Nittany Lions in February, 2020, just prior to capturing the third of his four Michigan state championships.

Recently, Facundo posted past photos of himself alone on a mat in the Penn State practice facility while wearing a Team USA uniform on Instagram. Pictures of past Nittany Lions greats are seen on the wall behind him.

In one photo, Facundo is kneeling and flexing. In another, he is sporting an insert of lion-like teeth fitting over the top row of his own teeth.  

"Be the Lion in a room full of Lions," Facundo wrote in the post.

Before he does that, Facundo is celebrating a final high school honor. 

On Aug. 10, he became just the second Michigan wrestler to earn the prestigious Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award in its 25-year history. The announcement was made by the National Wrestling Hall of Fame.

“I am honored to have been chosen as the 2021 national winner of the Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award,” said Facundo in a statement released by USA Wrestling. “I have the deepest respect and admiration for Dave Schultz, who achieved so much, both on and off the mat. To have my name spoken in the same breath as Dave Schultz is truly amazing. To have my name on the same list as past winners like 2021 Olympic champ David Taylor is incredible."

The DSHSEA was established in 1996 to honor Olympic and World champion Dave Schultz, whose career was cut short when he was murdered in January of that year. The award recognizes and celebrates the nation’s most outstanding high school senior male wrestlers for their excellence in wrestling, scholastic achievement, citizenship, and community service.

Facundo, No. 3 in the final national pound-for-pound rankings that included the Class of 2021, was first selected as a state Schultz winner and then one of five regional honorees. Among others, Facundo beat out Ohio's Paddy Gallagher (No. 2 pound-for-pound), an Ohio State signee, to become Midwest Region winner.

Among the other regional winners were California's Richard Figueroa (No. 4 pound-for-pound), New Jersey's Shayne Van Ness (No. 6 pound-for-pound and a future Penn State teammate) and Oklahoma's Tate Picklo (No. 12 pound-for-pound). Figueroa is headed to Arizona State and Picklo to Oklahoma. 

Facundo, who led Davison to its first team state championship in 15 years as a senior, was also named academic All-State, which requires being a state qualifier with at least a 3.5 grade point average. 

Among the ways Facundo gives back is volunteering at the Lighthouse Rehabilitation Center in Caro, Michigan, an organization that is very important to him as his mother Julie once suffered a traumatic brain injury.  

On Sunday, Facundo worked with young wrestlers at a camp in Flint organized by the Team Donahoe youth wrestling club. It was founded by another Davison great -- Paul Donahoe -- who won an NCAA championship in 2007 while a Nebraska sophomore. 

Facundo finished 31-0 last season, 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.

Facundo also joined 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. 

Only Facundo, Metcalf, Olson, Kyle Waldo (Rockford), Ben Freeman (Walled Lake Central) and Kevon Davenport (Detroit Catholic Central) have also won four state titles in Division 1/Class A history. 

During his prep career, Facundo went 134-4 and 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, whom Facundo had beaten for his first state title the previous season. 

As a junior, he dropped a decision to Gallagher. Facundo's other two losses were by injury default while he was leading.

Facundo also won bronze medals at the Cadet World Championships in 2018 and 2019. He was the Freestyle Nationals champion in 2017 and Super 32 winner in 2018.

St. Johns' Taylor Massa, a four-time unbeaten state champion, is Michigan's only other national Schultz award winner (2012). Massa later amassed a 71-20 record at the University of Michigan where he was a two-time NCAA qualifier.

In his most recent competition, Facundo was third in the 71 kilogram division of the UWW Junior and Senior Nationals. Among those he beat were Wisconsin recruit and three-time Illinois state champion Dean Hamiti, currently ranked No. 7 pound-for-pound. 

During the past offseason, Facundo edged California’s Cael Valenica (No. 15 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. 

Also last year, Facundo defeated Oregon's James Rowley, No. 9 in the current pound-for-pound rankings.

Facundo appears to have a solid chance to crack Penn State's starting lineup at 165 pounds where starter Joe Lee was just 6-7 last season and could be moved to another weight.