Algonac wrestling coach shares amazing season

State champion Reid Hiltunen honored by council

By Barb Pert Templeton

The Algonac City Council recently presented an Asset Award to the Algonac High School Wrestling Team and to senior wrestler, Reid Hiltunen, who won state championship honors

Mayor Pro Tem Dawn Davey presented the award and the brief presentation had a proclamation read into the record noting the council commending the Algonac Muskrats Wrestling Team and their coaches for all their hard work and dedication. The council noted that they applauded the team for their efforts and characterized the season as “incredible.”

Following the award presentation Algonac Wrestling Head Coach Brian Ranger spoke to the council stating the high school has a gigantic Kindergarten through 12th grade wresting program.

“Thanks for having us and for the awards here tonight,” Ranger said, noting that many members of the wrestling program are also involved in spring sports so they couldn’t attend the meeting. “I insisted I get Reid here tonight and he symbolizes what we’ve done and what we want our kids to strive for,” he added.

Ranger said Reid has been wrestling for Algonac for half of his life having started when he was a third grader.

The coach said they have a youth wrestling club with 120 kids in grades K through 6th grade. They’ve had to establish three levels within the club including K-1st, 2nd – 6th grade beginners and then a group for advanced children.

Members of the club come from across the area including Anchor Bay and Marysville just because of the great things kids have accomplished on the wrestling mat in Algonac, Ranger said.

On the competition side of things within the club 34 kids qualified for the youth state tournament, three were named state champs, 18 were state placers and the team finished 14th out of 314 clubs in Michigan.

Ranger said some of the clubs are all-star based so they aren’t affiliated with schools and athletes have to pay about $200 a month to participate but in Algonac the club charges $100 for the whole year.

“So, if you adjust that for school only clubs, we’re about sixth or seventh in the state of Michigan,” Ranger said.

Students who come through the youth club have crazy amounts of success by the time they reach high school and part of that is due to a very successful middle school squad, Ranger added.

During Reids four years in high school the team wrestling record was 135-12 and within the conference the team was 26-0. The team was also three-time league champs and would have been four times but COVID in Reid’s freshman year hurt them, Ranger said.

The wrestling team also captured district championships four-times and Reid wrestled in the state semifinals with the team two years ago. The Algonac squad also participated in and won a Macomb County Wrestling Tournament which had 40 teams including power houses like Dakota and Romeo.

“This year Algonac won it for the first time in school history and we were the smallest school ever in the history of that tournament to win that,” Ranger said.

This year a dozen wrestlers made it to the tournament at Ford Field and seven were all staters. Reid was in the state finals along with three other team members.

Ranger said the stats he could continue to share are amazing and in fact the record board was rewritten the last couple years by seniors in the Class of 2025.

The team had a 3.84 GPA and were third in the state in terms of GPA plus there were eight academic all-staters including Reid.

“He’s getting a scholarship for much more than his wrestling ability he’s been an over 4.0 student his whole life,” Ranger said.

Reid’s record was 190 career high school wins, three-time all-state and this year was his most dominant season ever by a Muskrat. He only had one match that was close because he had gotten hurt but all the other matches weren’t even close.

“So, it’s 55 and one with an asterisk by it, the guy didn’t beat him, Reid’s ankle popped out of the socket,” Ranger said.

Overall, this was a very dominant season that Reid worked for and he set very high goals for himself.

“What better example of a small-town kid making it big, Reid Hiltunen is the most dominant state champion in Algonac school history,” Ranger said.

Mayor Rocky Gillis thanked Ranger and congratulated the team stating ‘amazing things happen in our schools and this community.”

Councilman Jake Skarbek said he wanted to point out that when Ranger came to Algonac the wrestling program was at the very bottom. He said he wasn’t sure if it’s been 12 of 15 years now but the coach has been phenomenal and literally built the program brick by brick.

“No one wanted to wrestle for Algonac, there was no wrestling program when he came here and now, he’s got one of the best, it’s amazing,” Skarbek said.

During council comments officials thanked and congratulated the wrestling team and Coach Ranger.