DUNDEE – Garrett Stevens spent the summer wondering if Dundee would have a wrestling team this season.
Following a teen suicide last spring, the school opened up a tip line to report bullying and hazing.
Allegations were leveled against the wrestling program.
Multiple investigations by outside parties were launched.
The district shut down all wrestling activities from late April until August.
Finally, just before school started in the fall, Stevens and his assistants were allowed to renew normal activities with increased safety protocols in place.
“It was wild,” Stevens said. “When I first heard about it, I said, ‘No way!’ It was a major shock.”
The vitriol that followed might have been an even bigger shock.
“It was amazing how rumors spread in the internet community,” he said. “I was inside the situation and worked with all of the parties involved, but apparently, they knew a lot more than I did.
“You can’t speak up. You have to sit back and let the investigation run its’ course. It’s just hard to see people saying things about you and your character. Sometimes it was people who I thought were my friends. It was hard on me and hard on my wife Katie.”
Some of the investigations are still ongoing, but enough was discored to allow the Vikings back on the mat.
Somehow they were able to ignore all the noise and focus on business.
Despite being denied their normal summer routine, the Vikings cruised to their ninth consecutive Division 3 state title and beat the other three state champions in dual meets along the way.
Stevens has been named the Monroe County Region Wrestling Coach of the Year.
“Yeah, it feels pretty good,” he said of the redemptive state title. “I get it. When you are good for a while, people won’t like you. I love a good underdog story, just like anybody else.
“But the part where people make it personal and try to find a way to beat you without beating you, that’s where I draw the line.”
Beating Dundee was close to impossible this season.
The Vikings compiled a 26-3 record in dual meets with all of the losses coming against some of the best teams in the country during elite tournaments.
They wound up ranked 33rd in the country.
Dundee scored dual-meet wins during the regular season over eventual state champions Detroit Catholic Central (Division 1), Lowell (Division 2) and Hudson (Division 4).
“That’s the first time we’ve beaten Detroit CC since 2012,” Stevens said. “That was a big moment for this team.”
When the Vikings finally got to pick on teams their own size in the state tournament, they won seven matches by a combined score of 359-15. A 60-6 win over Yale in the finals was their closest match of the tournament.
The dominance continued in the individual state tournament. Dundee tied the state record it set last year by winning eight of the 14 weight classes.
The allegations became a force that brought the Vikings together.
“You looked across the room and realized every single person has your back,” Stevens said. “It was not so much ‘Us against the world’ as ‘This is my family and I’m going to stick up for my family.’”
Dundee’s family thinned a bit during the controversy.
Three wrestlers transferred out, including two who wound up winning state titles.
And Nate Hall, who had served as co-head coach with Stevens for the previous three seasons, had to step down because of a family medical issue.
“I wouldn’t say it was more taxing,” Stevens said of losing his co-coach. “We brought in four or five other guys and they were all amazing.
“I am grateful and fortunate to be part of an amazing group of people We have a really good community. My wife is amazing and I had great family support.”
This article originally appeared on The Monroe News: Garrett Stevens helps Dundee wrestling ignore noise, win another state title
Reporting by Niles Kruger, The Monroe News / The Monroe News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
