Hartland seniors Bodie Abbey and Dallas Korponic can separate themselves from most of the other past state championship wrestlers in Livingston County history when the state finals are held Friday, March 6 and Saturday, March 7 at Ford Field.
Each wrestler will be in pursuit of his third state title. The only boy to win three state championships for a Livingston County school was Fowlerville Olympian Adam Coon, who won four from 2010-13.
Abbey and Korponic are among 10 county boys who have won two state championships.
Out of the county’s 34 qualifiers, these (listed alphabetically) have the best chance to stand on the top step of the podium when medals are handed out around 7 p.m. Saturday.
Wrestling begins at 10:30 a.m. Friday, with quarterfinals at 3:15 p.m. and semifinals at 6:45 p.m. On Saturday, consolation rounds begin at 9 a.m., placement matches at 11 and finals at 3:30 p.m.
Bodie Abbey, Hartland
Abbey, a 138-pounder, has a chance to join Fowlerville Olympian Adam Coon as the only county boys to reach the championship match four times.
Abbey won state championships as a freshman and junior and was the runner-up as a sophomore. He hasn’t lost to a Michigan wrestler since Detroit Catholic Central’s Grayson Fuchs beat him in the title bout two years ago.
After suffering his only loss in the first tournament of the season, Abbey avenged that loss with a pin and has won 41 straight matches to take a 43-1 record to Ford Field.
Dallas Korponic, Hartland
Like Abbey, Korponic is going for his third state championship and is unbeaten against Michigan competition.
Korponic earned the No. 1 seed by winning 4-1 in overtime over Davison’s Julius Pacheco in the regional championship match. That bout was a rematch of last year’s state final, which Korponic won 1-0.
That means Korponic will have to go through only one of the top two contenders for the 157 championship. Pacheco and Detroit Catholic Central’s Alexander Buskirk are in the other bracket.
Alexis Lazar, Brighton
Livingston County has had some dominant females in the short history of girls wrestling in Michigan. Hartland’s Eliana Bommarito, Brighton’s Sabrina Nauss and Fowlerville’s Maggie Buurma were nationally ranked wrestlers who were four-time state champions.
Lazar won’t win four state titles because this is the only season of high school wrestling for a senior who was homeschooled until her senior year. But she is every bit as good as the previous state champions, going 23-0 with only one match that wasn’t a pin or technical fall.
Lazar is ranked sixth in the nation at 140 pounds. She is No. 1 in Michigan and has pinned second-ranked Kylee Malloy of Olivet in the second period in districts and regionals.
Dom Nauss, Brighton
Nauss showed he was ready to take on the big boys as a freshman last year, placing fourth at 165 pounds. He was the only freshman Division 1 all-stater in the five heaviest weight classes.
He’s moved up to 190 and is an even stronger state championship contender. After some early losses coming off football season, Nauss heated up after suffering back-to-back losses Jan. 3 at the Detroit Catholic Central Invitational.
Nauss was the only regional champion in Brighton’s contingent of nine qualifiers in the boys tournament. His path to a championship will probably have to go through Romeo’s Thomas Jaynes (49-1) in the semis and Catholic Central’s top-seeded Caden Krueger (36-4) in the final.
Layne O’Neil, Fowlerville
Fowlerville hasn’t had a boy win a state championship since Coon won his fourth straight state title in 2013.
To end that drought, O’Neil (46-2) will probably have to win the rubber match of a budding rivalry with Marshall junior Harland Begg in the Division 285-pound final. Begg beat O’Neil in the district championship match before O’Neil turned the tables in the regional title bout.
O’Neil’s only losses are to Begg and defending Division 1 heavyweight champion Logan Tollison of Grand Ledge.
O’Neil is a two-time all-stater who was fifth at 190 as a freshman and third at 215 as a junior.
Here is a complete list of the county’s state qualifiers:
BRIGHTON
Boys
Bronson Shinkonis, 120
Drake Pollins, 126
Ethan Smith, 132
Xander Courneya, 144
Kaden Tindall, 150
Mason Gardner, 175
Dom Nauss, 190
Sullivan Haas, 215
Alex Salmon, 285
Girls
Alexis Lazar, 140
FOWLERVILLE
Boys
Ryder Kleinschmidt, 138
Jacob Hodge, 157
Layne O’Neil, 285
Girls
Cayden Taylor, 105
Anna Buurma, 130
Kaley Murphy, 140
HARTLAND
Boys
Brodie Dunbar, 106
Jase Sensor, 113
Jonah McPherson, 120
Bodie Abbey, 138
Braydon Tougas, 144
Ashton Jewell, 144
James Kosza, 150
Dallas Korponic, 157
Joseph Cappellano, 165
Jacen Pocock, 175
Lucas Bates, 215
Girls
Emma Kosza, 115
HOWELL
Boys
Cole Trierweiler, 113
Ryker Newstead, 126
Zach Leventis, 138
Girls
Olive DiMassa, 105
Makenzye Papiez, 110
PINCKNEY
Girls
Aubrey Hughes, 155
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@livingstondaily.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Legit contenders among Livingston County state wrestling qualifiers
Reporting by Bill Khan, Livingston Daily / Livingston Daily
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