History made, history in progress, history denied at state wrestling finals

DETROIT — Sabrina Nauss of Brighton and Maggie Buurma of Fowlerville seem like the least likely athletes who face battles with nerves before big wrestling matches.

When you never lose, why be nervous?

For both, there is a healthy amount of anxiety that helps them perform at their best.

It’s also a sign of respect for their opponents, who are never taken for granted no matter how inevitable the outcome may seem to outsiders.

“I really do care about the sport and I care a lot about my success,” Buurma said. “I think some nerves are healthy going into a tournament, because it means you truly care about it. But just learning to control those nerves is definitely going to be a big part of my learning in this sport.”

Nauss has never been beaten by a girl as a high school wrestler. That doesn’t mean the butterflies weren’t fluttering when she took the mat in the 190-pound championship match at the state individual tournament Saturday at Ford Field.

“My mentality is everybody’s beatable,” Nauss said. “There’s somebody out there that’s going to beat you. There’s somebody out there who has you as a target.”

Buurma and Nauss came to Ford Field with bull’s-eyes on their backs, but left the Detroit Lions’ stadium the same way they always do — clutching another state championship medal.

Nauss, who won the first MHSAA championship match two years ago, made more history by becoming on the third girl to win four state titles.

Hartland’s Eliana Bommarito won her four in a row from 2019-22 and Milan’s Angelina Pena won her fourth Saturday before Nauss’ match.

This is the third year that the MHSAA has sponsored a girls wrestling tournament at Ford Field. The first three state championships for girls were run by the Michigan Wrestling Association at Michigan Revolution in Highland.

“I’m excited to see how far it’s come and how many more girls there were here this year compared to the first year and also my freshman year, having our state championship at Rev,” Nauss said. “Now we’re here. It’s crazy. I’m excited to see it grow continuously.

“It’s crazy. It hasn’t fully hit me yet. I know there haven’t been that many girls to do it. I’m just so glad I can do something now for little girls to look u to and want to do that and be like, ‘Oh, I want to wrestle because she wrestled.’”

Nauss won by pinning Gabriella Allen of Marcellus in 1 minute, 35 seconds. Nauss was 22-0 in her career in regional and state individual tournaments.

Buurma is also 22-0 in those settings, winning the 135-pound championship with an 11-2 decision over Paisley Denault of Clarkston.

Denault’s only two losses this season were to Buurma, who had a first-period pin at regionals.

“She’s a tough competitor,” said Buurma, who trailed 2-0 early. “I knew she would come to wrestle today after regionals. I knew they were going to be coming after me. I was gonna have to prove the first time wasn’t a lucky pin. I needed to prove myself. In the end, I’m glad we wrestled a better match than the one in regionals.”

Livingston County had two champions out of five finalists in the boys Division 1 tournament, with Hartland sophomore Dallas Korponic winning at 132 and Brighton senior Zak Knapp at 165.

Korponic trailed 3-2 midway through the final period before getting a reversal and takedown to go up 6-3. He won 6-4 over Josh Vasquez of Grandville.

“I was in my mind thinking, ‘I’m not tired. We don’t get tired at Hartland,’” Korponic said. “I knew I was gonna take advantage of that moment when it came to me.

“I thought I only got two. I didn’t know I got backs. I just looked up at the scoreboard. It was 6-3 with 30 seconds left. I knew I just had to finish the match strong and get the win.”

Knapp showed up for the championship match without the shoulder harness he wore late in the season. He turned in one of his most impressive performances, winning a 13-1 major decision over previously unbeaten Zachary Taylor of Gibraltar Carlson.

“I just decided I can’t show any weakness,” Knapp said. “I’ve just got to go out there and show them who I really am, because I’m not weak, I’m strong. My shoulder’s been bugging me this past couple weeks. I finally had time to stretch it. It feels great now.”

After leaving the mat, the first thing Knapp did was personally thank his teammates when they came up to congratulate him.

“I owe it all to my teammates and coaches,” Knapp said. “They put me through hard work every day in the practice room and I’m just putting it out here.”

The biggest surprise of the day came in the final match. Hartland sophomore Bodie Abbey, a returning state champion who was 57-0 with 90 straight victories, was upset 8-5 by Detroit Catholic Central freshman Grayson Fuchs in the 126-pound title bout.

Abbey beat Fuchs in overtime one week earlier in the team state championship dual. Fuchs got a takedown 19 seconds into the match and never trailed.

Also reaching the championship before losing were Hartland's Vinnie Abbey at 150 and Brighton's Ethan Smith at 106.

Abbey had an apparent takedown just before time expired taken off the board, leaving him with a 3-1 loss to Detroit Catholic Central's Mason Stewart. Smith lost 6-1 to Davison's Steve Vaughn.

Placing third in Division 1 were Hartland’s Easton Culver at 138 and Brighton’s Sean O’Keefe at 215. O’Keefe beat county rival Jacob Pretzel of Hartland in the third-place match, 5-2.

Pretzel and Brighton’s Drake Pollins (113) placed fourth.

Hartland’s James Butzier was fifth at 165 and teammate Colin Jewell was sixth at 150.

In the girls tournament, Anna Buurma was fourth at 105 and Hannah Blyveis eighth for Fowlerville.

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton's Sabrina Nauss third girl to win 4 state wrestling titles