Page 14/The Sun and News, Saturday, March 11, 2023
CHS freshman, Hayden, wins Individual State title
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
If a varsity wrestler is
going to win four state cham-
pionships she has got to start
with one.
Caledonia freshman
Maddie Hayden got that first
one.
Hayden became the sec-
ond Caledonia varsity wres-
tler, and the first female
Fighting Scot wrestler, to
win an MHSAA Individual
State Championship over the
weekend at the MHSAA
Individual State Finals at
Ford Field in downtown
Detroit.
Hayden put Howell senior
Brynn Green on her back as
part of a five-point move in
the second period and went
on to a 7-3 win in the Girls’
155-pound Final Saturday
afternoon.
The Fighting Scot fresh-
man couldn’t break through
in the opening period of the
championship match, and
Green was hit with a stalling
penalty with a half a minute
to go. Hayden took the lead
with a reversal a minute into
the second period and turned
Green to her back for three
nearfall points.
“I felt her get tired I think,
and that just hit a switch in
my head,” Hayden said. “I
was like, ‘it’s go time now.’
It was a moment of realiza-
tion. A small little half a
second.”
Hayden had a 6-1 lead
heading into the third period.
She was hit with a penalty
late in the round and she
picked up a point with a sec-
ond stalling call against
Green. Green managed a
take down with half a minute
to go, but Hayden quickly
earned an escape and seemed
a tiny bit exasperated that
Green kept her tied up in the
final seconds preventing
another score.
She sat back on her heels a
moment and caught her
breath before standing up to
shake hands with Green and
have her own arm raised. It
was when she caught the
eyes of her coaches, Roger
Singleton and Jeff Schildroth,
in the corner that the emotion
of the moment hit her face.
There were a few happy
tears.
“Just looking up and see-
ing the realization from my
coaches is what really did it,”
Hayden said. “I have been
working this hard this whole
season. Seeing them be
proud of that is what really
did it for me.”
Rich Lintemuth is the only
other Fighting Scot to win a
wrestling state title. He took
the Class B 98-pound cham-
pionship in 1988.
“Her goal is to be a four-
time state champ. This is
freshman year, and this is the
first step of that goal. It is
amazing,” Singleton said.
“You’re one fourth of your
way there.”
“It is nothing that I do in
the room. She trains all year
long. She has coaches.
Michigan Revolution, she
trains with them. She trains
all the time. That is what
makes her good. She literally
eats, drinks and sleeps wres-
tling. And she is really
mature for her age. She is
very focused.”
Hayden was 25-4 overall
this season with all four of
her defeats coming against
males in OK Red
Conference duals with the
Caledonia varsity team.
The two 155-pound final-
ists met earlier this season
in the finals of the Midland
High Girls’ Tournament,
where Hayden took a 2-
win. She is one of two state
medalists for the Fighting
Scots this year.
Senior Dylan Meduna,
who’d not gotten past the
blood round at the district
level of the state tournament
before this season, placedfourth in Division 1’s 170-
pound weight class. He ends
the season with a 38-
record.
Meduna was bested in his
opening round match, 23-7,
by Davison’s Josh Barr then
battled back for four straight
wins in consolation to earn
his spot in the match for
third.
Meduna bested Dakota’s
Aiden Criteser 7-4 in their
blood round match Friday to
secure his state medal and
then opened Saturday’s
action with a 3-2 win over
Detroit Catholic Central’s
Steven Shellenberger. A DQ
in the consolation semifinals
put him into the third-place
match against Forest Hills
Northern’s Chris Arrington
who edged him 5-3 in a sud-
den victory overtime period.
His first win of the tourna-ment was a 6-0 victory over
Anchor Bay’s Tristen Arnold
in the first round of consola-
tion.
“It’s so surreal. I was tell-
ing my family before this. It
is so crazy being down here
on the mat instead of looking
down from up there,” Hayden
said of competing in the state
finals at Ford Field. “It’s a
crazy feeling, but it feels
good though.”
She said she has watched
the individual finals from the
stands a couple of times. The
MHSAA just began hosting
a girls’ state tournament in
2022.
“I didn’t really get big into
wrestling, like really wanting
to do something crazy in the
wrestling world, until a cou-
ple years ago. When I started
hitting up these big tourna-
ments I knew that I wantedto be something good.”
Hayden pinned her first
two foes at the finals. She
stuck Mattawan’s Shylah
Twyman 28 seconds into
their first round match and
then she pinned
Frankenmuth’s Nevaeh
Gleeson in 1:28 into their
quarterfinal match.
In the semifinals Friday
evening, Hayden took an
11-3 win over Rockford’s
Hailee Budrick. Coach
Singleton thought it was
good that she got a six-min-
ute match in, knowing that
one would likely be coming
in the finals.
Hayden pinned Budrick
when the two met at the
Northview Girls Invitational
back in January. That was
just about a week after
Hayden was bested 4-0 by
Logan Hammingh in the
Fighting Scot’s OK Red
Conference dual with
Rockford.The state champ said it
wasn’t always easy bouncing
back and forth between
wrestling girls and wrestling
guys.
“It’s really hard. It’s kind
of just like I have to think
about it as the boys are mak-
ing me better, even the ones
who pin me. I don’t care. 15
seconds. Whatever,”
Hayden said. “Just getting a
feel for the difference helps,
a lot really. Being able to
switch my mentality when I
need to, that really helps
keeps me sharp when I’m
wrestling the girls. I can
really feel more positions
with the guys. With these
girls, I am a lot stronger
than them, but when I am
wrestling a guy who is
stronger than me I can really
feel my way throughout that
position instead of just mus-
cling through.”121 E. Main Street
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OPTOMETRISTSee SCOTS, page 16Caledonia senior Dylan Meduna faces off against
Anchor Bay’s Tristen Arnold in the first round of con-
solation in Division 1’s 175-pound weight class at the
MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals at Ford Field in
downtown Detroit Saturday. Meduna won his way
though the consolation bracket to place fourth at the
finals. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Caledonia freshman Maddie Hayden holds Howell’s Brynn Green on her back during the second period of
their girls’ 155-pound championship match at the MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals at Ford Field in down-
town Detroit Saturday. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Bronson’s Mackenna Webster, a state medalist
herself over the weekend, comes down to the railing
to greet Caledonia freshman Maddie Hayden after
Hayden’s victory in the girls’ 155-pound champion-
ship Saturday afternoon at the MHSAA Individual
Wrestling Finals at Ford Field in downtown Detroit.
(Photo by Brett Bremer)