Saline's O'Sullivan Headed For the Palace

And then there was one.

Saline junior Nate O’Sullivan is on the only Hornet wrestler left on the mat as the state’s best now turn their attention to the MHSAA finals at The Palace of Auburn Hills, March 1-3.

O’Sullivan was one of five Hornets competing in the Saturday’s MHSAA individual regional tournament held at Saline High School.

O’Sullivan, wrestling at 130 pounds, was the only Hornet to make the top four and qualify for the state finals. O’Sullivan went 3-1 on the day to finish third and improve to 40-9 on the season.

Junior Taylor Ticknor (45-7, 112 pounds) won his first match but dropped the next two to finish off the podium. Senior Ryan Boxeth (39-10, 119 pounds) lost both matches. Dustin Funk (29-16, 135 pounds) went 0-2. Alex Cornelius (31-13, 140 pounds) lost both his matches.

O’Sullivan began the day with a tough, 2-1 decision victory against Jon Conn, of Plymouth. He was pinned by regional championship Ken Bade, of Detroit Catholic Central, in the semifinal. That put O’Sullivan in the blood round—where you either win and qualify for the state meet or see your season end—for the second straight year.

“Last year, I was pinned in the regional. My nerves were going and I was just trying to keep calm,” said O’Sullivan, who faced Tito Sanchez of Woodhaven.

Neither wrestler scored in the first period. In the second, O’Sullivan started on bottom and scored a two-point reverse. He maintained his hold for the entire third period and won 2-0.

When the whistle signaled the end of the match, O’Sullivan jumped up and threw his fists in the air.

“It was like a huge weight lifted off my shoulders,” O’Sullivan said.

He finished the day with an 8-0 win over Westland John Glenn’s Jesse O’Neal in the consolation final. It was a big win because as a third place finisher, O’Sullivan will open the state meet against a second place finisher from another region. Had he placed fourth, he would have had to face a regional champ to open the state meet.

“I was really happen to get that win because I’ll have a better seed and that will help me reach my goal of placing at the state meet,” O’Sullivan said.

Coach Scott Powers said now O’Sullivan needs to get to work on his goal.
“Nate made a statement with that 8-0 win in his last match. We’re going to work with him and try to find him some new partners to train with in the next couple weeks,” Powers said. “He’s a state qualifier and that’s great. But we want him to be all-state.”

O’Sullivan will be the only Hornet wrestling at The Palace.

Ticknor started well, winning a 9-7 decision over Plymouth’s Trey Berry. In the semifinal, Ticknor wrestled well but fell to Livonia Franklin’s Danny Martinez (54-2), 5-3. Ticknor needed a win in the blood round. He’d just scored two points to take the lead on Detroit Catholic Central’s Myles Amine in the third period when Amine turned him and won by pin.

“Taylor deserved a better fate today. He wrestled so well,” said Powers. “He’s grown so much as a young man and a wrestler this season.”

Minutes after losing a heart breaker in the blood round, Ticknor was mat-side, cheering on O’Sullivan.

“When I saw that, it did my heart good. Taylor’s attitude and work ethic have improved so much over the course of the season. Sky is the limit for Taylor,” Powers said.

Another tough loss for the Hornets was for senior Ryan Boxeth. Boxeth came in as a four seed and lost to eventual regional champ TJ Fagan, of Detroit Catholic Central, 9-2 in the opening round. Boxeth faced Southgate Anderson’s Raven Schmitt in the second round and needed a win to keep his season alive. He’d taken a lead to start the third period when he was reversed and pinned.

“It broke my heart to see him lose the way he did after he was up. Ryan had a great season and we’re all really proud of him,” Powers said.

O’Sullivan said he was sad to see Saline’s only senior eliminated at the regional.

“After last year, we both decided together that we were going to get better at wrestling. We worked out all summer and worked really hard. We wanted to get to states together,” O’Sullivan said.

Alex Cornelius began his day with a 13-3 loss to Livonia Franklin’s Jordan Atienza (52-5). In the second round, Cornelius lost to Bedford’s Al Regnier, 4-2.

“We came here today with the goal of wrestling our best, and Alex did that. Earlier this season, Alex lost to Bedford’s wrestler by a big score. Today, he battled him right to the end,” Powers said. “Alex had a great year. He struggled early trying to make weight at 135, but once he got comfortable at 140, he blossomed.”

Dustin Funk opened the day with a 17-2 loss to Canton’s Alec Pantaleo. In the second match, he fell to Kody Roy, of Livonia Stevenson, 7-1.

“Dustin is new to the program. He’s a kid who worked really hard and made himself a big part of our program,” Powers said.