Battle Creek Is Michigan High School Wrestling's Biggest Stage

In my younger days, the only wrestling I watched included Hulk Hogan, the Ultimate Warrior and Macho Man Randy Savage performing on the big stage.

I had no interest in amateur wrestling, but the scripted professional bouts were a passion of mine.

Though I played pretty much all sports in middle and high school at , wrestling was never one of them. The closest I ever got was some buddies trying to convince me to try it in eighth grade between football and basketball season.

I passed. It didn’t appeal to me.

However, that all changed years later as I started covering high school wrestling for the .

At the first meets I covered, I didn’t even know the point system or how many periods there were. But I quickly learned, and my passion for the sport grew.

But it wasn’t until I took my first trip to the Team State Wrestling Finals at Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek that the sport really hooked me.

I was lucky that I was in an area with great teams, as I covered and Linden, but there was just something fascinating in watching wrestlers gasp for every breath during an overtime match or the tenacity they showed in bouts they knew they couldn’t win. It’s simply amazing how hard they work and that they do it sometimes even while cutting weight to get down to another class.

Watching Hartland come so close to a state championship but having to settle for runner-up four years in a row was gut-wrenching. How could you not feel bad for a team that put in an unbelievable amount of work, only to fall short?

For all the tears, there is also plenty of joy. I watched Linden make it to the state finals for the first time in school history, and the excitement you could see on the wrestlers' faces was priceless.

Starting Friday, eight teams in four divisions will experience the magic of Battle Creek at the Team State Wrestling Finals. Four of them will be crowned state champions Saturday.

Some teams, like Lake Fenton, will be making their first visit in school history. Others, like Hartland, which has made the finals for 10 consecutive years, are veterans at Kellogg Arena.

Some wrestlers will leave in tears, others in pain and some in blood. Others will leave with smiles, medals and trophies.

All of them, however, will leave with memories they will never forget, because Battle Creek is Michigan wrestling's biggest stage.

Forget the outlandish outfits and catchphrases of professional wrestling’s stars and just watch the determination on a high school wrestlers face.

Nowadays, that’s the only wrestling performance I’m interested in.