Ike’s Agnello ends high school wrestling career as state finalist

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Utica Eisenhower senior Sammy Agnello is one of those wrestlers you only get in your school once a decade, or 12 years to be exact for Eisenhower’s case.

At the Michigan High School Athletic Association Division 1 individual state finals on March 2 at Ford Field, Agnello earned state runner-up in a 1-0 decision loss against Grosse Pointe South’s Wyatt Hepner, earning the highest state placement for an Eagles’ wrestler since 2012.

Agnello and Hepner previously matched up in the regional round with Hepner earning the 3-0 advantage, and Agnello said he had a strategy going into their state finals matchup.

“This time, my game plan was to be on top,” Agnello said. “I thought I could turn him, and I wrestled him in a couple practices as well and I had success on top, so that was the game plan. It was a close match, but didn’t come through.”

Agnello’s runner-up finish solidified a high school wrestling career with no shortage of accomplishments, earning three all-state finishes at the state finals; a 41-3 record this year; 22 tech falls, a school record; and Macomb County Wrestler of the Year.

Whether it’s football or wrestling, Agnello will inevitably continue his athletic career collegiately, and Eisenhower wrestling head coach David Drath said Agnello’s impact as a leader will stay with the team.

“He’s been in our room since he was five,” Drath said. “His dad coached our club for 10 years until Sammy got into high school, and he became a point in the room, where on certain days, where his dad, who owns his own business, might be running late or I got something to do, I look at Sammy and say, ‘Hey, I got to go down to the office. There’s something I’ve got to handle. You take things.’ He would start warmups, the drilling, and all that stuff where he’s going through the moves with the guys.”