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MACOMB TOWNSHIP — It’s been a long time coming for L’Anse Creuse High School-North wrestling, but North is back on top in the Macomb Area Conference’s Silver division.
Going undefeated in the conference and securing the dual-meet championship in the MAC Silver, North won its first league title since 2003.
Since day one at the start of the season, North sophomore Nathon Zydel said the squad had its eyes on one goal.
“It was to win the MAC, so that’s what we really focused on every day,” Zydel said. “We wrote ‘to win the MAC’ on a whiteboard, and we used that as motivation.”
On Jan. 26 at L’Anse Creuse High School-North, the Crusaders went head-to-head against New Haven in a league-deciding match. Both teams entered the match undefeated in the league, but North would walk away with a 48-34 win to earn the league title.
“It’s been so much fun,” junior Blake Raymond said. “I honestly take a lot of pride in being that team to restore the wrestling community at LCN.”
One could argue the most impressive feat this year for North was climbing to the top without a single senior on the roster.
Zydel, Raymond, and junior Jordan Brown became leaders early, helping North’s young wrestlers learn throughout the year.
Sophomore Jack Giordano said the junior class had a significant impact on the team’s success this season.
“The juniors are doing a really good job at keeping everyone up and teaching all the new kids new things,” Giordano said.
While North’s season came to an end in a loss to Clinton Township Chippewa Valley in the district semifinals on Feb. 8, the 2023 season was a huge step in the right direction for the program.
Going from 15 wrestlers in 2021 to 25 wrestlers this season, the program’s success will only continue to net increased numbers for the team.
“Once they finally get that first intro where it’s not what they thought it was, then they fall in love with it,” North coach Eric Maniaci said.
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