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DOWAGIAC — The first member of the Southwestern Michigan College 2024-25 recruiting class has been signed to a National Junior College Athletic Association letter of intent.

Roadrunners’ Coach Todd Hesson announced that Plainwell’s Michael Gonyeau will wrestle for SMC this coming season.

Gonyeau has a 104-43 overall career record and went 45-6 in this season.  In this year’s MHSAA Division 2 All-State meet, Gonyeau earned an eighth-place finish. He is the first member of the 2024-2025 recruiting class.

“Mike is a hard-working wrestler with a lot of energy,” Hesson said. “He comes from a strong wrestling program with a solid wrestling tradition. Mike is a great student and we are looking forward to what he brings on and off the mat.”

Plainwell Coach Rodd Leonard added, “you want your whole team like him. He makes the right choices in every aspect to reflect the good, whether it be on the mat or off. I cherish Michael as if he was one of my own.”

After a nearly 30-year hiatus, the SMC Wrestling Team returned to NJCAA action in October 2022. In their first year back, with an all-freshman team, the Roadrunners went 5-0 and won the MCCAA Duals Meet, won the first MCCAA Conference championship in school history, finished third in the Great Lakes District Meet and qualified nine wrestlers for the NJCAA National Championships in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

In 2023-2024, while moving up to NJCAA Division 1, the Roadrunners again went undefeated in the MCCAA Duals Meet, earned the back-to-back MCCAA Conference championship, were Great Lakes District runners-up and qualified the maximum ten wrestlers for the national meet. SMC finished the season at No. 17 in the country and sophomore Caeleb Ishmael was named an NJCAA All-American.