The Niles School Board honored the Niles High School wrestling team Monday. Pictured are Nicholas Zimmerman, coach Hesson, Fritzel Findeisen, Ryan Casey, Casey Burandt, Derek Scott, Brendon Meek and Coach Desenberg. Submitted photo

The Niles High School wrestling team was honored at the Monday, March 25, Niles Community Schools Board of Education meeting. The board expressed its admiration to the team and its coaches for their accomplishments and both their athletic and academic performances.
The team finished the season with a total of 49 wrestlers, the largest number the team has ever had on the roster. This enabled the program to run a JV, Varsity A, and a Varsity B schedule, so wrestlers could get experience at their appropriate level.   Assistant coach Tom Desenberg said, “Above and beyond record, we are very proud of the level of participation that we have achieved.  That is a tremendous part of our success and we pride ourselves, as a program, in developing wrestlers and getting them better every year.”
Head coach Todd Hesson and assistant coaches Jake Will, Desenberg, Kyle Isabel, Bob Bell, Ethan Mead, and Jake Gluekert led the varsity A to a record of 34-2. The team also achieved the following success:
• Runners up at the Allegan Southwest Individual Tournament and the SMAC Individual Tournament.
• Pool Champions at the Penn Super Duals and NIC Duals Tournaments.
• Champions of the Milford Yeti Invitational
• Champions at the Muskegon Orchardview Invitational
• Champions at the Greater Berrien County Invitational
• SMAC West Division Champions
• District Champions
• Regional Champions
• Finished top four in the state
• Michigan Wrestling Coaches Association Academic All-State as a team for the fifth consecutive year
• Fritzel Fiendeisen and Ryan Casey were MWCA Individual Academic All-State (this is only awarded to seniors)
• The team had 11 individual regional qualifiers and six state qualifiers
• Casey Burandt and Fritzel Findeisen finished second in the state meet
• Ryan Casey finished fifth in the state meet
• The B Team also won the Cassopolis Steve Linton Memorial Duals.
In addition to these team honors and accomplishments, Hesson was named the MWCA Regional Coach of the Year for the second year in a row and was the State Coach of the Year for Division II.