Training with undefeated wrestler helps Hartland's Dallas Korponic beat one in KLAA finals

HOWELL — Dallas Korponic of Hartland competes with an undefeated wrestler every day in practice, so it wasn’t a culture shock to face one Saturday for a league championship.

Korponic beat Brighton junior Easton Hardesty by a 14-5 major decision in the 132-pound championship match of the Kensington Lakes Activities Association tournament at Howell High School.

With a 21-0 record, Hardesty was one of only two unbeaten wrestlers left in Livingston County two months into the season.

The other is Hartland sophomore Bodie Abbey, who improved to 42-0 by winning the 126-pound title.

Korponic’s toughest battles come in the Hartland wrestling room against Abbey, a defending state champion who hasn’t lost since early last season.

“We’ve been wrestling since we were 5, 6 years old when I first came to Hartland,” Korponic said. “Ever since then, we make each other better. We beat on each other. That’s what makes us the best.”

Hardesty has an impressive resume of his own. He won the prestigious Grappler Gold Invitational early in the season and was fifth in Division 1 at 126 last year.

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Hardesty was ranked second in Division 1 at 132 and Korponic was fourth, making this one of the marquee matches of the tournament.

It was the first match of the season between the two local standouts. Hardesty went 38 days between matches from Dec. 20 to Jan. 27, missing Brighton’s dual against Hartland.

“I’ve been looking forward to it a lot,” Korponic said. “I knew he was taking some time off. I was really hoping I would get to wrestle him today.

“I’ve been working on my oxygen tank and being able to wrestle a full match. I think I wrestled the full match and I was just really fast out there.”

Hardesty’s loss leaves Abbey is the lone remaining unbeaten wrestler in the county at 42-0. Abbey has won 75 consecutive matches since starting his freshman season 11-3.

“My goal was not to lose, because I don’t really like losing,” Abbey said. “I really just try to push the pace in every match and always score. It’s worked out pretty well for me so far.”

Abbey has been in cruise control after battling to win three tight matches early in the season. He won 4-3 in extra time over Dundee’s Kade Kluce and Hudson’s Nicholas Sorrow in tournament finals and won a 3-2 decision over Hudson’s Julien Kimling on Dec. 23.

“Just persevering through tough times in matches,” Abbey said of those early close calls. “You might be down, but you still have chances to win. Until the clock’s up, you always have a chance to win. I try to have that mindset.”

Another highly anticipated bout was a rematch of last year’s 215 final between Brighton junior Sean O’Keefe and Hartland senior Jacob Pretzel.

Pretzel won that match last year and the most recent clash between the highly ranked wrestlers by a 5-2 decision in the teams’ dual on Jan. 24. O’Keefe beat Pretzel, 5-2, in the quarterfinals of the Detroit Catholic Central Invitational on Jan. 6.

O’Keefe, ranked fifth in Division 1 at 215, pinned fourth-ranked Pretzel with 44 seconds left in the third period to win Saturday.

“I got him the first time,” O’Keefe said. “He got me back. The past week-and-a-half, two weeks, every day I’ve been thinking about this match in the KLAA finals. I knew it was going to happen, so I just had to get that.

“It’s healthy competition. It pushes each of us to get better. I respect him as an opponent. He’s a great guy. He’s just always pushing me and I’m pushing him.”

Hartland won the team championship for the third straight year with 296.5 points. Brighton was second out of 16 teams with 233.5 and Howell was fourth with 130.5.

Hartland had six champions in Braydon Tougas (113), Bodie Abbey, Korponic, Easton Culver (138), Colin Jewell (144) and Vinnie Abbey (157).

Brighton had four champions in Ethan Smith (106), Xander Courneya (150), Zak Knapp (165) and O’Keefe.

KLAA wrestling tournament

Team scoring

1. Hartland 296.5; 2. Brighton 233.5; 3. Westland John Glenn 189; 4. Howell 130.5; 5. Dearborn 123.5; 6. Dearborn Fordson 82; 7. Livonia Stevenson 76; 8. Northville 57; 9. Livonia Franklin 49; 10. Salem 48; 11. Novi 45.5; 12. Plymouth 34.5; 13. Livonia Churchill 34; 14. Belleville 27; 15. Canton 19; 16. Wayne Memorial 18.

Championship matches

106 — Ethan Smith (Brighton) d. NaKayla Dawson (John Glenn) 1-0; 113 — Braydon Tougas (Hartland) d. Jamey Hall (John Glenn) 3-0; 120 — Robert Dawson (John Glenn) d. Ashton Jewell (Hartland) 8-2; 126 — Bodie Abbey (Hartland) d. Jackson Ostrowski (Belleville) 1:25; 132 — Dallas Korponic (Hartland) d. Easton Hardesty (Brighton) 14-5; 138 — Easton Culver (Hartland) d. Jake Lynn (Howell) 1:30; 144 — Colin Jewell (Hartland) d. Kaden Tindall (Brighton) 4-0; 150 — Xander Courneya (Brighton) d. Casey Kolb (John Glenn) 1-0; 157 — Vinnie Abbey (Hartland) d. Jacob Kennedy (John Glenn) 3:56; 165 — Zak Knapp (Brighton) d. James Butzier (Hartland) :44; 175 — Rickey Smith (John Glenn) d. Mason Gardner (Brighton) 10-5; 190 — Mahdi Sabbagh (Dearborn) d. Sebastian Melchor (Brighton) 8-6; 215 — Sean O’Keefe (Brighton) d. Jacob Pretzel (Hartland) 5:16; 285 — Ammar Alrobaie (Fordson) d. Charlie VanEeuwen (Stevenson) 1:28.

Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan

This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Brighton, Hartland split marquee bouts in KLAA wrestling tournament