Hartland state champ Dallas Korponic earns Livingston County Wrestler of the Year
HARTLAND — Dallas Korponic was ready to go the moment he stepped onto a high school wrestling mat as a freshman.
He had prepared most of his life for the opportunity to not only make the wrestling team at state power Hartland, but to make an immediate impact.
The environment wasn’t too overwhelming for him when he went 3-0 in the team finals at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo and placed third at 120 pounds in the state Division 1 individual tournament under the bright lights of Ford Field as a ninth-grader.
Throughout youth wrestling, he competed in similar large venues at national tournaments in Fargo, N.D. and Tulsa, Okla.
“It’s not really different to what I’ve grown up wrestling,” Korponic said. “I’ve been to a few national tournaments with that scene. There weren’t a lot of nerves.
“Doing all those tournaments and having that experience and the pressure of those big stadiums helped a lot when it came to even team states on that stage.”
During his two years at Hartland, Korponic has a 14-1 record wrestling in the team and individual finals against some of the best competition in Michigan.
He capped his sophomore season by having his arm raised as the state Division 1 champion at 132 pounds March 2 at Ford Field.
“I still don’t know if it will hit me fully until next year,” said Korponic, the Livingston County Wrestler of the Year, as selected by the Livingston Daily. “It’s crazy.
“Definitely my goal coming into high school was winning a state title. I’d probably say it was about halfway through this year when I truly believed I could win one.”
Korponic started wrestling at the age of 5 at the encouragement of his neighbor, former Hartland wrestler Keegan Merenuk. Within three years, he was traveling the country to big tournaments and having success.
“It was sweet, getting to travel to a bunch of different places,” Korponic said. “I wrestled a lot of different kids and different styles and a lot of high-level kids.”
That background Korponic develop the confidence and experience to compete with the top wrestlers in the state as a freshman. He went 43-9 on his way to a third-place finish that would jump-start even greater success.
A month into his sophomore season, Korponic was coming off two losses in the Detroit Catholic Central Invitational on Jan. 6 and had a 15-5 record. All five losses came against wrestlers who would eventually stand on the all-state podium at Ford Field, so there was no shame there.
Korponic wouldn't lose again, winning his final 38 matches.
“I think those losses kind of shocked me a little bit and made me realize I’ve got to work a little harder for what I want,” Korponic said.
Korponic, already an insanely hard worker, focused even more on his conditioning to make sure he was the wrestler dictating the terms late in matches. It paid off in the state championship match when he won 6-4 over Josh Vasquez of Grandville after trailing 3-2 in the final minute.
“The confidence and mindset were just different,” Korponic said. “The conditioning was one of those things that changed.”
One of the keys to Korponic’s success is the opportunity he has to wrestle every day in practice against one of the top wrestlers in Michigan, sophomore Bodie Abbey. Abbey won a state championship as a freshman before suffering the only loss of his sophomore season in the state championship match.
“I’m really grateful to have a partner like him,” Korponic said. “We make each other better. That relationship is not something everyone has.”
While they’re the best of friends, sometimes things can get nasty in the practice room when iron is sharpening iron.
“Oh, for sure,” Korponic said. “We’ve had some moments. It’s always a brawl when we wrestle. We sometimes get heated, but once we cool down we realize that’s just how the sport is.”
Contact Bill Khan at wkhan@gannett.com. Follow him on X @BillKhan
This article originally appeared on Livingston Daily: Hartland's Dallas Korponic is Livingston County Wrestler of the Year
