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Gaylord wrestler Brayden Gautreau commits to Central Michigan

The Petoskey News-Review

Brayden Gautreau and his family pose during a commitment event on Thursday, December 1 at Gaylord High School.

GAYLORD ― One of the most historic and successful programs in the Northern Michigan area continues to add to its legacy of producing state championships and college wrestlers.

The Gaylord wrestling team has made a habit of hanging banners in the gym, with multiple trips to the state finals in recent years and a few individuals returning with state championship trophies to add to the trophy case.

This past week, one of those individuals perhaps solidified his legacy as one of the most dominant high school wrestlers in his time in high school just as his final season sets to get underway.

Senior Brayden Gautreau. an individual state champion in 2021 wrestling at 171 pounds, made his college decision official on Thursday, December 1 as he committed to join the Central Michigan University Wrestling program in Mount Pleasant, Mich.

"This was always part of the plan, I always knew I wanted to wrestle at the next level," Gautreau said.

Brayden Gautreau and his team pose during a commitment event on Thursday, December 1 at Gaylord High School.

Gautreau and his teammate, Louden Stradling, both brought home individual state championships as juniors at last season's MHSAA state finals. Gautreau won all four of his matches, defeating Brandon Rau (Tecumseh), Brady Raymond (Pickney), Jacob Halsey (St. Joseph) and Derek Badgley (Mason) en route to the individual state crown.

In 2020, he was also a part of the Gaylord team that finished as the runner-up in the Division 2 state finals.

The trophy from the 2020 Division2 state final runner-up wrestling team sits in the trophy case at Gaylord High School.

He also added to his large collection of awards and honors over the summer at the Junior National Championships on the campus of North Dakota State University in Fargo, N.D., leaving with All-American honors after finishing in fifth-place overall.

"The plan is to go forward, excel in academics, get a good degree and be the best college wrestler that I can," he said.

Gautreau joins an elite program in Mount Pleasant led by National Wrestling Hall of Famer Tom Borrelli. Entering his 32nd year as the Chippewas' wrestling head coach, Borrelli has built quite the legacy for himself and the CMU wrestling program that includes 14 regular-season Mid-American Conference Championships, 14 first-place finishes at the MAC Championships (including 11 straight from 2002-2012) and 354 career victories for as a head coach, the second-most among active Division I coaches.

Last season, CMU finished 22nd in the team standings at the NCAA Championships, their best national finish since 2013.

Gaylord wrestler Brayden Gautreau listens to Athletic DIrector Christian Wilson during a commitment event on Thursday, December 1 at Gaylord High School.

Gautreau credited a number of people for helping him achieve his dream of wrestling at the collegiate level.

"I'd like to thank my team, my parents obviously, my family, they're always supporting me. Coach LaJoie, Coach Foote, Coach Nowak, Coach Giallombardo, they've all been huge supporters," Gautreau said.