Wrestling Team Enjoys Successful Season

The National Collegiate Wrestling Association (NCWA) wrestling program at HFC enjoyed another season of success.

On March 1, the wresting club competed in the Great Lakes Regional Tournament, placing 7th in the Great Lakes Conference (GLC) as a team. All seven wrestlers were named national qualifiers. Most notably, Austin Koehler and Nick Frazier placed 2nd in their respective weight classes and Coach Grant MacKenzie earned recognition by the Great Lakes Region as Coach of the Year for the second consecutive year.

“I’m so proud of my wrestlers. Their hard work has paid off and it shows,” said MacKenzie.

The grandson and namesake of the MacKenzie Fine Arts Building located on HFC’s main campus, MacKenzie, of Dearborn, has taught physical education at Allen Park Middle School for 17 years. A 1992 alumnus of Edsel Ford High School, MacKenzie attended Olivet College in Olivet, Mich., where he was a Division III wrestler. He graduated from Olivet in 1996 with dual undergraduate degrees in Elementary Education and Physical Education. In 2003, MacKenzie earned his master’s degree in Public Administration from The University of Michigan-Dearborn (U-M Dearborn). Additionally, MacKenzie is a graduate of the NWCA/Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA) Academy.

MacKenzie, who has wrestled since high school, has coached wrestling since 1998. For 12 years, he served as the assistant wrestling coach at Allen Park High School. In 2010, he founded the NCWA wrestling program at U-M Dearborn. He founded the NCWA wrestling program at HFC at the beginning of the 2013-14 academic year.

“I’m very honored – not to mention humbled – to have been named Coach of the Year in the GLC for the second year in a row. Talk about déjà vu! It’s a proud moment for me, my team and my family,” said MacKenzie.