Kaden Lapaugh Picks the Roadrunners

Kaden Lapaugh of Dewitt High School has signed his NJCAA Letter of Intent to wrestle for Coach Todd Hesson and the SMC Roadrunners.

Lapaugh has a 136 career wins and is a three-time MHSAA State Qualifier. He has placed fifth at the Division 2 state level.

He is the tenth signed member of SMC's 2024-2025 recruiting class, joining Santana Ramon of Allen Park, Dylan McLean of Parchment, Dathan Smith of Constantine, Arslan Bekirov of Centreville, Ohio, Israel Villegas of Dowagiac, Alex Saldana of Hartford, Dayveon Rupert of Battle Creek Lakeview, Trent Mansfield of Gobles and Michael Gonyeau of Plainwell.

SMC Head Coach Todd Hesson said, "Kaden is an extremely talented and hard-working wrestler. He has a lot of experience and will definitely contribute to our line up."

Coach Brian Byars added, "Kaden is a hard worker who always puts in extra work. Kaden normally practiced multiple times a day and traveled all over the state to attend practices and improve. He is a great addition to any team!"

After a nearly 30-year hiatus, the SMC Wrestling Team returned to NJCAA action in October 2022. In their first year back, with an all-freshman team, the Roadrunners went 5-0 and won the MCCAA Duals Meet, won the first MCCAA Conference championship in school history, finished third in the Great Lakes District Meet and qualified nine wrestlers for the NJCAA National Championships in Council Bluffs, Iowa.

In 2023-2024, while moving up to NJCAA Division 1, the Roadrunners again went undefeated in the MCCAA Duals Meet, earned the back-to-back MCCAA Conference championship, were Great Lakes District runners-up and qualified the maximum ten wrestlers for the national meet. SMC finished the season at #17 in the country and sophomore Caeleb Ishmael of Coloma was named an NJCAA All-American.

The 2024-2025 season begins October 1, with the first meet tentatively scheduled for October 29. The Roadrunners' full roster and schedule will be published soon.