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DOWAGIAC — Alyse Koss, formerly of Portage Northern High School and current Southwestern Michigan College student, has signed her NJCAA Letter of Intent to wrestle for Coach Todd Hesson and the Roadrunners during the 2025-2026 season, making her the first official women’s wrestler at an NJCAA school in the entire state of Michigan.

In April 2024, SMC’s Board of Trustees unanimously approved the addition of Women’s Wrestling, Men’s Track and Field and Women’s Track and Field as official NJCAA sports, to start competition in Fall 2025.

“There are only 29 other NJCAA schools nationally offering women’s wrestling, even though it’s quickly growing in popularity,” said Mike O’Brien, Chief Marketing Officer. “To our knowledge, SMC will be the first two-year college in Michigan to offer the sport, making Alyse the very first wrestler of the new era. We congratulate her and are excited to provide scholarship opportunities for more young women to continue their passion for wrestling and compete for championships while preparing for a career.”

Koss was an outstanding wrestler in high school, a four-year varsity starter and two-year varsity captain who qualified for the MHSAA state meet three times and was named to the MHSAA Women’s All-State Team twice.

SMC’s Head Wrestling Coach Todd Hesson said, “Alyse has a lot of experience as a state-level competitor. She is a very hard worker and excited to wrestle in college.”

Portage Northern Coach Chris Dunham said, “Alyse is a very tough kid, with a strong desire to get better and she is very coachable!” Coach Chris Furlong added, “Alyse is definitely a gamer…no matter what she is prepared to wrestle anyone.”

After a nearly 30-year hiatus, the SMC Men’s 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 10 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.

Student-athletes interested in competing in men’s or women’s wrestling or track and field as a Roadrunner should complete the Recruiting Form at https://smcroadrunners.com/landing/index