SPORTS: Allen Park Wrestling, The Goal is to Make Good People

Like Vince Lombardi with the Green Bay Packers and John Wooden with UCLA, the name Bob Loyd will always be connected with Allen Park wrestling. Loyd, who was involved with Allen Park wrestling from 1982 until his passing in 2019, served as an assistant and/or head coach at the middle school and high school for decades.

One of Bob’s former wrestlers at AP was his son, Dan, who became the head coach of the boys program in 2015. Bob would be proud of his son, who also was instrumental in building the girls program. In 2023-24, the school board approved a paid coaching position for girls wrestling.

Last season, the Jaguars qualified eight girls to the MHSAA regional tournament and four girls to the state meet at Ford Field. This season, Mike Farkas is the head coach of the AP wrestling program while Dan Loyd is the girls’ head coach – and the team is on pace for another strong showing.

Senior Brynna Alwell is ranked in the top 10 in the state, at 145 pounds, and joined wrestling because it’s one of the few sports where you are alone in the fight.

“You are the beholder of what happens at the end of the match,” she said. “This team is very important to me. These girls care about one another, and they’ve got my back when things are rough.”

Alwell has big plans when it comes to wrestling – and Allen Park.

“I’d really like to wrestle competitively in college,” she said. “Then I hope to one day come back and take over the girls program. I think it would be a really great full circle moment for me, to come back and continue what Coach Loyd has started.”

For junior Jozlyn Colón, stepping onto the mat and learning wrestling “felt like learning a foreign language.”

“Last year I was extremely nervous to join wrestling because I thought it was so intimidating,” said Colón, who wrestles this year at 130 pounds. “What truly made me commit to wrestling was Coach Loyd. He believed in my potential even when I didn’t believe in myself. He doesn’t treat us differently based on wins or losses. He treats us like his own kids.”

Colón hopes to wrestle in college and continue pushing herself to be better every day.

“Wrestling is the only sport where I didn’t just find a team, I found a family,” she said.

Junior Paige Young, who wrestles at 140 pounds, is proud to be a Jaguar.

“Part of the fun is watching my teammates hit their goals and become better wrestlers,” she said. “This year we have had 10-plus new girls and helping them and watching them grow as a wrestler and a teammate has been amazing to watch.”

Cameron Maldonado is another AP wrestler currently ranked among the best in the state.

“I started wrestling during my junior year and immediately loved the Allen Park wrestling family I was welcomed into, and the constant learning and becoming better that wrestling is centered around,” said Maldonado, a senior who wrestles at 170 pounds. “This team has taught me that the relationships formed in a positive team environment can help you grow through any and every difficult obstacle. This team has shown me how women in every sport deserve their own space, to have their own voices heard, and respect for the work they put forward.”

And all of that “feeling they belong” philosophy starts at the top.

Loyd said, “every time I'm on a wrestling mat, I'm with my dad.”

“Every year my dad would give a speech about how wrestling made him who he was,” Dan said. “To that point, from my dad's example I've always emphasized that my goal is to make good people. If I make a couple of good wrestlers in the process, that's a bonus.”