News Photo by Jonny Zawacki Alpena senior Mason Bray (top) earns his 34th win of the season and 84th of his career with a win over Onaway's Gavin Green during Alpena's annual Wildcat Quad Meet.

ALPENA — Over the past four years, Alpena’s Mason Bray has dedicated a lot of time attempting to become the best wrestler he could be with the hopes of being included among Alpena’s storied list of grapplers.

Continued hard work and dedication has led to steady improvement year after year and Bray, now a senior, has gone from being a good and competitive wrestler to a standout and dominant performer on the mat.

A year ago, Bray made his first trip to states after failing to qualify for regionals during his sophomore year.

This year Bray, wrestling at 171 pounds, has posted a stellar 34-1 record. His lone loss was a questionable one after a match he controlled, but lost points due to a controversial official call.

Bray has been dominant in all 35 matches, improving his career win total to 84 to bring him 16 victories shy of being a part of Alpena’s elite 100 win list.

“I’ve put in a ton of work since eighth grade and I haven’t stopped. I have several goals I want to achieve this season and I’m confident with continued hard work that I can make my goals become a reality,” Bray said. “I remember coming in as a freshman and just being introduced and realizing how fast this sport really is, but I think that helped give me that mentality to never give up and never stop working. I got beat up, but I never stopped.”

Bray has drastically improved over the past four years. From getting beat up as a freshman, to winning as many matches as he lost as a sophomore and making states as a junior to the incredible senior year he is currently enjoying, Bray has never given up and continues to fight.

Last year Bray finished fourth in districts and fourth at regionals before making it to states.

“I put a lot of work in during the offseason and right after states last year I was right back in the room and practicing again. I didn’t stop, even during soccer season I was still getting practice in,” Bray said.

Alpena coach Matt Kowalski has known and watched his senior leader grow over the years and is proud of what Bray has accomplished and the impact Bray makes on his program.

“I’ve known Mason since eighth grade so I’ve had the privilege to work with him and watch him grow. No one works harder and he’s the consistent guy in the room, he’s always there working his butt off,” Kowalski said. “He qualified for state last year and that’s a high level, but this year he’s just considerably better and is just a whole new wrestler and he’s just dominating matches and it’s great to see because it just goes to show, if you put in the work, the output that comes with that hard work.”

Kowalski is Bray’s third coach in his varsity career, but Bray credits the stability from last year to this year and having Kowalski by his side the past two years as a special luxury and important to his success.

“Through that hard work in the offseason, Mason has figured out his style of wrestling and what works for him. He knows what he’s going to do and dictates the matches.” Kowalski said. “I think the stability was huge for him and our program. Alpena has had some great individual wrestlers and Mason is cementing his name among those. He’s controlled every match, even his loss, he controlled and shouldn’t have lost. I just appreciate having a guy like him in the room. With a lot of turnover in the program, it’s a challenge to get individuals to really buy in like Mason has and to commit. He’s just a testament that hard work really does pay off.”

This year, Alpena moved up to Division I in wrestling and wrestling at 171 pounds will be no easy task for Bray as there is a ton of talent at the 171 class.

Kowalski is confident that Bray can be a state placer, finish high on the podium and continue his wrestling career long after this senior season.

“My goals are to finish first at districts and regionals. I want to place at states and postseason, I want to place first at Greco Roman and go to nationals,” Bray said. “To think about 100 wins is crazy and something I didn’t even think of at the beginning of my career. We were looking at wins at the beginning of this season and it looked like I’d have to win almost every match to get to 100. It’s still going to be hard, but I’ve put myself in a position to do it and I’m going to continue working hard to get there. I’m just thankful for my time wrestling for Alpena High and I’m going to do everything I can to finish strong and put together a special end to my career as a Wildcat.”