Men's Soccer | October 10, 2019

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - Call them the 131 Gang Plus One.

When Western Michigan head men's soccer coach Chad Wiseman goes on recruiting trips, invariably he will be on U.S. 131 for a very simple reason.

''When you look at those communities on 131, the student athletes there are looking at Western Michigan for men's soccer and that helps,'' he said.

That north-south highway has given the Broncos a rarity. The previous four Mr. Michigan high school soccer players, voted the best in the state, are now on the Western Michigan roster. They are Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central's Anthony Bowie (2015), Traverse City West's Dalton Michael (2016) Rochester Stoney Creek's Mike Melaragni (2017) and Kalamazoo Hackett Catholic Prep's Brennan Creek (2018).

While Bowie, Michael and Creek are along that popular highway, it also played a part in getting Melaragni to WMU.

''We were actually in the Grand Rapids area looking at another player and Stoney Creek was playing,'' Wiseman, in his seventh season as head coach, said. ''Mike wound up as the one we wanted to have here.''

While Bowie was the first ever Mr. Michigan which Wiseman recruited to WMU, it was the players in the recruiting classes just before Bowie came aboard which convinced him to come to Western. Players like Nick Wysong, Connor Furgason, Chase Rau and Greg Timmer were part of the 2015 team which went 11-4-4, including a 0-0 tie with national powerhouse Akron. That Akron team would go on to make the NCAA national semifinals before losing to Stanford on penalty kicks.

In 2014, Portage Northern's Brandon Bye decided to come to Western, and in 2017 as a senior, he helped the Broncos make the NCAA tournament where they beat Albany 2-0 before being ousted by Michigan State, 2-1.

Bye would go on to be the No. 8 selection in the 2018 draft by the MLS' New England Revolution.

Bowie started off the Mr. Michigan parade in 2015.

''It was the coaching staff's belief in me which brought me here,'' he said. ''I had a lot of injuries in high school and some of the colleges looked at that and didn't want to take a risk on me.

''Coach Wiseman, from day one, was consistent about recruiting me and believing in me.

''At the time, I looked at other programs which might be better than Western in four years, but the funny thing is in the past three years, Western has had the best success of all of them.''

Butler, Xavier, Ohio State and Oakland University were all in the mix with Western Michigan.

''It's worked out and I couldn't be happier,'' Bowie said.

It has indeed worked out. For the second time this season, he was just named the Mid-American Conference's Player of the Week, scoring the lone goal in each of the Broncos' 1-0 victories last week over nationally ranked Loyola Marymount and Xavier. Bowie has a team-leading five goals and 12 points this season.

''It didn't hurt us when Dalton and Mike and Brennan were looking for universities that Anthony was already here,'' Wiseman said. ''The recruits come on campus and ask the real questions of our upperclassmen. I think they like what they hear and that's a big piece of it.''

Bowie is the total package for Western Michigan. Besides being a standout on the field, he has a 4.0 grade point average and was an Academic All-American last season.

''He's an explosive player and the most athletic player on the field,'' Wiseman said. ''He learned under guys like Brandon Bye who was a similar type of college player.''

Michael has had a rough start at Western Michigan. After playing in 10 games as a freshman, he had to sit out the 2018 season when he injured his knee and needed surgery. He scored his lone goal and had two assists in Western Michigan's 4-0 victory over Niagara.

''For me, it was seeing the success Anthony had when he came here,'' Michael said of one of the reasons he came to WMU. ''I followed him a lot because we used to play him in high school.

''It's crazy what we have built here. Going to an NCAA tournament and now with the success we've had this season, it's great to be a part of it.''

Added Wiseman: ''Dalton is coming along and his future looks bright.''

Soccer wasn't the first love of Melaragni, who is 6-feet, 3-inches tall, until his junior year in high school.

''Truthfully, my whole life I wanted to be a college basketball player,'' he said with a smile. ''Then in my junior year in high school, I got a little better in soccer.''
Good enough to score an amazing 32 goals in one season and 81 goals in his career. He also was a prep All-American.

''One of the things which brought me to Western was the premed program so I'm a biomedical science major and I plan on going to med school,'' he said. ''A big draw here was having two Mr. Soccer award players already here, and now with Brennan coming in, it's gone even further.

''This team is built around Michigan high school players and that's a big draw.''

Added Wiseman: ''Mike is big, imposing and a hard-working 4.0 GPA student athlete. He is very difficult to deal with defensively. He's shown a nice progression from year one to year two.''

The sophomore has played in every game, with one goal and two assists.

Creek is the first Mr. Soccer award winner to come from a Division 4 (smallest school) high school. In his prep career, he scored a whopping 129 goals and added 104 assists. So far for WMU, he has two goals and four assists.

To say he's had inside knowledge about Western Michigan soccer is putting it mildly. He and Hackett teammate Max Keenan, also a member of the WMU soccer team, were ball boys while growing up here. Creek has been coached by Wiseman on the club level since Creek was 12 years old.

''He knew coming to Western he would have to earn the opportunity to play right away,'' Wiseman said. ''He's still a freshman and shows some signs of imaturity , but he's had a huge impact here.''

Again, it was talking to the Big Three who were already at Western Michigan which sealed the deal.

''I definitely got their input to see what the school offered and what was best for me,'' Creek said. ''Many of the freshman class have been together for years and the upperclassmen have welcomed us onto the team.

''I wouldn't trade this team for any other because the guys are awesome, the team chemistry is great and everyone has bought into the program.''

''You talk about the recruiting process, we don't paint pictures which aren't there,'' Wiseman said. ''What you see is what you get and that's why very few people leave our program as well.

''We don't bring guys on campus for a visit unless we are prepared to move forward with them. They spend the time with us and see our program, our administration, our beautiful campus and the community. They can see themselves here.''

The previous four Mr. Michigan soccer players sure have.