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Lion trio competes at Big

8 tourney for the first time

Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Maple Valley varsity wrestling team
set three guys to the program’s first Big 8
Conference Championship tournament, but
couldn’t get anyone to the medal stand Satur-
day at Reading High School.
Robert Schilz opened his day with a 4-
win over Springport’s Jacob Kubiak in the
quarterfinals of the 138-pound bracket. He
was pinned by Concord’s Collin Thompson
in the semifinals and then fell to Quincy’s
Karter Pierce in the consolation semifinals.
Skyler Cook had the only other win of the
day for the Maple Valley team, pinning
Springport’s Julian Woodard in the opening
round of consolation in the 215-pound weight
class.
Union City edged Bronson for the day’s
team championship 196-191.5. Springport
was third with 120.5 points ahead of Quincy

105, Reading 104.5, Concord 40 and Maple

Valley 5.

Union City won half of the flights with

Blayne Crance at 106 pounds, Mitchell Gra-

ham at 113, Logan Mears at 132, Alex Boyer

at 138, Landyn Crance at 144, Montana Con-

nell at 157 and Gavin Kelly at heavyweight.

Bronson got individual championships from

Owen Kimmons at 126 pounds, Gabriel Erwin

at 150, Mason Lindsey at 165, Carson Norton

at 175 and Jacob Britten at 190 pounds.

Maple Valley is set to head to Bellevue

tonight, Feb. 8, for its MHSAA Division 4

Team District Tournament. The Lions face

Delton Kellogg in the opening round at 6

p.m., with Bellevue and Saranac meeting in

the district’s other semifinal match.

The Lions head to Bronson along with the

other members of its team district tournament

for an MHSAA Division 4 Individual District

Tournament Saturday.

Saxons second in I-8, set for D1 tourney

Brett Bremer

Sports Editor

The Mounties climbed back to the top of

the Interstate-8 Athletic Conference this win-

ter with a pair of close victories over the

Hastings varsity wrestling team.

Jackson Northwest ended a string of three

straight conference championships for the

Saxons with a two-point win over the Saxons

in their conference dual in Jackson Wednes-

day, Jan. 31, combined with a victory over the

runner-up Saxons at the conference tourna-

ment hosted by Marshall Saturday.

Hastings senior Colton Smith, juniors Troy

Hokanson and Isaac Friddle, and sophomore

Aden Armstrong all won individual confer-

ence championships at Marshall Saturday.

“Northwest was just a tough matchup for

us this year. We won seven matches and they

won seven just to show how close it was,”

Hastings head coach Jason Slaughter said of

his team’s 29-27 loss in the dual last week.

“To beat them we really had to win all those

swing matches in the dual and tournament.

So we won a lot but not all, even winning

some in the dual and not in the tournament

and vice versa.”

“Really I think our guys did pretty well

across the board. Northwest is just tough and

a few small things didn’t swing our way

which is just how it goes.”

Smith had a decisive win over Northwest’s

Blaine Anspaugh in their meeting in the dual

and then the duo met up again in the champi-

onship round of the 138-pound bracket at the

conference tournament. This time Smith took

a 3-2 victory. That win came on the heels of a

pin of Marshall’s Cody Brubaker and a major

decision over Parma Western’s Quinn Ferris

to open the tournament.

“[Smith] had a good day in a pretty tough

bracket and beat the Northwest in the finals,”

Slaughter said. “It was big for the team and

really great to see him earn all-conference as

a senior.”

Hokanson is now a three-time conference

champion at 106 pounds – a spot in the line-

up where experience like his can be rare. He

took a 9-2 win over Northwest’s Franklin

Banister in the semifinals and then pinned

Harper Creek’s Camren Brock 17 seconds

into their championship match. The two wins

moves Hokanson to 40-0 this season.

While Friddle has finished on the state

medal stand a couple of times, he finished as

a conference champion for the first time on

Saturday. Friddle pinned Northwest’s Aidyn

Williams in the second period of their semifi-

nal bout and then stuck Marshall’s Harland

Begg early in the third period of their cham-

pionship round match.

Armstrong finished his first varsity I-

season by pinning Northwest’s Juan Asta and

then Harper Creek’s Kowen Slucter to win

the 165-pound weight class.

The Saxon team also had Colten Denton,

Keegan Sutfin, Haiden Simmet and Kyle

Echtinaw finish as the runner-up at their weight

class. Jordan Humphrey and Matthew Shults

were third and Ben Furrow placed fourth.

Northwest won the tournament with 193.

points ahead of Hastings 174, Parma Western

149.5, Harper Creek 143.5, Marshall 51,

Coldwater 46 and Pennfield 45.

There were some big wins for the Saxons

as they tried to chase down the Mounties.

Northwest’s Kaiden Goodman took a 15-

major decision over Echtinaw to clinch the

dual victory for the Mounties at the end of the

night Wednesday. Echtinaw reversed that

result Saturday with a 2-1 win in the tourna-

ment semifinals at 190 pounds.

Armstrong’s pin of Asta in their 165-pound

bout Saturday improved on an 8-6 win for

Armstrong in their match-up from Wednes-

day. Coach Slaughter said Armstrong was

really solid all day Saturday wearing out his

opponents.

Shults was pinned by Harper Creek’s

Landon Walter to start the day in the semifi-

nals of the 175-pound weight class Saturday,

then rallied back for two pins of his own to

earn his third-place medal and outscoring the

Northwest wrestler at his flight.

The Mounties had plenty of success of

their own though. Evan Beuerle outscored

Denton 17-2 in their 132-pound champion-

ship match. Sutfin was second to Northwest’s

Jeffrey Miller at 144 pounds with Miller tak-

ing an 11-4 win in the finals. At 150 pounds,

the Mounties’ Ashton Dack scored a 2-

overtime win over Simmet in the finals.

Jackson Northwest also got a champion-

ship from Kayden Beach at 120 pounds.

Both Hastings and Northwest were a per-

fect 5-0 in conference duals heading into

their match last Wednesday in Jackson, a

dual for the conference lead that came down

to the final bout.

In the penultimate bout, Jazihel Fajardo

managed a 9-6 win over Shults at 175 pounds

that moved the Mounties within 27-25 of the

Saxons. Goodman’s major decision over

Echtinaw at 190 pounds clinched the 29-

win for the Mounties.

Hokanson was the only Saxon lightweight

to get a win in the dual. He upped an early

Saxon lead to 12-0 with an 8-1 win over

Franklin Banister in the dual that began at

215 pounds.

Northwest got a decision from Thomas

Fall at 113 pounds, a pin from Beach at 120,

a one-point win by Carter Cole at 126 pounds

and a major decision from Beuerle at 132 to

move in front 16-12.

Things were back and forth from there.

Smith outscored Anspaugh 12-6 at 138 pounds

to get the Saxons to within 16-15. Pins from

the Mounties’ Miller at 144 and Sutfin at 150

kept it a one-point deficit for the Saxons.

Simmet pulled out a 4-3 win over over

Dack at 157 pounds to push hastings into a

24-22 lead and then Armstrong made it 27-

in favor of the Saxons with an 8-6 win over

Asta at 165.

The heavyweights had gotten the Saxons

off to a solid start with Friddle pinning North-

west’s Zach Sussex at 215 pounds to open the

match and Diego Coipel outscoring North-

west heavyweight Aidyn Williams 8-6.

The Saxons requested a move up to com-

pete in Division 1 for the state tournament

this year and they were scheduled to travel to

Battle Creek Central last night, Feb. 7, for

their MHSAA Division 1 Team District Tour-

nament. They go to Jackson High School for

their MHSAA Division 1 Individual District

Tournament Saturday.

That move means the Saxons won’t face

traditional postseason foes like Thornapple

Kellogg, Wayland, Lowell and others in the

Division 2 state tournament this winter. Hast-

ings is one of two schools in the state of

Michigan opting to move up from the Divi-

sion 2 state tournament into Division 1 this

winter joined by Waterford-Kettering in that

choice.

DK puts four on medal

stand at SAC tournament

Brett Bremer

Sports Editor

The Delton Kellogg varsity wrestling

team capped off its regular season with a

finish in the top half of the Southwestern

Athletic Conference Tournament at Con-

stantine Saturday.

Martin/Climax-Scotts took the tourna-

ment championship with 230 points ahead

of runner-up Constantine’s 206.

The Delton Kellogg team placed sixth

with four medal-winning performances.

Delton Kellogg got runner-up finishes

from Mitchell Swift at 285 pounds and

Griffyn Harmon at 138 pounds. The Pan-

thers’ Gauge Stampfler placed third at

132 pounds and Kayle Mclellan was

fourth at 106 pounds.

Swift pinned his first two foes in the

285-pound weight class, Watervliet’s

Aiden Wolford and Martin/Climax-Scotts’

Max Bleeker. Constantine heavyweight

Bennett VandenBerg kept his season

record perfect at 41-0 with his pin of

Swift late in the first period of the 285-

pound championship match. Swift is 36-

overall this season heading into the post-

season.

Harmon took a pair of decisions to get

to the 138-pound championship match.

He outscored Schoolcraft’s Taylor Cook

5-2 in the quarterfinals and then pulled

out a 14-10 win over South Haven’s

Zayden Rowland in the semifinals. Con-

stantine’s Koltin Gross won the 138-

pound championship match by pinning

Harmon.

Constantine had three individual cham-

pions with Brody Jones also winning at

157 pounds, and the Falcon team had 12

of its 13 wrestlers finish on the medal

stand at the end of the day.

Martin/Climax/Scotts got champion-

ships from Logan Gilbert at 106 pounds,

Cole Reitz at 120, Jayce Ritchie at 126,

Haylen Buell at 132, Jack Bagwell at 144

and Sam Bleeker at 215 pounds as well as

Max Bleeker at 285.

Delton Kellogg’s Stampfler was bested

by Constantine’s Bear Geibe 11-2 in the

semifinals of the 132-pound weight class.

Stampfler rallied from there to pin Alle-

gan’s Luke Wedge and South Haven’s

Jose Garcia to place third.

DK also got wins at the tournament

from AJ Lorenz at 106 pounds, Tucker

Tack at 144, Mendon Phillips at 150 and

Austyn Lipscomb at 157.

Delton Kellogg opens the MHSAA

Division 4 state postseason this evening,

Feb. 8, traveling to Bellevue for its team

district tournament that begins at 6 p.m.

The Panthers face Maple Valley in an

opening round match while the host Bron-

cos take on Saranac. The winner of those

two duals will meet for the district cham-

pionship at about 7 p.m.

The Panthers travel to Bronson for their

MHSAA Division 4 Individual District

Tournament Saturday, Feb. 10.

Hastings junior Isaac Friddle (top) works his way to a pin of Marshall's Harland Begg during the 215-pound championship mat

at the Interstate-8 Athletic Conference Tournament hosted by Marshall Saturday. (Photo by Dan Goggins)

The Saxons' Aden Armstrong, Troy Hokanson, Isaac Friddle and Colton Smith cel-

ebrate their individual conference titles at the Interstate-8 Athletic Conference

Tournament at Marshall High School Saturday. (Photo by Dan Goggins)

Saxon 165-pounder Aden Armstrong moves Harper Creek's Kowen Slucter around

the mat as coach Jason Slaughter looks on from his corner during the championship

round Saturday at the Interstate-8 Athletic Conference Tournament hosted by

Marshall. (Photo by Dan Goggins)