Page 16 — Thursday, March 7, 2024 — The Hastings Banner
HHS girls’ team puts pair on state medal stand
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
One of the life lessons of high school
sports is that you pick up your teammates
when they’re down.
Hastings junior Naomi Grummet literally
did that Friday morning at Ford Field in
downtown Detroit. Saxon sophomore Olivia
Friddle, a two-time wrestling state qualifier
and also a track and field state qualifier as a
freshman, made her first turn around the 25
mats in the middle of Ford Field on crutches
during the opening grand march at the
MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals.
Grummet gave Friddle, who injured a knee
playing with the Hastings varsity girls’ bas-
ketball team the previous Friday, a piggy
back ride the second time around the home of
the NFL’s Detroit Lions.
There weren’t too many other times the
Saxon girls were “down” during the weekend
at the state finals. Sophomore Dezarae Mathis
earned a state medal for her fourth place finish
in the girls’ 120-pound weight class over the
weekend and Grummet scored an eighth-place
medal in the girls’ 155-pound weight class.
The toughest part of the weekend for the
Saxons was junior Jordan Milanowski falling
in the blood round at the state finals for the
second year in a row. Friddle and Milanowski
are both two-time state qualifiers in the two
seasons in which the MHSAA has hosted a
girls’ state championship tournament.
The Saxons weren’t the only local girls at
the finals. Delton Kellogg was represented by
freshman Olivia Post in the 125-pound weight
class. Thornapple Kellogg had junior
125-pounder Emma Gibson, another two-time
state qualifier, freshman 125-pounder Rylee
Alberts and junior 113-pounder Raini Braska
competing. Alberts and Gibson both had one
victory on the weekend, but fell in the blood
round Friday. Post and Braska were both 0-2.
The Saxons’ Mathis had a great freshman
year too, but a late-season concussion kept her
from competing in the state tournament in
- She just capped her sophomore season
with a 29-9 record and her first state medal.
Mathis put her hand over her mouth as if
in a little bit of shock after opening compe-
tition by pinning Mason County Central’s
Nyvaen Wendt just 16 seconds into their
first 120-pound match of the tournament
Friday morning.
After a second round loss, Mathis won
her way through the consolation bracket
including a 9-2 blood round win over Pine
River’s Madelynne Sterly.
Guaranteed a state medal and back on the
mats Saturday, Mathis stuck Ann Arbor Pio-
neer’s Quincy Behm a minute into their
match in the third round of consolation.
Mathis then pinned Plainwell’s Avery Lynch
to get to the match for third where she fell to
Mattawan’s Elyse Morales.
“Her weight class this year was crazy
tough and our regional placed all four girls in
the top six at state, and kinda in reverse
order,” Hastings varsity girls’ wrestling coach
Mike Goggins said. “The Sturgis girl [Lola
Barkby] was fourth at our regionals and won
the state finals, beating a returning state
champ [Grand Blanc’s Faith Burgess].
Mathis was third at regionals and fourth at
the state finals. Plainwell’s Avery Lynch was
the regional champion in Gull Lake, where theSaxons competed last month, and placed sixth
at the state finals. Mattawan’s Elyse Morales
was the regional runner-up and third at state.
“Most of the girls beat someone that had
beaten them or lost to someone they had beat
a week earlier. Crazy,” Goggins said.
Grummet was pinned by Holt’s Brynn
Campbell in the opening round of the girls’
155-pound weight class, but won a pair of
consolation matches to secure her spot on
the medal stand. She pinned Standish-Ster-
ling’s Aliyah Schalk 3:39 into their first
consolation match.
In the blood round, Grummet pulled out a
7-5 win over Pine River’s Adalyn Holmes
with a tremendous third period. Holmes had a
5-2 lead heading into that third period after a
take down in the first period and three late
nearfall points in the second period. Grum-
met started the third period in the bottom
position and managed a quick reversal. The
two battled for more than a minute with
Grummet eventually working to score three
nearfall points of her own to move ahead in
the last half minute of the match.
It did end up as Grummet’s last win of the
tournament. She was bested 2-1 in a tiebreak-
er in the first medal round Saturday and then
was pinned in the match for seventh place.
Coach Goggins, who had his daughter Erin
Slaughter as an assistant in the girls’ corner
this season, said Grummet comes from a
wrestling family too. Her father was a state
placer at Lowell and her brother Griffin
Grummet wrestles at Thornapple Kellogg.
“She really came on and gained confidence
as the year went on,” Mike Goggins said.
Family ties were scattered throughout Ford
Field. TK’s Gibson had her big brother, former
state medalist Zack Gibson, helping coach.
Delton Kellogg’s Post saw her brother, Gauge
Stampfler, medal in the Division 4 competi-
tion at the finals while getting coaching advice
from her father, DK assistant coach Clint Post.
The Saxons’ Milanowski pinned Fowler-
ville’s Kiely Davis in the first round of con-
solation Friday in the girls’ 145-pound weight
class, after an opening round loss, but then
was pinned by West Bloomfield’s Alexandria
Hampton in the blood round.
Hastings had three girls at the state finals
this year after sending five a year ago. The
Saxon girls’ program remains one of the larg-
est in the state.
“I’m not sure exactly why we have seen
such a quick response and success in just our
second year, but I have some ideas,” Mike
Goggins said. “First, we have a strong wres-
tling base in our community. We have been
known as a ‘wrestling school’ for many many
years, and I really believe with Jason Slaugh-
ter as our head coach, we will move up to an
elite level in the years to come.
“As a college wrestler he is able to provide
the advanced technique needed to be the best
of the best. Second, many of our girls have
dads, brothers, uncles that wrestled. They
know the sport, and are excited to be involved
in their own family traditions. We also were
quick to make sure girls knew we are offering
a girls’ wrestling team, not just letting girls
join the boys team. There is a difference.
“Our district is committed to the idea by
adding coaching positions, girls’ specific uni-
forms and traveling all over the state as well
as hosting all girl wrestling events. Our girls
have the option of practicing and competing
with the boys or just competing against other
girls. This was seen as a real plus when
recruiting girls to give it a try.”
He said it is also great to have a female,
Erin, on the coaching staff.
“[She] has plenty of coaching experience in
other sports, was a college athlete and has
been around wrestling her entire life. She is
passionate about athletics and knows how to
motivate girls. I think having a female on staff
helps girls new to the sport, feel comfortable
and safe. Then all we have to do is teach wres-
tling, conditioning and confidence.”
He is excited to have 10 or 12 girls com-
peting at the middle school level too, and said
the girls at all levels have enjoyed the sport ofthe community and the boys’ program.
Delton Kellogg varsity wrestling coach Dan
Phillips is pretty happy with his coaching staff
too, including Clint Post, Olivia’s dad. She
was the only DK girl to compete in the state
tournament this season, but spent time
throughout the season attending a number of
girls’ tournaments too.
“I think this first year experience was huge
for her,” Phillips said. “She got better as the
year went on. She had to get used to wres-
tling mostly girls. There is a different style of
wrestling when you’re wrestling girls. I think
the experience was huge.
“She broke her thumb in the first match at
regionals. She wrestled all of regionals with
a broken thumb and the state tournament. It’s
not something you can adjust and overcome,
your thumb is pretty important. She is already
talking at the end of the year about ‘man,
I’ve got unfinished business.’”
Her business over the weekend started by
being pinned by the eventual girls’ 125-
pound state champion, senior Tyler Swani-
gan from South Lyon East. Olivia had a 3-
lead on Emmaleigh Peters from Millington
in the first round of consolation, but got
caught and put on her back in the second
period and eventually lost 7-3.
TK had the two girls in that 125-pound
bracket. Alberts pinned Warren Mott’s
Makayla Perdue-Daniels in the opening
round, but then fell to DeWitt’s Jamie Cook
in the quarterfinals. Peters took a 14-5 major
decision over Alberts in the blood round.
Gibson faced Perdue-Daniels’ teammate
Megan Melnyk in the opening round and was
pinned midway through the third period Gib-
son bounced back to pin Pinconning’s Ken-
nedy Cloutier, but then got outscored 9-3 by
Whittemore-Prescott’s Serenity Hayes in the
blood round.Historic Charlton Park
Barry County Parks & Recreation Commission
Hiring for Part-time Maintenance Positions
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- Must be at least 18 years of age.
Resume or Application can be sent to:
Barry County Parks
2545 S. Charlton Park Rd.
Hastings, MI 49058
[email protected]
Application deadline
March 15, 2024
179651Hastings sophomore Dezarae Mathis has her arm raised after a 9-2 win over Pine
River's Madelynne Sterly in the blood round of the Girls' 120-pound weight class
Friday at the MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals inside Ford Field in downtown Detroit.
Mathis won two more matches at the finals Saturday to finish fourth in the state at her
weight class. (Photo by Brett Bremer)
Hastings junior Naomi Grummet scores nearfall points against Pine River's Adalyn
Holmes to clinch a 7-5 win in the third period of their Girls' 145-pound blood round
match inside Ford Field in Detroit Friday during the MHSAA Individual Wrestling
Finals. Grummet went on to claim the eighth-place state medal Saturday. (Photo by
Brett Bremer)Delton Kellogg freshman Olivia Post fights to try and escape the grasp of Millington's
Emmaleigh Peters during their Girls' 125-pound consolation opener Friday inside Ford
Field in downtown Detroit at the MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals. (Photo by Brett
Bremer)Hastings junior Jordan Milanowski (right) looks for an opening in her blood round
match against West Bloomfield's Alexandria Hampton in the Girls' 145-pound weight
class Friday at the MHSAA Individual Wrestling Finals hosted by Ford Field in down-
town Detroit. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Hastings sophomore Olivia Friddle gets
an assist from junior teammate Naomi
Grummet on the second time around
Ford Field during the Grand March Friday
morning at the MHSAA Individual
Wrestling Finals. Friddle, now a two-time
state qualifier, was unable to compete in
the finals due to a knee injury suffered
while playing for the Saxon varsity girls'
basketball team. (Photo by Brett Bremer)