HB 4.1.2021 DONE

Page 14 — Thursday, April 1, 2021 — The Hastings Banner

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County gets six through

to D2 Individual Finals

Valerie Slaughter

Contributing Writer

Six local wrestlers punched their ticket to

the Division 2 Individual State Finals at the

Michigan High School Athletic Association

Individual Wrestling Regional hosted by

Byron Center High School Saturday.

Thornapple Kellogg managed to get five

state qualifiers out of the eight guys that wres-

tled at regionals, and Hastings had one state

qualifier out of its six regional wrestlers.

“Overall we did pretty good today,”

Thornapple Kellogg head coach Ryan Fletke

said. “We got five out to the state tournament

so we’re happy with that. We came ready to

wrestle today and we will keep working

through the net week and continue to train

like we have been, and to get the kids mental-

ly prepared for the state tournament. We want

to get everyone there healthy and safe.”

The group of Trojans getting through the

regional to Friday’s Division 2 Individual

State Finals that will be held at Van Andel

Arena in Grand Rapids includes 125-pound

regional champion Zach Gibson as well as

Carter West who was third at 285 pounds;

Ashton Corson who was third at 119 pounds;

Kyron Zoet who was third at 130; and Andrew

Middleton who was fourth at 140 pounds.

Hastings’ Robby Slaughter earned his first

trip to the state finals with a fourth-place fin-

ish at 152 pounds. He had to go through a

Trojan to secure his state finals spot, beating

TK’s Austin Chivis 11-9 in an overtime ses-

sion in the blood round [the consolation semi-

finals]. This was a bit of déjà vu for the two

wrestlers with a different outcome, as last

year Chivis eliminated Slaughter in the blood

round at districts.

Coaches vote on coaching awards at the

MHSAA Regional tournament, and Fletke

was voted by his peers as Regional Coach of

the Year. Fletke stated, “I’m very surprised

and happy to get that. It comes with a lot of

work form other coaches and parents that

support the program. It’s kind of a welcome

surprise.”

The opening round of the day was tough for

both teams as only four of the combined 14

wrestlers for both schools got their hands

raised after their first match, and all were

Trojans. The Saxons all came up short in that

first round. Gibson had a fall at 1:03 mark to

advance at the 125-pound weight. Zoet

advanced at the 130-pound weight with a 6-

decision. Middleton had a 15-0 technical fall

at 140 pounds, and West had a pin at the

heavyweight bracket.

In the second round of semi-finals and con-

solation brackets, the Trojans got wins from

Gibson, who picked up his second pin of the

day over Eran Marx of East Grand Rapids to

secure his spot in the finals, and Jackson

Curtis and Dylan Bailey, who advanced to the

blood round, both scoring major decisions for

their wins.

The Saxon wrestlers had a better second

round getting wins from Mason Denton (

pounds), Cohen Smith (140), and Slaughter,

but the blood round was again brutal on the

Saxons eliminating all but Slaughter from the

tournament. Denton faced off once again with

Thornapple Kellogg’s Middleton and lost a

close 4–0 decision.

Hastings head coach Darrell Slaughter said,

“The first round was brutal as we didn’t get a

single win, but really pleased with the season

and getting six here to regionals this year. I

was bummed that Denton didn’t make the

next level, but glad we have another year for

him and the team to accomplish their goals.

“Robby really started the day off slow with

an ugly first match, which made his day hard-

er in the long run, but he rose to the occasion

with his match against Chivis,” coach

Slaughter added. “It’s crazy how long six, or

seven minutes in this case, can seem. Most

kids in this position would’ve been mentally

beaten, down four points at the end of the

second period to a kid who has beat you

before, but he came back to score seven more

and tie it up. We were all super proud of how

he got the overtime win.”

Trojan wrestlers had three other wrestlers

secure their spot at the state tournament in the

blood round with Zoet getting a 14-4 major

decision over Caleb Huyser from Allegan;

West had a 14-1 major decision over Clayton

Kammeraad of Holland; and Ashton Corson

had a 10-0 major decision over Easton

Mendoza of Holland.

In the finals for TK, Gibson was the only

regional champion after his win over Landon

Miller from Lowell with his third pin of the

day.

In a year where nothing looks the same, the

state tournament is one of them. Wrestlers in

Division 2 will wrestle in the State Finals at

Van Andel Arena starting Friday morning. In

normal years, the tournament runs over two,

and before that three days. This year each

division’s tournament will take place in one

day, with all four divisions competing at dif-

ferent times and locations. The Division 3

tournament will be Wings Event Center in

Kalamazoo, with the Division 1 wrestlers

competing in Kalamazoo Saturday. The

Division 4 tournament will be held Saturday

at Van Andel Arena.

DK team tourney ends, but four make D4 Finals

Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Carson City-Crystal (CC-C) had a few
wrestlers unable to compete Wednesday and it
gave the outnumbered Delton Kellogg varsity
wrestling team a fighting chance.
CC-C still managed to eke out a 42-30 vic-
tory in the Division 4 Regional Semifinal
match at Delton Kellogg High School.
Holding a nine-point lead with three flights to
go, the Eagles pulled out a couple close victo-
ries to seal the win.
Cole Stone fought off his back in the first
period against Delton Kellogg 140-pounder
Vinnie Quick and then went on to an 8-7 deci-
sion that put his team up 36-24, and Eagle
145-pounder Ethan Mills fought off a couple
good shots from DK’s Andrew Fales in the
first period and took a quick pin in second
period to clinch it.
Delton Kellogg got pins from Hunter Belew
and Hunter Antolovich in the dual, as well as
forfeit wins from Caden Ferris, Joelle White
and Matthew Fales. Belew made quick work
of Logan Hopkins at 189 pounds, pinning him
in 31 seconds. Antolovich scored his pin 34
seconds into his 130-pound bout with CC-C’s
Grayson Ackels.
CC-C took 24 points thanks to four voids in
the DK line-up where the Eagles had compet-
itors.
CC-C was without four line-up regulars
including senior 130-pounder Jaron Johnson
who was the Division 4 Individual State
Champion at 125 pounds in 2020. The

Panthers were missing a guy of their own,

Luke Watson, at 171 pounds.

“We had an opportunity there, had we

shown up. We almost had a pin there right

away at 60 with a first-year wrestler. That

would have been huge,” Delton Kellogg head

coach Brett Bissett said. “We could have

maybe bumped Caden [Ferris] up and he

might have gotten a pin at heavyweight, but at

this point in the season that kid is 283 pounds

I didn’t really want to send him out and

chance an injury for a fluke reason.”

DK’s Gavin Poley had a shot at sticking

CC-C’s CJ Baldwin in the 160-pound bout

that opened the evening. Poley scored the

only two take downs of the first period, but

Baldwin caught him and stuck him 39 sec-

onds into the second period.

“Shoot, we have four kids that have seen

the mat before this year and we were district

champs and had a winning dual meet record.

Can’t be too upset about that, especially with

11 guys,” Bissett said.

Ravenna earned the regional championship

at DKHS Wednesday, besting Lakeview

66-12 and then knocking of CC-C 45-23 in

the regional final.

The Panthers were back in action Saturday

at Carson City-Crystal for their Division 4

Individual Regional Tournament, and four of

the five DK guys participating won their way

through to spots in tomorrow’s (April 2)

Division 3 Individual State Finals that will be

held at Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo.

That group includes former state medalists

Belew and Ferris, as well as Quick and Gage

Vincent.

Ferris and Belew each won regional cham-

pionships. Belew pinned all three of his oppo-

nents, culminating in a pin of St. Louis Justice

Onstott half a minute into the third period of

their 189-pound championship match. Ferris

pinned his first two opponents, then took a

forfeit win in the finals at 215 pounds against

New Lothrop senior Camden Orr – the

defending Division 4 215-pound champion.

Quick and Vincent both placed fourth.

Quick defeated Coleman’s Isaiah Biers in

the first round of consolation and then got a

bye through the blood round [consolation

semifinals]. He was bested 5-2 by

Breckenridge’s Derek Mayle in the match for

third at 135 pounds.

Vincent scored a 7-3 win over Beaverton’s

Seth Onweller to open consolation at 112

pounds, then pinned Hesperia’s Alex Sayer in

the blood round to clinch his spot in the state

finals. New Lothrop’s Daven Lockwood

pinned Vincent in the match for third.

Delton Kellogg’s Gage Vincent tries to fight off a shot by Carson City-Crystal’s Tyler Akin (left) during the opening period of their
112-pound match Wednesday in the Division 4 Team Regional Semifinal at Delton Kellogg High School. (Photo by Brett Bremer)

Delton Kellogg 130-pounder Hunter Antolovich (right) works to turn Carson City-

Crystal’s Grayson Ackels to his back during the first period of their bout in the Division

4 Team Regional Semifinal Wednesday (March 24) at Delton Kellogg High School.

(Photo by Brett Bremer)

Delton Kellogg’s Vinnie Quick hauls Carson City-Crystal’s Cole Stone down to the

mat during their 140-pound bout Wednesday in the Division 4 Regional Semifinal at

Delton Kellogg High School. (Photo by Brett Bremer)

Hastings’ Robby Slaughter works on top of Thornapple Kellogg’s Austin Chivis

during their blood round match at Saturday’s Division 2 Individual Regional hosted by

Byron Center High School. Slaughter pulled out an 11-9 win in the first sudden victory

overtime period to clinch his spot in this Friday’s Individual State Finals. (Photo by

Valerie Slaughter)

Thornapple Kellogg 125-pounder Zach Gibson works to pin Lowell’s Landon Miller

late in the first round of their championship match at the Division 2 Individual Regional

Tournament hosted by Byron Center High School Saturday. (Photo by Valerie

Slaughter)

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