Page 18 — Thursday, April 1, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
Lion duo looks for more state medals at D4 Finals
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
Maple Valley senior Jesse Brumm and
junior Matthew Slaght will enter the Division
4 Individual State Finals Saturday at Van
Andel Arena in Grand Rapids with more wins
than anyone else in their respective weight
classes this season.
Brumm improved his record to 29-2 this
winter by winning his way through his 130-
pound bracket at the Division 4 Individual
Regional Tournament at Carson City-Crystal
(CC-C) High School Saturday (March 27) and
Slaght moved his undefeated mark to 33-
with his victory in the 112-pound weight
class.Both guys have qualified for the individual
state finals in each of their varsity seasons.
Brumm is a three-time state medalist and
Slaght captured a state medal as a freshman
for his top eight finish at the finals.
Brumm scored a 5-1 win over Hesperia’s
Mack Baird in the 130-pound championship
match Saturday at CC-C, after pinning Evart’sDarren Gostlin with 38 seconds left in the first
period of their semifinal match-up.
Slaght opened the day with two pins before
outscoring Ravenna’s Nick Schofield 14-4 in
the 112-pound championship match. He stuck
New Lothrop’s Daven Lockwood with a min-
ute left in their semifinal match, after scoring
a quick pin against Beaverton’s Seth Onweller
to start the day.
The Lion state qualifiers were joined at the
regional by teammates Dillon Jorgensen at160 pounds and Andrew Appelman at 119.
Jorgensen was 0-2 on the day and Appelman
1-2. Appelman took a 10-2 win against Garrett
Muma from Beaverton in the opening round,
but then fell 8-3 in his semifinal match-up
with Hesperia’s Aydan Sturtevant-Roesly.
Vassar’s Chase Nickerson bumped Appelman
from the state tournament with a 6-1 win over
the Lion junior in the blood round [consola-
tion semifinals].Lions slow undefeated Irish,
but fall in district semifinal
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
There was a hole there in the Hackett
Catholic Prep 2-3 zone. Megan Valiquette
found it, snagged a nice pass near the foul line
and knocked down a little jumper to get the
Maple Valley varsity girls’ basketball team
within 19-15 of the undefeated Fighting Irish.
The Lions were still within four minutes
later once Ashlyn Wilkes scored a rare transi-
tion bucket for the Lions. They had a chance
to get even closer after a couple great defen-
sive plays by Trista Medina first a steal, and
then an outstanding hustle play following a
Lion turnover where she chased down
Fighting Irish guard Katey Reasoner on a
breakaway to prevent a lay-up with block
from behind and a steal.
It was a spark, but not one that could heat
up the Lion offense enough to keep pace with
Hackett girls in the end. Hackett ended the
Lion season with a 41-24 victory in the
Division 3 District Semifinals at Galesburg-
Augusta High School Thursday, running its
record to 14-0 at the time.
The Irish will have to continue winning for
a bit to get to play as much basketball as the
Lions did this winter. The Lions close the
season with a 7-12 record. The Irish moved to
15-0 with a 45-26 win over Kalamazoo
Christian in Friday night’s district final back
in Galesburg.
“That group of girls played 17 [regular
season] games and other schools played 12 or
played 13 and their decision was, let’s play as
much as we can,” Maple Valley head coach
Landon Wilkes said of the abbreviated sea-
son. “We’re not guaranteed anything tomor-
row. Through this whole Covid experience, at
least these kids have learned that. You’re not
guaranteed tomorrow.”
The Lions had already earned one tomor-
row in the state tournament, winning their
Division 3 District opener against Comstock
55-21 Monday at Galesburg-Augusta High
School.
“17 games and then two district games,
almost having 20 games total, it was tiring but
we never gave up,” Lion senior Ashlyn Wilkes
said. “We didn’t want to, especially with
Covid we wanted to soak every last minute of
it up that we had.”
The Lions soaked every minute off the
clock that they could against the Fighting
Irish, having possessions that lasted 90 or 100
seconds here and there throughout the eve-
ning as they looked for holes in the 2-3 zone.
It kept them in the ballgame until shots gotharder to come by or just wouldn’t fall.
“If you give us another day or so we prob-
ably have a few more tools to attack that,”
coach Wilkes said of the Fighting Irish
defense. “They’re long. They’re lanky. They
play a strange 2-3 that I will break down over
the summer to kind of see what their keys are
and stuff like that, because there are some
attributes of that which I liked a lot. I thought
early on, defensively, I thought we played
well. [Hackett senior center Krystina Kasson]
is a tough ballplayer. It is really hard to tell
how athletic that she is until you get live with
her on the floor. On film, unless you see her in
person, on film you see it but you just don’t
understand it. I thought we did a nice job
defensively of just kind of pushing her around,
bumping her, finding where everything was at
and trying to make her life as miserable as we
could make it.”
In the end, the Lions didn’t have anyone
that could truly match-up with her height in
the paint, or her ability to run the floor and
help her team in transition. She made things
tough around the rim for the Lions when they
tried to attack the Irish zone with the dribble
too.
Kasson took advantage of her size a couple
times inside in the final minute of the thirdquarter to help the Irish extend a ten-point
lead to 14 (31-17) heading into the fourth
quarter.
Hackett got 15 points from Kasson and 11
from Catherine McMahon. Megan Bowden
and Bianca Cronen had six each for the Irish.
“Kasson is really big and tall,” Ashlyn said.
“We knew that. They ran an offense off of us
where she was the open look almost every
single time. We were surprised they had dou-
ble screens or even triple screens going on us,
which is hard to pick up on film watching for
one night.”
The Lions got a little life from a pair of
three-pointers by Ali McGlocklin in the first
two and a half minutes of the fourth quarter,
but those were the final field goals of the
night for Maple Valley.
McGlocklin finished with a team-high 12
points. Ashlyn Wilkes had nine points.
“I thought this probably was one of my
funnest coaching jobs so to say because they
all got along and they all find ways,” coach
Wilkes said. “Are there days that they hated
me? There are, but I thought for the most part
they did a good job of finding common
ground all the time.”Maple Valley varsity girls’ basketball coach talks things over with senior point guard Megan Valiquette as teammate Ali McGlocklin
(left) looks on from in front of their bench during the second half of their Division 3 District Semifinal loss to Hackett Catholic Prep
Wednesday at Galesburg-Augusta High School. (Photo by Brett Bremer)
Maple Valley senior guard Ashlyn
Wilkes fires a jumper over Hackett senior
center Krystina Kasson near the foul line
during the second half of their Division 3
District Semifinal at Galesburg-Augusta
Wednesday (March 24). (Photo by Brett
Bremer)Maple Valley senior point guard Megan
Valiquette fires a pass towards the wing
during the second half of her team’s loss
to Hackett Catholic Prep in the Division 3
District Semifinals at Galesburg-Augusta
High School Wednesday (March 24).
(Photo by Brett Bremer)Lowell tops TK on path
to another state final
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
The Thornapple Kellogg varsity wrestlers
had their team season brought to an end
Wednesday (March 24) by the seven-time
[now eight] defending state champions from
Lowell in the Division 2 Regional Finals at
Lowell High School.
TK knocked off Byron Center 36-31 in the
regional semifinals, but then fell 50-22 to the
Red Arrows.
Carter West and Ashton Corson had pins
for the Trojans in the dual with the Bulldogs
to open the evening. Dylan Bailey and Jackson
Curtis scored major decisions and Zach
Gibson and Andrew Middleton earned techni-
cal falls in their bouts. Kyron Zoet picked up
a forfeit win for TK at 135 pounds.
TK built a 36-4 lead in the dual that started
at 285 pounds, and it was Middleton’s 16-
win over Jaxon Zylstra in the 145-pound bout
that clinched the win for TK.
West, Austin Chivis and Corson had pins
for the Trojans in the loss to Lowell in the
regional final, and Middleton scored a 12-
major decision against Lowell’s Josh Meier at
145 pounds.
In one of the best matches of the evening,Lowell’s Ramsy Mutschler edged Gibson 6-
in the 125-pound bout. Both were state quali-
fiers at 112 pounds a year ago, with Gibson
winning the seventh place medal at the flight
at Ford Field to conclude 2020.
It was Gibson who had the early lead, get-
ting a take down midway through the opening
period. He still held a 4-3 advantage after he
scored a reversal half a minute into the second
period, but Mutschler managed a quick escape
then got in for a take down with 12 seconds to
go in the period to take the lead. Mutschler
rode Gibson for the entire third period to fin-
ish off the win.
Lowell went on to win its way through the
Division 2 Team State Quarterfinals and
Semifinals Tuesday (March 30) at Wings
Event Center in Kalamazoo and clinch its
eighth consecutive Division 2 Team State
Championship with a 59 7 win over Goodrich
in the championship match.
Thornapple Kellogg still has five wrestlers
with action ahead at Friday’s Division 2
Individual State Finals at Van Andel Arena in
Grand Rapids. The group includes Gibson at
125 pounds, Zoet at 130, Middleton at 140,
West at 285 and Corson at 119.