Page 16 — Thursday, April 8, 2021 — The Hastings Banner
TK puts four on D2 medal stand
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
A week spent focusing on mental prepared-
ness for the highs and heartbreak of a one-day
state championship tournament paid off for
the Trojans Friday.
The Thornapple Kellogg varsity wrestling
team sent five grapplers to the Division 2
Individual State Finals and four earned all-
state medals for their top eight finishes,
including junior Ashton Corson who placed
third at 119 pounds and senior heavyweight
Carter West who was fourth in his first
appearance at the state finals.
TK also had 130-pound sophomore Kyron
Zoet and sophomore 125-pounder Zach
Gibson place seventh.
It is the second all-state performance in two
years for Corson and Gibson. Both were sev-
enth at their weight class at the 2020 finals.
Corson took the long way to his third-place
finish, falling in his first match of the day and
then bouncing back to win four in a row. He
did get a bit of a reprieve thanks to a bye in
the first round of consolation due to another
wrestler being unable to compete. He defeat-
ed Lowell‘s Ramsy Mutschler in the 119-
pound consolation final, a wrestler who
defeated him in the district round of the state
tournament this year and every other time
they’ve ever met on the varsity or club level.
In a typical season, five matches would be
the limit in a single day for a Michigan high
school wrestler. This regular season grapplers
were limited to three matches at the most in a
single day. Corson said the long day was
tough, but he made it tougher on himself by
not wrestling at his peak in that opening round
match.
Each of the Trojan medalists wrestled five
times. West, like Corson, was in line for six
matches but a bye in the second round of con-
solation [the blood round] kept him from that
and also guaranteed him a state medal.
Hastings sent sophomore Robby Slaughter
at 152 pounds. A bye in the opening round of
consolation helped Slaughter to a spot in the
blood round, but he was a bit overmatched by
talented foes in his first trip to the Individual
State Finals. He had to face St. Joseph’s Jacob
Halsey in the opening round and fell 15-0.
Helsey went on to finish as the state run-
ner-up. Slaughter got a bye in the opening
round of consolation, but then fell 12-6 to
Northview’s Jailen Tatum in the blood round.
Tatum placed third at their weight class.
Thornapple Kellogg head coach Dayne
Fletke was pleased with how all of his guys
wrestled, including sophomore 140-pounder
Andrew Middleton who was the lone TK state
qualifier to come up short of a medal.
“Definitely, the back half of the year he
turned it on,” Fletke said of Corson. “In the
middle of the season he struggled with some
losses, some close loses. The back half of the
year he set a goal for himself and went after
it.”
“He started working harder in practice, had
that fire, and didn’t like where maybe he was
going. He said, I’ve got to make a change,’
and he took it upon himself to find a little bit
bigger partner in the room. We switched to a
little bit bigger [practice] partner and it
seemed to help him.”
Corson’s tournament run began with a 10-
loss to Mason’s Tayden Miller, who went on
to finish second to Spring Lake’s Jack Parker
at 119 pounds.
“We talk about being aggressive and mak-
ing sure your mind is in the right spot, and if
he wrestles his match he is a hard kid to beat,”
Fletke said. “He has all the skills, it is just
believing in himself to pull the trigger and go
out there and wrestle free.”
Corson had a 6-0 lead in his blood round
match when his foe, Eli Beasley from
Fremont, had to bow out with an injury in the
second period. From there, it was wrestling to
finisher higher on the medal stand than in
2020 for Corson.
“Last year I wasn’t satisfied,” Corson said.
“I was happy I placed, but I wasn’t satisfied
with seventh. I wanted to train all summer and
work really hard and I wanted to place top
three this year. That was my goal.”
“I just focused on getting to my stuff quick-
er,” he added, “getting to legs and scoring and
not basing my match off what the other kid
does and just working on my stuff.”
Corson scored a quick pin of Bay City John
Glenn’s Lane Huizar in the third round of
consolation and then defeated Melvindale’s
Musa Yahi 7-2 in the consolation semifinals
to earn the shot at Mutschler in the match forthird. He led the match with Mutschler
throughout after scoring a first period take
down. Corson managed to trip up Mutschler
in the second period for a 5-0 lead and went
on to a 5-1 win.
“I wasn’t as nervous as my first time wres-
tling [Mutschler at districts],” Corson said. “I
have never beat him before, and I just didn’t
really focus on winning or losing [this time],
I just focused on wrestling. It didn’t matter
what the outcome was.”
West was displeased with the outcome of
his final varsity wrestling match, but it was a
great day for the Trojans’ lone senior statequalifier. West pinned Lansing Eastern’s
Harun Mkumbakwa with 13 seconds left in
the third period of their opening round match,
but was then pinned late in the third period of
his quarterfinal contest with Romulus’ Jaylen
Culver. Culver finished as the state runner-up
at heavyweight, falling 8-2 to Lowell’s
Keegan Nugent in the 285-pound champion-
ship.
West got by the blood round thanks to a bye
and then pinned Flint Kearsley’s Dominik
DiGenova in the third round of consolation
and managed a 3-1 win over Pennfield’s
Dawson Ransom in the consolation semifi-
nals. Greenville’s Zach McMillan had a 4-
advantage on West late in the second period of
their third-place match when he put him on
his shoulders.
“He definitely worked with us on improv-
ing some of his technique,” Fletke said of
West’s improvements this season. “I think
physically he was there already, but we
worked on some of his positioning on his feet
and making sure he was in the right position.
He definitely gravitated towards that and
worked hard in the practice room to get
there.”
While West had never been to the finals
before, Zoet suffered the pain of being bested
in the blood round a year ago and had a goal
of earning his first state medal this season.
“Definitely, the back half of the year he
turned it on,” Fletke said of Zoet. “In the mid-
dle of the season he struggled with some
losses, some close loses. The back half of the
year he set a goal for himself and went after
it.
“He started working harder in practice, had
that fire, and didn’t like where maybe he was
going. He said, I’ve got to make a change,’
and he took it upon himself to find a little bit
bigger partner in the room. We switched to alittle bit bigger [practice] partner and it
seemed to help him.”
None of Zoet’s wins Saturday were bigger
than his first one. He trailed Lansing Waverly’s
James Wagner 16-6 late in the second period
after having been on his back a couple of
times, but Zoet managed a reversal and put
Wagner’s shoulders on the mat with 23 sec-
onds left in the period.
Lake Fenton’s Zack Hall bested Zoet 10-
in the quarterfinals. Zoet then took a 9-3 win
in his blood round match with Drake
Blackmun from Plainwell to clinch his state
medal. Lowell’s James Link took a 6-4 win
over Zoet in overtime in the third round of
consolation and Zoet finished his day with a
3-0 win over Trey Myers from Fremont in the
match for seventh.
Gibson’s path to a medal was the same as
Zoet’s. He scored an opening round pin of
Stevensville Lakeshore’s Kyle Stampfly, but
then fell 9-5 in the quarterfinal round against
Monroe Jefferson’s Dylan Garcia.
From there, Gibson earned a -1 win over
East Grand Rapids’ Eran Marx in the blood
round. Eaton Rapids’ Jay Shaull bested
Gibson 4-0 in the third round of consolation
and then Gibson bounced back to beat Landon
Miller from Lowell 6-0 in the match for sev-
enth.
Those Trojan middle weights still have
some time to grow, and all hope to be back at
the state finals with a few more teammates.
“Definitely having those guys around you
pushing you and supporting you in practice is
humongous,” Fletke said. “There is always
someone there in the room and they’re sur-
rounded by others that were unable to be here
today, but in the future will be that are knock-
ing at the door too. It helps when there are no
freebies in the room and everybody has to
compete every day.”16
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Hastings’ Robby Slaughter and Northview’s Jailen Tatum glance back at the whistle
as a near take down by Slaughter is ruled out of bounds during their consolation match
Friday during the Division 2 Individual State Finals at Van Vandel Arena in Grand
Rapids. Tatum took a 12-6 win to end Slaughter’s time in the tournament and went on
to a third-place finish. (Photo by Brett Bremer) Thornapple Kellogg 125-pounder Zach Gibson (front) works his way out of the grasp
of East Grand Rapids’ Eran Marx during their consolation match Friday at the Division
2 Individual State Finals hosted by Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. Gibson took a
7-1 win and went on to win the seventh-place medal at their weight class. (Photo by
Brett Bremer)Thornapple Kellogg’s Ashton Corson looks for an opening as he waits for
Melvindale’s Musa Yahia to come out of his shell below him during their 119-pound
consolation semifinal match Friday at the Division 2 Individual State Finals inside Van
Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Thornapple Kellogg senior 285-pounder Carter West (back) tries to take down
Greenville’s Zach McMillan during their medal round match for third place Friday at the
Division 2 Individual State Finals inside Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids. (Photo by
Brett Bremer)