The Hastings Banner — Thursday, April 8, 2021 — Page 15Gibson takes advantage of state opportunity
Brett Bremer
Sports Editor
A single mistake can be enough to turn a
possible state champion into a state runner-up,
but Lakewood junior Zac Gibson powered
through.
Gibson captured his first state champion-
ship and third all-state medal by winning the
125-pound weight class at the Division 3
Individual State Finals at Wings Event Center
in Kalamazoo Friday. Gibson faced off against
long-time foe Caeleb Ishmael from Coloma in
the championship final. The two went into the
final period tied 0-0 before Gibson managed a
2-1 win.
Gibson chose the bottom position to begin
the third period, planning on getting at least
the one point he needed from an escape and to
go on to a state championship; but momentar-
ily it appeared he had the chance to go to his
back instead.
“We know that Caeleb has a good front
quarter series, and he almost caught him in it
the last couple minutes,” Lakewood head
coach Tony Harmer said. “Zac was con-
trolling the arm and the wrist and went to go
dump him. Caeleb flattened him out and then
got into that front quarter. Zac did something
that you’re not supposed to do, and Caeleb
threw in the front quarter and started running
the same direction as Zac. Typically that puts
you to your back.
“I yelled, ‘what are you doing!’ and then all
of a sudden Zac just powered through it with
pure strength, will and determination and he
got the reversal. He did something you weren’t
supposed to do and just powered through it
and got the reversal there in the end. Zac per-
formed the best that you could ask for at that
tournament given everything else that was
going on.”
Gibson was hit with his second stalling
penalty of the final with 25 seconds to go,
giving up a point a minute after his reversal,
but managed to ride out Ishamael for that final
half minute without being tagged with another
violation.
“It was a little hairy there for a minute. As
you can expect in a finals match nothing goes
exactly as it is planned. I got a little out of
position for a minute, and was a little nervous,
but I was working towards the legs and ended
up getting it,” Gibson said.
It was the second time Gibson had been
able to fight his way out of a bad spot last
week. He won a temporary restraining orderagainst the Barry-Eaton Health Department
Wednesday afternoon to avoid a Covid-
quarantine that would have kept him from
competing the state finals. Gibson had been
deemed in close contact with a fellow
Lakewood High School student who tested
positive for Covid-19, a revelation that came
after his regional championship victory, and
was supposed to enter a week-long quarantine
period. The temporary restraining order, com-
bined with a few negative Covid tests in the
lead-up to Friday’s wrestling, allowed him the
chance to compete.
“It was very stressful,” Zac said of the bat-
tle to be able to compete. “My parents and my
coaches they told me to keep my head on
wrestling. All they wanted was to give me a
chance and that they weren’t expecting me to
do anything. They didn’t want to put anything
on me that was out of my control. It was a
very stressful time, but I tried to keep my head
on wrestling and not what was going on out-side.”
So, he went outside. Practice with team-
mates wasn’t allowed during his lead-up to
the state finals. Gibson did a lot of running on
the roads around his house to keep his weight
down and stay in shape.
He was one of four Vikings to qualify for
the Division 3 Individual State Finals and one
of two to earn a state medal. Senior teammate
Keegan VanAlstine placed third in the 152-
pound weight class to earn his first all-state
medal, that after also placing third at districts
and regionals. Lakewood also had senior
160-pounder Kyle Petrie and junior
285-pounder Eastin Stank competing.
Gibson ends his junior season with a 33-
record. He got to the 125-pound final by scor-
ing a 6-1 win over Millington’s Hunter Norris
in the semifinals after opening the tournament
with pins of Hart’s Austin Martinez and
Dundee’s Logan Sander.
Harmer said one of the keys to Gibson’ssuccessful season was an increased emphasis
on early scoring, going for pins and racking
up points rather than carefully working
towards a 2-1 win that leaves the margin for
error even thinner than it would need to be.
Gibson went to his corner, after raising his
arm as the state champion, to embrace his
father Dave Gibson who is the Lakewood
program’s strength and conditioning coach.
Zac remembers a lot of hours in the car driv-
ing to find strong MYWAY competition.
“I just wanted to give a huge thanks to my
dad. He has always been there to support me,
and my coaches. It was a long run to get there
and it paid off,” Zac.
VanAlstine opened the tournament like
Gibson did, with back-to-back pins of
Millington’s Ian Crump and Farwell’s
Dominic Krabill.
In the end, VanAlstine defeated Armada’s
Kyle Coenen in the match for third place at
152 pounds to cap off his varsity wrestling
career better than expected. Coach Harmer
said VanAlstine wasn’t in the best place men-
tally when he came off the mat following a
6-3 loss to Sanford Meridian’s Nick Dodman
in the championship semifinals, but did a
great job of regrouping to win two two-point
matches to finish the day. He defeated
Essexville Garber’s Evan Becker 2-0 in the
consolation semifinals to earn the chance to
wrestle for third place.
Harmer said he knew that with such a quick
tournament there wasn’t time to dwell on a
single disappointment. He pointed out
VanAlstine’s next possible foe and a quick
speech was enough to have his senior refo-
cused.
“You can’t change the past, but you can
definitely decide your future on where you
want to be on that podium,” Harmer said he
told VanAlstine. “Mentally he did a great job
of just being ready and bouncing back where
a lot of kids have a hard time doing that.”
Petrie and Stank were both 0-2 at the tour-
nament. Harmer said he was happy Petrie got
to experience participating in the state finals,
and he thinks the experience will be good
motivation for Stank as he prepares for his
senior season.sports
fine,” Wawiernia said. “With his technique
right now he is hard to score on. He doesn’t
get out of position that much. He made a cou-
ple mistakes early in the year and we have
corrected those, he has corrected those, and
we have been working on that take down.
“Since his last loss, with [Lakewood 2021
state champion Zac] Gibson, he has been
more aggressive. In the room, running, we run
two miles every night. He has had better times
on that. He has been getting his air better. It
has just been going great. He has wanted this.
He wanted it and he worked hard for it. He’s
an awesome kid.”
Slaght was a state medalist at 103 pounds
as a freshman in 2019, but was bested in his
first two matches at the 2020 finals. He earned
his second state medal by scoring a 7-0 quar-
terfinal victory over Manchester’s Jacob
Bunn, but then was bested 7-2 by Clinton’s
Connor Busz in the semifinals.
Slaght rebounded for a 3-1 in in the first
sudden victory overtime period against
Lawton’s Dustin Mallory in the consolation
semifinals to earn a spot in the match for
third. Another Marry, Cole Marry from
Hudson, defeated Slaght 13-2 in that medal
round match for third place.Continued from previous page
Lakewood senior Kyle Petrie wrestles on top of Olivet Kyle Petrie during their
consolation match in the 160-pound weight class Friday at the Division 3 Individual
State Finals hosted by Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo. (Photo by Michael Graham)
Lakewood junior 125-pounder Zac Gibson fights to try and get behind Coloma’s
Caeleb Ishmael during their championship final match Friday at the Division 3
Individual State Finals in Kalamazoo. Gibson took a 2-1 victory to score his first state
championship. (Photo by Brett Bremer)
Lakewood junior Zac Gibson smiles with his state championship medal and the
bracket for the 125-pound weight class after winning the weight class Friday at the
Division 3 Individual State Finals hosted by Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo. It is
Gibson’s third all-state performance in three varsity seasons. (Photo by Brett Bremer)Lakewood senior Keegan VanAlstine holds Falwell’s Dominic Krabill on his back during their 152-pound quarterfinal match Friday
at the Division 3 Individual State Finals hosted by Wings Event Center in Kalamazoo. (Photo by Brett Bremer)REZONING, continued from page 1
More secretary of state
transactions now available online
Michiganders can now renew their stan-
dard and enhanced driver’s licenses and state
identification cards online and at self-service
stations after the Michigan Department of
State successfully completed a massive tech-
nology upgrade.
“We have launched a new, service-driven
era of operations that provides customers
many more ways to conveniently conduct
their business with us,” Secretary of State
Jocelyn Benson said in an April 7 press
release. “This is a major step forward as we
continue to improve our service for all
Michiganders.”
New online services include the opportuni-
ty to:
-Renew or replace an enhanced driver’s
license or state ID if no new photo is required.
-View the mailing status of the requested
driver’s license or state ID.
-Pre-apply for an original driver’s license.
-Request and obtain a driving record.
-Add a motorcycle endorsement to an eli-
gible driver’s license.
-Pay reinstatement fees and invoices.
-Apply to be a notary public.
-Access streamlined business services.
New transactions offered at self-service
stations include:
-Renewing a standard or enhanced driver’s
license or state ID if no new photo is required.
-Requesting a replacement and print out a
temporary license or ID.
-Adding a motorcycle endorsement to an
eligible driver’s license.
-Signing up on the state’s organ donor reg-istry.
Between March 16 – when the upgrade
was completed – and the end of the month,
thousands of residents who would have pre-
viously needed an office visit took advantage
of the new conveniences, Benson said. More
than 6,000 people renewed or replaced their
driver’s licenses or IDs at a self-service sta-
tion, and more than 5,300 enhanced driver’s
license or ID transactions were completed
online.
The department has 146 self-service sta-
tions, and more planned, in various branch
offices and other locations statewide, includ-
ing select Meijer and Kroger grocery stores.
Transactions on the machines are currently
offered in English, Spanish, Arabic and
Vietnamese. All accept credit cards, and
some accept cash.
The upgraded technology now supporting
the department securely combines tens of
millions of driver and vehicle records into
one integrated customer record system and
ends the department’s reliance on a legacy
system from the 1960s. The new system was
launched with support from the Department
of Technology, Management and Budget and
FAST Enterprises.
In addition to the new services online and
at self-service stations, the department has
also instituted the following improvements:-An electronic lien and title program, mak-
ing lien and title information available online
for lienholders in lieu of a paper certificate of
title if their financial institution participatesin the program.The graduated driver licensing process has
been simplified to reduce customer visits to
branch offices. Student drivers are now issued
a photo license hard card for a GDL Level 1
license, instead of a paper license. They don’t
need to return to the branch office for their
Level 2 or Level 3 licenses, and their opera-
tor’s license will be mailed to them upon
turning 18.
-The three Grand Rapids-area offices will
be consolidated into two offices, so that staff
can serve at locations with higher levels of
customer traffic. The Division Avenue office,
which saw the fewest customers of the three
offices, will not reopen. Seven self-service
stations have been placed in the area, with
two more planned.
-Four Upper Peninsula branch offices
within the Central time zone (Bessemer, Iron
River, Iron Mountain and Menominee) have
shifted their hours to 8 a.m.-4 p.m., Central
time, to match the operating hours of the rest
of the department’s branch offices, which are
open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time.
-For transactions that do require a branch
office visit, the department offers appoint-
ments that can be booked up to six months in
advance. Next-day appointments are released
at 8 a.m. and noon Monday through Friday
that customers can book for the next week-
day.
Access to online services, self-service sta-
tion locations and appointments can be found
at Michigan.gov/SOS.Another resident, Brian Pappas, said, “I am
opposed. Nothing against Jon (Raymond), we
just don’t want it there. I farm and hunt and
that would really screw things up, too.
It should stay in the conservancy.”
Sara Syswerda, who lives on the other side
of the road from the property proposed for
development, also expressed opposition to
rezoning it as rural residential.
“A lot of that parcel is wetland,” she noted.
“I feel there are going to be some drainage
issues – and I know there are several rare and
protected species.” She expressed concern
about disrupting the habitat of spotted turtles
and massasauga rattlesnakes.
Written opposition from Steven and
Michelle Pappas was sent via email to urge
the planning commission to keep the property
undeveloped to foster wildlife.
During the public hearing, Conner told
these residents that undeveloped land is to the
north and west of the property.
“There’s lots of habitat for wild animals,”
she said.
But Planning Commissioner Joyce Snow
pointed out that “part of the Master Plan is to
keep the natural land we have. ...It seems
there are a lot of places you could build where
you don’t go into open land.”
Raymond, who said any wetlands would
not be touched, pointed out that the land he’s
planning to develop is not open. “It’s all
wooded. ...No farm ground is being taken.”
Planning Commissioner John LaForge said
the action to rezone this property is more of a
map correction to a county-initiated zoning
classification than an actual rezoning; the
conservation reserve designation would
require 20-acre parcels while the rural resi-
dential has a 1-acre minimum with 150-feet of
road frontage.
Raymond said he intends to build a private
road to serve the seven parcels along the north
side of West State Road.