WHITEHALL — Three Whitehall regional champions highlighted a good day of Division 3 regional wrestling Saturday at Whitehall, as nine local wrestlers in all qualified for the March 1-2 state finals at Ford Field.
Gavin Craner, Wyatt Jenkins and Liam Leeke each celebrated regional titles. Leeke, at 157 pounds, fought his way to the top of the podium with a major decision and a decision, and in the finals he edged Derek Rodenburg of Kent City in a hard-fought 8-6 victory, earning himself a preferred seed in the state bracket.
Craner and Jenkins, both ranked No. 1 in the state in their weight classes, both rolled through the brackets with three consecutive pins. Craner spent a cumulative 2:41 on the mat, and through two rounds of the postseason he's been on the mat for 5:04 as he pinned all his opponents. Jenkins capped his run of pins by taking only 28 seconds to finish off Kyhis Malone of Corunna in the finals match.
Four local grapplers finished third, each posting 3-1 records. Cody Manzo took third at 120 pounds, earning a technical fall and a major decision along the way.
Montague's three state qualifiers all finished third. The Wildcats' Isaac French had one of the day's most dramatic wins at 175, defeating Grand Rapids West Catholic's Collin Abram in a 16-13 overtime triumph in the blood round to get into the state meet; the win was all the more impressive since Abram entered the day as the regional's top seed. Maverick Osborne pinned three consecutive opponents after losing a first-round matchup at 285 to earn his spot, and Fletcher Thommen won three tough decisions to pick up third place at 150.
Montague's Isaac French (right) grapples with Belding's Linkin Glavan during Saturday's individual regional tournament at Whitehall. French took third and was one of three Wildcats to punch tickets to state.
"French really wrestled outstanding despite the first-round
loss Saturday," Montague coach Kris Maddox said. "Osborne made a mistake in his first-round loss but made
up for it by pinning the same kid to place third. Thommen dropped a semifinal match I’m sure he wished he could get back.
He was winning the match when he got caught and pinned.
"I’m really
proud of these three guys. They have been multi-sport athletes and
contributors to all the teams they represent at Montague. They are true
examples of selfless athletes that I would love to see other athletes at
Montague follow."
Also qualifying for Whitehall were Caden Varela at 138 and Billy Darke Jr. at 215, each placing fourth with 2-2 marks. Varela scored two bonus-point wins - a pin and a major decision - and Darke earned two decision wins.
Vikings Colton Kyser, Blake English and Max Krukowski each won one match but were unable to get the pivotal second needed to qualify for state.
Regional qualifiers ending their individual seasons included Isaac O'Boyle, Tommy Leeke and Jason Sheaffer from Whitehall and Kaiden Jeffery, Gavyn Maddox and Malachi Plunkett from Montague.
