MUSKEGON — Whitehall’s ownership of the GMAA wrestling meet is almost perfunctory at this point, but the Vikings still had reason to celebrate taking home the trophy for the 17th time in the past 18 seasons Saturday at Muskegon High School.
“We love new toys,” Whitehall senior Darnell Mack said of the trophy after the tournament.
It was a marathon day, lasting until past 7 p.m., but Whitehall kept its focus throughout, putting all 14 of its wrestlers into the semifinals, with seven of them earning championships.
“I’m proud of every single guy that wrestled today,” Whitehall coach Justin Zeerip said. “I thought they showed a lot of heart. This is always a big thing every single year. I was glad we came in here and wrestled well.
“It was definitely a long day. I just tried to have them relax, sit down, hang out, not think about wrestling all the time, just wait until their match is up.”
Two Vikings delivered especially big highlights during the tournament. Mack reached a personal milestone by achieving his 100th career victory in the 150-pound semifinals, pinning Orchard View’s Xavier Randall. Mack, in fact, pinned all three of his opponents, defeating Fruitport’s Cooper Lengkeek in the finals.
Another highlight came from Jason Smith, the Vikings’ first-year wrestler at heavyweight. Smith is so inexperienced a wrestler that he didn’t know how the ultimate tiebreaker worked, which created a coaching opportunity for Zeerip when Smith’s finals match against Orchard View’s Jamario Dash reached that point. Luckily for Smith - and Zeerip - Smith scored first in the match, giving him the choice of where to start the ultimate tiebreaker.
Smith had already proven to be adept at escaping Dash’s holds from the bottom position during the match, so Zeerip instructed his wrestler to start there, giving him 30 seconds to score to secure the win. Smith quickly got out of the hold again, earning the championship.
“It’s my first year wrestling, so coming in today, I definitely didn’t think I was going to go very far, but things came together,” Smith said.
“For him to win the tournament today at heavyweight is pretty incredible,” Zeerip said.
Joining Smith as an overtime champion was Nolan Taranko, who recorded a takedown in overtime to defeat Fruitport’s Kyle Holt for the 126-pound championship.
Gavin Craner also shone for Whitehall, pinning all three of his opponents to claim the 175-pound championship. Ryne Christensen recorded a pair of pins and won the title at 144. Ryan Goodrich and Cody Manzo added titles for Whitehall at 165 and 106 respectively. Max Krukowski (120), Caden Varela (132), Liam Leeke (138), Blake English (157) and Blake Morningstar (215) each took second place.
Leeke had one of the most impressive matches of the day, rallying from an 11-3 deficit in the semifinals to edge Muskegon’s Ke’Yaun Bradford 18-17. While he couldn’t complete a storybook ending with a finals win, the effort was notable.
Reeths-Puffer had a solid day in its own right, earning second place and putting four wrestlers atop the podium. Standing out was junior Ian Cook, who dominated the 132-pound bracket with two pins and a major decision. Cook picked up his third city title in three years, giving him a chance to join the ultra-exclusive club of four-time champions next season.
Jake Rozycki also stayed on track for that honor, picking up his second championship at 120 as a sophomore. Sage Secrest scored the title at 190, pinning all three of his opponents, and Nathan Reeves won the title at 157.
“I was very proud of how our guys competed on Saturday and it was great to see everyone from around the county,” R-P coach Jared Fleming said. “Lots of our guys have friends on different teams around the county and so we had fun throughout the day.”
Montague finished in fifth place in the competitive field. The highest Wildcat placement was third, earned by Jimmy Thommen (120), Chris Aebig (132), Fletcher Thommen (150) and Isaac French (190).
Coach Kris Maddox was impressed with his team’s toughness, noting Aebig and French both avenged their early defeats with victories over those opponents in the consolation bracket.
The tournament traditionally kick-starts the sprint to the wrestling season’s conclusion. Both Whitehall and Montague host dual tournaments this Saturday, followed by the West Michigan Conference tournament Feb. 2 and the districts the next week.
“It goes really fast,” Zeerip said. “At the end of this year, we’ve just talked about making sure that we’re getting a lot of sleep and being healthy and getting ready to make a postseason run.”
