Whitehall had its usual banner day Saturday at the Division 3
individual wrestling districts in Fremont, qualifying 12 of its 14
wrestlers to the regionals and bringing home four district titles.
Top
seeds Gavin Craner, Wyatt Jenkins and Liam Leeke unsurprisingly rolled
to the top of the podium at 190, 215 and 157 pounds respectively, and
none were tested in their brackets. Craner bumped his season record to
50-0 by pinning all three of his opponents (spending only 2:23 of
cumulative time on the mat to do so), Jenkins moved his to 46-2 with a
pair of pins and a win by injury default in the finals, and Leeke scored
two pins and a technical fall on the way to his win.
Caden
Varela was seeded second at 138, but he too emerged with a title, with
four victories. He had a pin and a major decision and won two decisions.
Max Krukowski was runner-up at 132 for Whitehall and went 2-1 on the day, scoring a technical fall.
At
106, Isaac O'Boyle placed third, defeating teammate Tommy Leeke in a
close third-place match, 4-1. He went 3-1 on the day; Leeke went 2-2.
Also
taking third were Cody Manzo (120), Colton Kyser (150) and Blake
English (157). Manzo was dominant in his four wins, earning three pins
and a technical fall. English had pins in all three of his victories,
and Kyser had a pin and two major decisions.
Billy Darke Jr.
fought his way to regionals with a fourth-place finish at 215. He edged
James Wemple Jr. of Fremont, 4-2, in the blood round. Jason Sheaffer, at
126, also finished fourth and advanced to regionals.
Montague
also had a strong day, sending six wrestlers to regionals, including
five who will be back in 2025-26. Maverick Osborne delivered the
highlight, winning the district title at 285 by pinning both his
opponents.
Fletcher Thommen (150) and Isaac French (175) each
made the finals and finished second; Thommen had a pin and a technical
fall and French had two pins.
Gavyn Maddox (144) and Malachi
Plunkett (190) each won three matches and placed third to reach
regionals, and Kaiden Jeffery (138) placed fourth.
"I think we wrestled well," Montague coach Kris Maddox said. "We had a few kids drop blood round
matches that I feel like we could and should have won but we are
still grateful to have an opportunity."
