A record breaking 2,443 wrestlers, ages 4 to 18, from all over the state of Michigan packed into the Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek on March 26, 27 and 28 for their chance at the 2010 MYWAY State Champion Title. Competitors from the eight different regions grappled on charts of up to 32 wrestlers until only the top eight remained.
MYWAY Regional placers/ state qualifiers, who were not pictured in the Regional results article.
The High School division, held Friday and Saturday, wrestled to completion until almost midnight both nights. Cedar Springs senior Jeremy Stellema took 7th in the 192lb weight class. Freshman Cody Oehme went 4-0 to win the State Championship Title on a 27-man chart in the 14-15 year, 126lb class.
The Youth division wrestled Saturday until only the top eight remained in each weight class. Those top eight then advanced to the finals, which were held on Sunday. Out of the 11 Cedar Springs youth wrestlers who qualified and went to State, six made it into the top eight. Trenton Wachter took 4th in the 59lb 5/6 year division. Aiden Bouwens also placed in the 5/6 year division with a 5th in the 62lb weight class. Cody Gott took 8th in the 113lb 7/8 year old division. Jordan Ringler finished up a strong season with a 3rd place finish in the 61lb 11/12 year old division.
To round up the results for this year, Cedar Springs had two youth wrestlers who took 2010 State Champion Titles. The first, Ryan Ringler, who competed in the 7/8 year 82lb weights class, was undefeated this entire year. He took 1st with a state tournament record of 4-0. The second was George Gonzales Jr. who suffered only one loss at the beginning of the year. He took 1st in the 9/10 year 101 lb weight class with a state tournament record of 4-0.
The Cedar Springs youth wrestlers were coached this year by Eric Frandsen, Paul Ringler and George Gonzales Sr. They dedicated a lot of time, sweat and tears to see the Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling Club be successful and it shows with three State Championship Titles coming home this year.
For results from the entire year and any other information you may want to find about the youth wrestling program, go to the web site www.cedarspringsyouthwrestling.com
