Reading Rocks at Cedar Trails

Reading Rocks at Cedar Trails

Beach Literacy Night was held on March 10 at the Middle School.

March is Reading Month and the PTO provided a special assembly called Reading Rocks. The kids had so much fun singing and dancing and being challenged to read more and more.

What a wonderful group of parent volunteers. The PTO from Cedar Trails has purchased an additional chromebook cart containing 36 mobile chromebooks, mice and headphones. Our students love them. Thank you for caring so much about their education.  Cedar Trails PTO is the best!!!

Board of Education member, Shannon Vanderhyde, was a guest reader at Red Hawk during March is Reading Month.

Assistant Superintendent, Jo Spry, was a guest reader during March is Reading Month.

Board of Education member, Michelle Bayink, reads to students at Red Hawk during March is Reading Month.

Ms. Amy Constant, Cedar View Teacher

The students of Mrs. Constant’s 4th grade class celebrating Earth Day by cleaning up the grounds of Cedar View, Beach, Trails, Red Hawk, District Office, and Morley Park!  After studying about natural resources, plant and animal life, and environmental impacts, the students chose to perform this service-learning project to make a difference in their community!   They collected 3 bags of trash!  What a great way to demonstrate your school and community pride.

Over 600 youth wrestlers competed at the 2015 MYWAY Western Regional held at Lowell High School on March 13 and 14, 2015. Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling Club sent 33 wrestlers to compete for the top four spots in each age group and weight class in hopes of advancing to the MYWAY State finals which will be held this weekend. Of those who competed, 17 of them placed in the top 6 and 13 qualified for state finals.

Head coach George Gonzales Sr. was pleased with the results of the regional tournament. “The kids have been working very hard this year. They all competed to the best of their ability. All of our wrestlers are winners in one way or another,” said Gonzales. “Some of them took championship, some of them qualified for state, some of them won their first match ever, some of them battled and still lost. It is easier to get back on the mat after you won a match. It takes a lot more courage to step back on the mat after losing. We had wrestlers who lost more than they won, but still got back on the mat. Some of those are the wrestlers with the most heart. Even the ones who never set foot on a mat for competition have gained a lot this year. They have learned about integrity, hard work, dedication, commitment and perseverance; all which are true Red Hawk values, and values they can take with them into adulthood. I am very proud of all of these boys and girls this year.”

2015 Western regional champions were Veronica Tapia at 40lb in the 5/6 age group, Tyler Parmeter at 58lb in the 5/6 age group, Gage Gardner at 155lb and the 13/14 age group, and Ryan Ringler at 170lb in the 13/14 age group.

Runners-up were Pistachio Gonzales at 58lb in the 7/8 age group , Trevor Marsman at 70lb in the 11/12 age group, Wayne White at 143 pounds in the 00/99 High School Division, and George Gonzales Jr at 174lb in the 00/99 High School Division.

Third place finishers were Keaton Klaasen at 52lb in the 7/8 age group, Kayden Scott at 133lb in the 11/12 age group, Fredrick White at 80lb in the 13/14 age group, and Michael Smith at 163lb in the 96/98 High School Division.

Fourth place finisher was Austin Emmorey at 100lb in the 13/14  age group.

Fifth place finisher was Aaron Smith at 130lb in the 13/14 age group.

Sixth  place finishers were Jonathan Libera at 52lb in the 5/6 age group, Juan Angel Acosta at 97lb in the 7/8 age group and Tacho Gonzales at 71lb in the 9/10 age group.

Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling Club will also be sending 9 female wrestlers to compete in the 2015 MYWAY Girls State Championship. Representing Cedar Springs in the Girls Division are Veronica Tapia, Analize Tapia, Cora Gonzales, Zoe Gonzales, Reese Gonzales, Allexis Gonzales, Madisyn Birtley, Rosie Castro, and Brooklyn Wright. Cedar Springs is a co-ed wrestling club, but they have the most registered female wrestlers in all of West Michigan. As the interest in wrestling for girls has grown, it has become apparent that head coach George Gonzales Sr. has something special to offer for girls wrestling, as many girls choose to attend his wrestling club.

Cedar Springs Red Hawk wrestlers will be competing at the Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek on Friday, Saturday and Sunday March 27, 28 and 29 for their chance at the state championship title. If you would like to come check out any of your favorite Red Hawk wrestlers, please look up the state finals schedule on Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling Facebook page or at mywaywrestling.com. Thank you for supporting your wrestlers from the Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling Club.

On Sunday, March 2, Grand Valley State University hosted one of the last two regular season tournaments at the campus field house. Competition was fierce, as over 600 wrestlers from all over the state of Michigan attended. Seven Red Hawk youth wrestlers brought home medals.

First place finishers were Caleigh Wood at 37lb in the 5/6 age group, Tommy Stevens at 6lb in the 7/8 age group and Allexis Gonzales at 122 pounds in the 13/15 age group.

Second place finishers were Pistachio Gonzales at 55lb in the 5/6 age group and Wyatt Cooper at 82 lbs in the 7/8 age group.

Third place finishers were Carter Falan at 80 lb in the 9/10 age group and Gage Gardner at 145 lb in the 13-15 age group.

On March 9, 10 wrestlers won medals at the last regular season tournament hosted by Cedar’s backyard rivals, Rockford.

First place winners were Veronica Tapia at 37lb in the 5/6 age group, Pistachio Gonzales at 58lb in the 5/6 age group, Tommy Stevens at 58lb in the 7/8 age group and Landon Demorest at 51lb in the 9/10 age group.

Chase Sarniak took second at 46lb in the 5/6 age group.

Third place finishers were Caleigh Wood at 37lb in the 5/6 age, Wyatt Cooper at 82lb in the 7/8 age group, Lane Wiggins-Russo at 112 in the 7/8 age group, Aiden Bowens at 95lb in the 9/10 age group, and Sergei Byxbe in the 110 pound 9/10 age group.

These youth wrestlers spent the last three months conditioning and competing at developmental tournaments in preparation for MYWAY regionals and state finals. Regionals were held March 15-16  at Kenowa Hills. MYWAY state finals will be held at the Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek,  Michigan on March 28- March 30. Be sure to check next week’s Post to see which of your favorite Red Hawk wrestlers placed at Regionals and will be going to State Finals. Anyone wishing to attend state finals may get information online at www.cedarspringsyouthwrestling.com or www.mywaywrestling.com

The Cedar Springs High School Equestrian team travelled to Midland County Fairgrounds this past weekend to compete in the MIHA Regional Meet after winning the District Championship for District V two weekends before. The meet stretched over three days and drew teams from all over the state.

Going into Sunday’s competition, the team was 18 points behind the 2^nd place team.  Although they put forth an impressive effort, it wasn’t quite enough to overtake that team and Cedar Springs took home a respectable 3^rd place. Only the first and second place teams continue on to the State competition in two weeks.

Every rider placed in several events and had impressive scores. Junior Bayley Wolfe led the team in points, with seniors Jessica Kriekaard, Alexis Stevens and Freshman Ashlee Warlick not far behind.

“We are extremely proud of how hard these girls have worked to come this far in this season,” said Assistant Coach Danni Naffziger. “Each one gave their best performances at this meet and we fell just short of heading to State. Our seniors have been a great group of ladies that have shown superior sportsmanship and leadership. We are sad to see them graduate and wish them luck in the future.” Graduating this year are Brianna Kolasa, Keri Krankall, Jessica Kriekaard, Kylie Piatt, and Alexis Stevens.

The team would like to thank the parents and coaches Emily Ream, Danni Naffziger and Lisa Taylor for their support this season.

Kaden Myers in the long jump

The Red Hawk boys track and field team competed last Tuesday and Saturday. On Tuesday, April 17, they hosted Coopersville. The Hawks improved to 3-0 in the OK Blue and 7-0 overall by beating the Broncos 83.33-53.66. Wins were posted in the long jump (Aaron Dault), high jump (Nate Jones), the 3200m relay (Austin Sargent, Aaron Brooks, Alex Bray, and Connor Mora), the 800m relay team (Casey VanEss, Brandon Sipka, Ilan Cabarello, and Mathias Mair), the 400m relay team (Casey VanEss, Sean Thompson, Ilan Cabarello, and Derek Ash), 110m and 300m hurdles (Dault), and 1600m, 3200m and 800m runs (Mora).

Connor Mora in the 3200m relay

“Going into the meet, we realized that we had to have a really good day to come out of here victorious,” said Coach Jeff Myers. “It was an extremely close meet until the 800m relay. After we won that and the 400m relay, we just had to finish our events without disqualifications.”

On Saturday, April 21, the Hawks ventured north for the first time to the Warrior Invitational at Chippewa Hills High School. Thirteen boys teams competed in two divisions. After a busy and competitive day, the Hawks came out winning their division by posting 158.38 points over second place Alma, who scored 136. Other schools that competed in the Hawk’s division were Traverse City West, Big Rapids, Chesaning, Chippewa Hills and Gaylord.

Sean Thompson and Ilan Cabarello in the 400m relay

Along the way, junior Connor Mora set a new school record while winning the 1600m run. Previously set in 2006 by Landon Peacock (state champion in ’06 and University of Wisconsin), Mora’s new time is 4:16.43. Other medal winners on the day were; Brandon Sipka in the 400m dash (7th); Mora in the 800m run (1st); Aaron Brooks and Austin Sargent in the 1600m run (4th and 5th); Brooks was 3rd in the 3200m run; Aaron Dault and MavRick Cotton in the 110m high hurdles (3rd and 7th); Dault in the 300m hurdles (4th); the 400m relay of Casey VanEss, Sean Thompson, Ilan Cabarello, and Derek Ash were 6th; the 3200m relay team of Brooks, Bray, Sargent, and Mora were second; the 1600m relay team of Bray, Sargent, Mathias Mair and Kaden Myers were sixth; Derek and Rylan Ash were second and fourth in the discus and fifth and seventh in the shot put; Nate Jones was fourth in the high jump; and Dault was fourth in the long jump.

“Overall, we had a good day. All we ask of the kids is to work hard during practice to show improvement when we compete. We had almost everyone improve in their individual events, while three relay teams improved their times. Because of the number of teams and competitors in the events, it was very difficult to keep track of the score during the meet. This was a good meet for us in regards to seeing new opponents and evaluating what our strengths and weaknesses are,” stated Coach Myers.

The track and field team competed on Tuesday this week when they traveled to Forest Hills Northern in an OK Blue league meet. See next week’s Post for results.

The Red Hawk Way

I am Responsible,
I am Enthusiastic,
And Dedicated.
I am a Hard Worker.
I am an Achiever.
I am a Winner.
I am Kind.

I am a Red Hawk!!!

How the Red Hawk Kids Club works:

Elementary teachers/buildings will select students that best represent and demonstrate the qualities listed in the Red Hawk Creed – all of which tie to the Habits of Mind.
All students who are selected and their parents are invited to attend a varsity athletic event and are recognized at halftime for their outstanding character.

High School student athletes are involved at the elementary level

by working weekly in elementary classrooms: reading, tutoring and mentoring students.

Cameron Klompstra passing baton to teammate in relay.

Mother Nature continued to play havoc with the Cedar Springs boy’s varsity track team as another meet was postponed and forced them to have a double dual meet against Belding and Comstock Park at Red Hawk Stadium last Thursday, April 30. The team showed resiliency by defeating Comstock Park 118-19 and Belding 124-13 on a very cold, misty, and windy night to improve their record to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in conference. The Red Hawks took all the possible points in 13 of the 17 events against Belding and 10 of 17 against Comstock Park by winning all the events except the shot put against Comstock.
Individual field event winners were Dan Sagorski(discus), Nate Jones(high jump), Derek Ash (shot put), Hank Porter (long jump), and AJ Olszewski (pole vault). The sprint winners were James Putnam (100), Alex Hemry (200), Ron Fisk (400), and Justin Balczak (110H and 300H). Connor Mora led the distance crew by winning the 800m, 1600m, and the 3200m runs.  The 400m relay (Putnam, Hemry, Olszewski, and Ryan Austin), 800m relay(Hemry, Fisk, Balczak, Austin), 1600m relay(Hemry, Fisk, Balczak, Aaron Leal), and the 3200m relay(Mora, Fisk, Alex Bray, and Aaron Brooks)  were all undefeated on the evening.
“We had to go into the evening with the mind-set that we must do what it takes to get better,” said Coach Myers. “As everyone knows, the weather has limited our opportunities to train to our potential and to work on things during competition. We are running out of time to prepare for the most important meets of the year. We have to go full throttle in every event to maximize our potential,” he explained. “Our training this upcoming week must come from the meets that we participate in. Practice is now for fine-tuning and muscle memory training. It is time to test our mental toughness.”

Justin Balczak jumping hurdles. Photo by M. Balczak.

The team enters this week with the biggest meets of the year, but in this season it must prefaced with the caveat “weather permitting.” Tuesday the 3rd we are home against a tough West Catholic team, while Thursday the 5th we travel to Sparta to take on the Spartans and Coopersville.  The week concludes Saturday the 7th as we host the Red Hawk Invitational at Red Hawk Stadium.  Field events begin at 9:00 am, while the running gets underway at 11:00 am.
“This will be a tough meet for us to compete at,” said Coach Myers.W”e have invited three Division I schools.  After a big week against West Catholic and our biggest rival, Sparta, we cannot relax on Saturday.”

Red Hawk bowlers finished out their season with two nice wins. They defeated Forest Hills Northern and West Catholic to finish 5 and 5. Cody Harper led the team with a 181 average, followed by Josh Austin with a 173, Quintin Heath with a 170, Tyler Raurk 167, Jessie Wolven 163, and Dylan Carr 156.

The Red Hawk ladies were led by Tyler Chiles129, and Brittany Ball 108, Ping Wang 106, Sammi Wood 98 and Kourtney Niewiadomski 97. Cody Harper and Tyler Chiles were also named Honorable mention in the OK Blue Conference.

Good job to the Cedar Springs bowling team!

Andrew signs his letter of intent at Celebration Cinema with 39 other West Michigan college bound athletes. From Left: Rebecca Klompstra, Andrew Klompstra, and Chuck Klompstra.

Cedar Springs senior Andrew Klompstra has signed his letter of intent to play football at Grand Valley State University. He is the third Cedar Springs football player to receive a scholarship to play college football in the past 4 years and the first at GVSU.  Andrew was selected All-Conference and All-area this past football season as well as Academic All-State HM.
Coach Brian Busen says that he will miss Andrew, and his leadership and work ethic that he grew into over his high school career.
“I am very proud of Andrew. He has worked hard and is very deserving of this great opportunity. I look forward to see the growth and improvement in college for Andrew.  Andrew is not only a great football player but he is also a great student and I think GVSU is a perfect fit for Andrew both academically and athletically,” said Busen.

CS senior Andrew Klompstra and Coach Busen.

“I wish Andrew and GVSU great success, with the exception of the Ferris State game!”

Cedar Bowlers are on a hot streak!  They started on the 10th of Jan, with a match at Eastbrook Lanes against Forest Hills Northern. The Hawks started out the match with a sweep of both baker games throwing 182 and 199 against games of 132 and 116, this put the boys up 10 to 0 and they never looked back! Freshman Josh Austin led the way with games of 237 and 231, followed by junior Cody Harper with 238 and 180, and freshman Quintin Heath with games of 210 and 173. Junior Jesse Wolven with a 168 and 167 and sophomore Tyler Ruark with a 164. The Hawks took 17 of the last 20 points winning 27-3.
On Monday, January 17, the Red Hawks hosted undefeated Sparta at home. The Red Hawks again took both baker games for a 10-0 lead and once again never looked back!  Cedar was led by junior Cody Harper with games of 218 and 193.  Jessi Wolven put together games of 190 and 181, with Josh Austin bowling a 194, Quintin Heath 193, Tyler Ruark with 189 and Dylan Carr with a 193. The Red Hawks took the match 26-4.
The Red Hawk boys are coached by Bill Heath and Brandon Engstrom.
“This team is young but they have heart!” said Coach Heath. “They just seem to find a way to get it done. These boys work together well and are going to be very good bowlers in years to come.”
Go Hawks!