By James Streeter

It was a full weekend of wrestling for the Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling program as traveled to Caledonia High School this past Saturday to compete in a state tournament qualifying team meet and a number of individual tournaments on Sunday. 

On Saturday the Red Hawks took first place in the team tournament and in doing so qualified for the team state tournament in March. A number of wrestlers traveled to various individual tournaments including Caledonia, Lakeview, and the MyWAY Central GREIGHTS.  Coach Streeter was impressed and stated that “Many of our wrestlers pulled double duty having wrestled on both Saturday and Sunday with some of them wrestling upwards of 10 matches total. All of our wrestlers showed a lot of resilience this weekend.”

The Red Hawks faced stiff competition at Caledonia High School on Saturday morning as they competed in a qualifying tournament for team state. Cedar started things out in pool A, where they defeated Lawton 45-29, Caledonia 60-21, and finally Barry County Grapplers 44-21. After winning their pool they moved into the first place match up with Thornapple Kellogg. To account for a mismatch later in the match, the Red Hawks had to bump every wrestler on the team up one full weight class. This coupled with some gritty wrestling was enough to earn Cedar the victory 36-28! Brycen Alber was given the award as the meet’s outstanding wrestler. His undefeated record for the day helped the Red Hawks start off on the right foot each match.

Two wrestlers made the trip back to Caledonia on Sunday for individual action. John Elam took first in the 2007-2008 age group 80lb bracket, while his brother Elijah earned a 4th place finish in the 2009-2010 age group 54/57lb bracket.

The Pike brothers, Deegan and Dawson, made the trip to the Central Region Greights tournament and faced stiff competition from across the state. Deegan came away with a 3rd place finish in the 2007-2008 80lb bracket and earned himself another piece of the Greights Medal Map.

The majority of the Red Hawks traveled north to Lakeview High School for some MyWAY North Region action. Getting things started for the Hawks was a 2nd place finish by Henry Galinis in the 2013-2015 age group 55lb bracket.

In the 2011-2012 age group, some familiar faces earned hardware as Brycen Alber took first in the 49lb bracket;  Sierra Streeter took 2nd in the 52lb bracket; and a pair of Red Hawks medaled in the 58lb bracket as Hudson Cassiday took 2nd and Karsen Roelofs took 3rd. Dillon VanDyke had an excellent weekend placing first in the 67lb bracket as his team mate, Carson Dunham, also managed a 3rd place finish in the bracket. Emily VanGessel rounded out the action with a 4th place finish in the 82lb bracket.

The 2009/2010 age group saw five Red Hawks medal with Eli Gunderson taking first and Nahaar Nicholls taking 3rd in the combined bracket of 54/57lbs. Bryson Streeter brought home a 2nd place medal in the 60lb bracket and Tucker Crystal wrestled his way to a first place finish in the 72lb bracket. Sophia Nicholls wrestled her way to a 3rd place finish in the 95lb weight class.

Beau Savage continued his winning ways in the 2007-2008 age group as he took 2nd place in the 133lb weight class.

This week the youth grapplers will travel to Ferris State for the Bulldog Brawl and Davenport University for the Meijer State Games! Hope to see you out there!

By James Streeter

This past Sunday saw more intense competition as the Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling  traveled to GVSU and Chippewa Hills High School. Both venues saw the Red Hawks having success as three out of four wrestlers medaled at Chippewa Hills and a total of 14 wrestlers earned medals at GVSU. Coach Fitzgerald was happy with the outcomes, stating that, “We have officially moved into the phase of the season where wrestlers from other regions are traveling more and more and so we are really seeing some different competition week to week.”

In the open 2013-2015 age group, Gunnar Alveson took 4^th place at 37 lbs; Scott Odren took third place at 40 lbs; and Ethan Trompen took second place at 58 lbs.

In the open 2011-2012 age group, fourth place finishers were Dawson Pike, 58 lbs; Dillon VanDyke, 67 lbs; and Jaxon Fitzgerald 82 lbs. Second place finishers included Sierra Streeter at 52 lbs; and Ben Streeter at 97 lbs. 

In the open 2009-2010 age group, fourth place finishers included Elijah Elam at 54 lbs; and Isaac Gitchel at 72 lbs. In third place was Jonathan Libera in the 100/110 lbs category.

In the open 2007-2008 age group, Deegan Pike finished third at 80 lbs.

In the 2009-2010 novice age group, finishing in fourth place at 54 lbs was Triton Spicer; and finishing in third place at 81 lbs was Timothy Smith.

In the 2007-2008 novice age group, finishing in second place was John Elam III at 80 lbs and Kale Faurot at 85 lbs; and in first place was Caleb Austin at 85 lbs.

This past Sunday the CSYW (Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling) Club sent 22 wrestlers to Lowell High School to participate in the first MYWAY tournament of the season. Snowfall and poor road conditions did not deter the Red Hawks as they picked up where they left off last season. They competed against 29 other teams from across the region. Nineteen Red Hawks medaled as the team finished 6th overall with 20 pins (33:43), tied for 1st with 2 technical falls (4:38), and 3rd overall in match points with 263. 

If this first outing is any indication as to what the rest of the season holds for the Red Hawks it should be a very competitive season.

Starting things off for the Hawks in the 2013-15 age group, open 55lb bracket, Ethan Trompen managed a 4th place finish.

The 2010-11 age group saw a number of medals earned. On the Open side of the group Brycen Alber (49lbs) took 1st, Dillon Vandyke (67lbs) earned a 2nd place finish, and Jaxon Fitzgerald (82lbs) rounded things out with a 2nd place finish. On the Novice side Deacon Reynolds (46/49lbs) came away with a 2nd place finish,  Hudson Cassiday (55lbs) earned 2nd place, and Tristan Wilkerson (58lbs) finished things up with a 4th place finish.

In the 2009-2010 age group the Red Hawks saw a number of strong finishes. On the open side Eli Gunderson (54lbs) earned 2nd place and Bryson Streeter (60lbs) came away with a 4th place finish. On the Novice side the combined bracket of 54/57lbs saw the top two spots go to CSY Wrestlers when NaHaar Nicholls took 1st and Elijah Elam took 2nd. Timothy Smith (81lbs) took home a 2nd and the combined weight class of 98/100lbs again saw two Red Hawks claim the top spots as Dayton Reynolds took 1st and Sophia Nicholls took 2nd.

The age group of 2007-2008 had three more wrestlers medal with Gavin Byxbe (112lbs) placing 3rd in the Open division. On the Novice side John Elam (70/75lbs) placed 3rd, and Calvin Kerridge (112lbs) placed 2nd.

Finishing the day off for the Red Hawks was Mason Richard (90lbs) with a 4th place finish and Benjamin Brunner (115/128lbs) taking home a first place finish in the High School division.

Next week the CSY Wrestlers will travel to Comstock Park in hopes of continuing their winning ways,

The CSYW club sent wrestlers to both Traverse City and Ionia and came away with a host of medals. With an overall record of 65-46 on the weekend, 20 medals were brought back to Cedar Springs. 

Some of the best wrestlers in the state converged at the Far North Region Greights tournament hosted by Traverse City Central and battled it out for supremacy in the north. Sierra Streeter had a 2^nd place finish in the Open 2012-2014 49lb weight class and Taylor Crystal had a 3^rd place finish in the 52lb weight class. In the Open 2010-2011 Tucker Crystal brought home a second place medal in the 64lb weight class. Blake Falan took 1^st place in the 2008-2009 Open 75lb bracket while on the Novice side Kale Faurot took 3^rd place. The 2006-2007 age group saw Hudson Crystal taking 3^rd place in the Open 100lb bracket. A pair of Red Hawks—Carter Falan and Logan Troupe—took 1^st and 2^nd in the 2004-2005 138lb weight class respectively.

In Ionia, twelve Red Hawks brought home medals as the CSYW team also placed 10^th at the tournament with 15 total pins on the day. In the 2012-2014 age division, Deacon Reynolds recorded a 2^nd place finish in the 46lb B bracket, while Jaxon Karafa took 4^th place in the 61lb bracket.  In the 2010-2011 age division, Dillon VanDyke took 2^nd place in the 61lb bracket and Chasyn Winchel had another strong showing with a 1^st place finish in the 72lb weight class. In the combined bracket of 77/82lbs, Benjamin Streeter took 2^nd place and Eli Gunderson took 1^st place on the Novice side of the 52lb weight class. Rounding out the 2010-2011 age group, Jaxon Fitzgerald had a strong day enroute to a 3^rd place finish in the 67lb bracket.

The 2008-2009 and 2006-2007 age divisions saw five more Red Hawks medal with Spencer Schoenborn turning in a 2^nd place finish in the 08-09 Open 69lb bracket, and on the Novice side Caleb Austin taking 4^th in a combined bracket of 74lb/75lbs. In the 06-07 age group, Kaiden Dreyer finished 2^nd in the Open 90lb bracket while Wyatt Cooper also took second in the Heavyweight bracket. Rory Schoenborn finished things up for the Hawks with a 1^st place finish in the combined Novice 85/90lb. bracket.

This week the CSYW team will head to the lakeshore to participate in the MyWAY West Region tournament hosted by West Ottawa.

Logan Galinis placed 4th in the 58/61 lb, 6 & under age group at GVSU. Photo by B. Chong.

By Barbra Chong

West Michigan Pursuit traveled to Grand Valley State University this past weekend. WMP entered 21 grapplers and placed 16 in the top four. We have two Champions who remain undefeated this season, Chayson Eberspeaker, 6 & under age group and Jayden Marcano-Cruz, 7/8 age group. Out of 68 battles, WMP claimed 44 victories. Individual results are as follows:

4th Place Medalists include 95 lb Gage Bowen, 9/10 age group; 58/61 lb Logan Galinis, 6 & under age group and 46 lb Jacob Howard, 6 & under age group.

3rd Place Medalists include 130 lb Isaac Casey, 9/10 age group; 55/59 lb Josh Vasquez, 9/10 age group and 90/95 lb Dylan Whidden, 13/14 age group.

2nd Place Medalists include 55/59 lb Michael Cannon, 9/10 age group and 64 lb Isaiah Sostenes, 7/8 age group.

Champions are 55 lb Quinten Cassiday, 7/8 age group; 58/61 lb Chayson Eberspeaker, 6 & under age group; 58/61 lb Luke Egan, 7/8 age group; 43/49 lb Jayden Marcano-Cruz, 7/8 age group; 72/77 lb Blake Peasley, 7/8 age group, 52 lb Aiden Vasquez, 6 & under age group; 52 lb Kellen Weckesser, 7/8 age group and 126/133 lb Maston Wood, 11/12 age group.

“Each week these kids continue to impress with their own determination to be the best they can be. They truly are the Pursuit of Champions,” said Head Coach Dave Andrus.

The youth wrestling season has officially begun! And your Cedar Springs Youth Red Hawks continue with a tradition in youth wrestling that has spanned well over twenty years in the Cedar Springs area. Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling club is a not for profit program that offers affordable, developmental wrestling for boys and girls ages 4-15. Coaches and board members volunteer their time for their love of the kids in the community, and of course for their love of wrestling as a sport. They spend their time developing youth wrestlers in hopes that they too will learn to love the sport and continue into high school competition. A fun fact, Cedar Springs also has the largest number of girl competitors of any club in the State of Michigan!

Junior Red Hawks competed well in both the Novice and Open divisions at the Mona Shores Tournament on Sunday, December 7, 2014. Six wrestlers earned medals in the Novice division. Those wrestlers were:

In the 4/6yrs age group was Veronica Tapia 1st at 40lbs. In the 7/8yrs age group were Cora Gonzales 1st at 52lbs, Wyatt Cooper 2nd at 102lbs. and Juan Angel Acosta 3rd at 102lbs. In the 11/12yrs age group was Kamden Klaasen 1st at  90lbs. In the 13/15yrs age group was Fred White 1st at 85lbs.

There were also nine medal winners in the Open division.  These wrestlers have had more than two years of experience in wrestling competitions. Those medals winners were:

In the 7/8yrs age group were Keaton Klaasen  2nd at 55lbs, Gavyn Byxbe 4th at 55lbs and Pistachio Gonzales at 61lbs. In the 9/10yrs age group was Landon Demorest 1st at 59lbs. In the 11/12yrs age group were Zoe Gonzales 3rd at 80lbs and Aiden Bouwens 1st at 119lbs. In the 13/15 age group were Reese Gonzales 2nd at 114lbs, Sam Couturier 1st at 122lbs and Allexis Gonzales 1st at 138lbs.

Registration for this wrestling season will continue until mid January for anyone who may be interested in participating in youth wrestling. You can get more information at cedarspringsyouthwrestling.com or Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling on Facebook. Get started with one of the best developmental youth wrestling programs in the state of Michigan for only $75 for the entire season!

Cedar Springs Youth Wrestlers and their medals.

It looks like the Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling program is off to a running start to another great wrestling season this year. Belding hosted one of the first tournaments of the 2014 season on January 5, at Belding high school. Eighteen out of 24 of our young Red Hawk wrestlers received medals. Of those 18 wrestlers, half of them were novice, meaning they are with in the first two years of competition.

In the Novice 09-07 division, medal winners were Veronica Tapia 3rd/37lb, Brandson Wood 2nd/43lb, Elijah Troost Jr. 4th/49lb, Gavyn Byxbe 4th/52lb, and Pistachio Gonzales 2nd/55lb.  In the novice 06-05 division, medal winners were Jeremiah Simons who took 2nd at 58lbs and Lane Wiggins-Russo who took 1st at 112lbs.  Rounding out the novice division was Zoe Gonzales who took 2nd at the 04-03, 67lb class.

In the 06-05 Open division, Keaton Klaasen took 2nd in the 06-05, 49lb class. In the 04-03 division medal winners were Trevor Marsman took 1st/63lb, Tacho Gonzales 3rd/67lb, Aiden Bouwens 2nd/95lb, and Sergie Byxbe 4th/110. In the 02-01 division were Logan Hull 4th/90lb, Reese Gonzales 2nd/95lb and  Samuel Couturier 2nd/112lb.  In the 00-99 division was Allexis Gonzales 3rd/130lb and Gage Gardner 1st/145lb.

Also hosted on January 5, at the Kellogg Arena in Battle Creek, was the Spartan Country “Superbowl of Wrestling” Tournament. Ryan Ringler, seventh grader at Cedar Springs Middle School, was crowned the 2014 Champion in the 02-01, 158lb division, after wrestling some of the toughest kids in the state of Michigan. Ryan had a stellar year last year at the bottom of his age group, also winning the 2013 Superbowl Champion. He is guaranteed to be the top wrestler in his age group and weight class this year. Ryan is only one of the many talented wrestlers coming out of the youth wrestling program.

On December 8, 2013, MYWAY Wrestling hosted the MYWAY National Dual team tryouts at Hartland High School in Hartland, Mich. Wrestlers from all over the state of Michigan attended the try-outs for the National traveling team. Five wrestlers and two coaches from Cedar Springs will be representing the youth program on three of those teams. Landon Demorest won the 50lb spot on the MYWAY U-10 Boys team.  Ryan Ringler won the 133lb spot on the MYWAY U-12 Boys team with his father, Paul Ringler as assistant coach. Cora, Reese and Allexis Gonzales will all be on the MYWAY Girls 14 and under team. Youth wrestling head coach, George Gonzales Sr., will be at the reigns of the Girls’ 2014 team. All three of the teams will be traveling to Ohio State University in February.

Wrestling can get very expensive, with costs of up to $1,000 of personal expenses per tournament, when travelling with national teams. Anyone who may be interested in sponsoring any of our talented youth wrestlers is encourage to make donations to Choice One Bank in Cedar Springs under the Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling Club or contact Coach George Gonzales Sr. at 616-299-2812 or treesbygeorge@charter.net. An investment with our youth today, will yield many rewards tomorrow. You can ask any wrestler.

This is the second biggest regular season tournament of the year in Michigan, next to the Super Bowl of Wrestling, which was held last month in Lansing. Cedar Springs continues to prove it is a power to be reckoned with, bringing home a total of 13 trophies, more than any other club in the MYWAY league. Out of those 13, seven were Champions!

Champions this year were Austin Averill, Cody Averill, Landon Demorest, Trevor Marsman, Ryan Ringler, Jordan Ringler, and George Gonzales Jr. The sole runner-up was Allexis Gonzales. Taking third place finishes were Chase Sarniak, Keaton Klaasen and Logan Hull. Rounding out the bunch in fourth place were Pistachio Gonzales and Sam Couturier. Even though wrestling season is slowly winding down, with regionals less than a month away, these Red Hawks are getting geared up to make this the best season yet.

The entire western region met up at MYWAY Wrestling Regionals held March 12 and 13 at Muskegon Orchardview High School as hundreds of youth wrestlers competed for their ticket to MYWAY State Finals.  The Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling program reserved 13 of those top spots; five of which were regional champions! Landon Demorest, who went undefeated this season, took first in the 5/6 year 37lb class.  Ryan Ringler took first in the 9/10 year 85lb class. Allexis Gonzales, the only girl to take western region champion, took first in the 9/10 year 90lb class. Jordan Ringler, who also went undefeated this season, took first  in the 11/12 year 70lb class.  Chuckie Scheidel took first in the 13-15 year 145lb class. The eight remaining spots were taken by kids who placed from fourth up to second.

Of the wrestlers who placed second to qualify for State, three of them were first year (Novice)  5/6 year old wrestlers Cody Averill, Tacho Gonzales and Ronnie Brown; Cody at 37lbs, Tacho at 49lbs and Ronnie at 58lbs. Trenton Snoeyink also had a second place finish in the 7/8 year 64lb class. Trevor Marsman, who is also a first year wrestler, took third in the 7/8 year 55lb class. Maston Wood finished third in th 5/6 year 58lb class. Aaron Smith qualified with a fourth place finish in the 9/10 year 71lb class. Missing State Finals by only one loss in their classes were Logan Hull, Reese Gonzales and Tylor Carter, who all finished in fifth. Aiden Bouwens, Austin Emmorey and Cedar Springs High Schooler, Levi Whipple, finished sixth in their classes.

All of the 13 State qualifiers will be facing some tough competition as there may be up to 32 wrestlers in each age group/weight class. Finals are being held Friday, Saturday and Sunday, March 25-27, 2011 at the Kellog Arena in Battle Creek. Check out the schedule at MYWAYWrestling.com and come out to support your local wrestlers.