Cedar Springs wrestlers finish the regular conference season 6–1, with a victory over Forest Hills Northern on Wednesday, January 27. The junior varsity wrestlers took to the mat first with four consolation rounds. Nate Doerr, Josh Champion, Allen Slagter and Michael Armock executed pins, which helped set the tempo for the main event.
The duel between the Red Hawks and the Northerners began with pins by Cody Oehme, Jake Blackmer, Dominick Chong and Ricardo Rios in the light–midweight classes. In an exciting match, Blackmer (130 lb) started out with a take down and near fall to earn 5 points. FHN came on strong to earn 5 points of their own and tie the match at the end of the first round. The second round found the score tied once again at 7–7 but Blackmer kicked into gear and won the match by pin early in round two.
Northern wrestled strong in middle weights but Cedar Springs proved to be the dominators winning by decision; Austin Wamser 18-7, Levi Whipple 7 -4, and Scott Vodry 4-0. At this point in the match, FHN had no hope of winning but Cedar kept up their momentum in the heavy weight category and continued to put the Northerners on their backs. Trevor Hemry (189 lb) and Jeremy Stellema (215 lb) wasted their Northern opponents with a quick fall in the first round for Hemry and a 9 point lead for Stellema before he ended his match with a pin mid-way thru the third period.
The final score (58-9) put the Red Hawks in prime position going into the conference finals to be held at Comstock Park on Saturday, February 6th.
Wrestling Hawks place 2nd at Reeds Lake invitational
The Red Hawk varsity team competed at the Reeds Lake Invitational on Saturday, January 30. The tournament hosted by East Grand Rapids High School brought ten area schools to duel it out for individual standings and team points.
Cedar Springs brought 14 tough wrestlers to the event. After the first round, the Hawks were in third place with 56 points just trailing Grandville (59) and Forest Hills Central (59.5). Cedar advanced to second place in the semi-final round with 178.5 points only 1 point behind Grandville.
After 28 matches the Red Hawks moved 11 wrestlers to the finals to win medals. Fourth place: Aaron Brooks (112 lb) and Scott Fisk (152 lb). Third place: Jake Blackmer (130 lb), Jake Marsman (145 lb) and Jeremy Stellema (189 lb). Second Place: Nic Baird (103 lb), Ricardo Rios (140 lb) and Scott Vodry (160 lb).
In the championship round, taking First Place to remain undefeated for the day, were Cody Oehme (119 lb), Austin Wamser (145 lb) and Joe Simon (285 lb).
A tight run in the finals found Cedar Springs with 202.5 to take home the second place trophy in their final invitational of the season.
Follow the Red Hawk wrestlers post-season schedule:
February 6 – OK Blue Conference Finals – Comstock Park – 9:00 am
February 11 – Team Districts – Sparta – 5:00 pm
February 13 – Individual Districts – Gaylord – 9:00 am
Go Cedar!
