The Cedar Springs varsity wrestling team took second place at the Sparta Invitational. Photo by B. Chong.

By Barbra Chong

Cedar Springs High School Wrestling hosted a tri meet and parent night last Wednesday, January 13. Unfortunately, with the inclement weather, some of the competition had to back out last minute. Three of the freshmen on the Junior Varsity team won matches: Aaron Smith, Xavier Anderson and Anthony Brew. Northview was the only competition of the evening and the Red Hawks claimed a victory with a final score 45-21.

The following also claimed victories, which contributed to the overall score: 119 lb Jordan Ringler, 125 lb Patrick Fliearman, 130 lb Jordan Andrus, 140 lb Jacob Galinis, 145 Anthony Topolski, 152 lb Lucus Pienton, 171 lb Gage Gardner, 189 lb Ryan Ringler and Heavyweight Patrick Depiazza.

Saturday, January 16, the Red Hawks traveled to Sparta for their 40th annual invitational. The competition attracted 19 area teams looking to compete for the coveted championship titles. Final team placements ended with Sparta in first place with a score of 223.5; Cedar Springs in second place with a score of 162.5; and Tri County in third place with a score of 135.5.

Claiming championship titles was 125 lb Jordan Ringler, 135 lb Jacob Galinis, 171 lb Ryan Ringler and heavyweight Patrick Depiazza, who remains undefeated this season.

In third place was 145 lb Anthony Topolski; in fourth place was 130 lb Jordan Andrus and 152 lb Lucus Pienton; in sixth place was 112 lb Logan Hull and 140 lb Jesse Empie. Out of the 196 wrestlers competing, freshman Ryan Ringler was voted Most Outstanding Wrestler of the Tournament.

Ringler pinned his first opponent with a 12 second pin; his second opponent with a 1:01 pin; and his third opponent by regular decision 10-3.

“We’ve started to gain some momentum and hopefully we can roll that through the rest of the season to finish strong and accomplish our goals,” said head coach Nick Emery.