Red Flannel Queen Jenna Alcumbrack is also a drum major in the Cedar Springs Marching band. Photo by LeeAnne Whilden.

The Marching Red Hawks took their show inside at Belding and brought home a first place finish. Photo by Kelli Hamilton.

After taking 3^rd place at the Rockford Invitational Sept. 23, Cedar Springs High School hosted 20 bands for the 57 Annual Red Flannel Invitational October 7.  The leadership team started the day with the Star Spangled Banner during the flag raising ceremony, along with the Red Flannel Queen and Court. On October 14, Cedar Springs Marching Red Hawks marched into Belding, on a crazy rainy day, and took first place. The competition was moved indoors due to rain. 

The Marching Hawks have been working hard on their show, Picasso, and would love you for everyone to come and see them perform. Their last three shows are Jenison Oct. 21, Rockford West Shore Invitational Oct. 28, and MCBA State Competition, November 4, Detroit Ford Field. Times TBD.

Pictured is West Michigan Pursuit wrestler 80 lb Blake Peasley, Champion of 9/10 open division. Photo by Barbra Chong.

By Barbra Chong

West Michigan Pursuit traveled to Belding this past weekend. Fifteen grapplers placed in the top four out of the 17 entered. WMP claimed 35 victories this weekend putting them at a 71 percent win ratio.

“Each week, these kids exceed my expectations. Their performance on and off the matt is what motivates me to continue what I do,” said Head Coach and Owner Dave Andrus. Individual placements are as follows:

4th Place Medalist is 85lb Logan Bennett, 11/12 Open division.

3rd Place Medalists include 67 lb Luke Egan, 9/10 Open division; 64 lb Logan Galinis, 7/8             Novice division; 80 lb Isaiah Smith, Open division; 55/58 lb Kellen Weckesser, 7/8 Open division and 158 lb Maston Wood, 11/12 Open division.

2nd Place Medalist is 52 lb Kaleb Pautke, 7/8 Open division.

CHAMPIONS are 61 lb Quinten Cassiday, 7/8 Open division; 70 lb Carter Castillo, 11/12 Open division; 67 lb Chayson Eberspeaker, 7/8 Open division; 64 lb Drew Moro, 7/8 Open division; 72/77 lb Tyler Parmeter, 7/8 Open division; 80 lb Blake Peasley, 9/10 Open division; 75 lb Isaiah Sostenes, 9/10 Open division and 49 lb Blake Werkema, 4/6 Open division.

If you are interested in learning more about this sport or if your wrestler is looking to compete at the next level, check them out. They are located in the Cedar Springs Sports Plex. Practices are Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

by Jacquie Troupe

About 395 wrestlers traveled to Belding on Sunday, December 18. Cedar Springs Youth Wrestling had 26 wrestlers and their families come out for a day of great food and even greater competition. “We have a lot of parent support for these kids and it shows in the way they perform every week,” said Coach Marsman. “We can only teach them so much on the mat. When you have dedicated parents teaching those social skills, keeping the motivation for the sport strong and building up the self-esteem of these kids it makes our job as coaches that much easier.”

The team had 10 pins, 37 wins, 46 losses, and scored 267 match points.

The team’s fastest pin was by William Dickinson in 17 seconds. Sierra Streeter had her 1st pin in 32 seconds; Blake Falan in 38; and Chasyn Winchel pinned his opponent in 41 seconds.

Blake Falan had the team’s fastest total pin times with 2 in 1:22.

In the 2012-2010 Open division Chasyn Winchel placed 2nd in the 55lb class, Jaxon Fitzgerald placed 3rd in the 55lb class, Sierra Streeter placed 4th in the 40lb class and Ben Streeter placed 4th in the 58lb class.

In the 2009-2008 divisions Caleigh Wood placed 3rd in the 49lb Open class, Blake Falan placed 3rd in the 64lb Open class, Cade Troupe placed 4th in the 49lb Novice class, William Dickinson placed 4th in the 61lb Novice class and Jonathan Libera placed 4th in the 67lb Open class.

In the 2007-2006 divisions Brandson Wood placed 1st in the 55lb Open class, Dakota Winchel placed 2nd in the 110lb Novice class and Thomas Prins placed 3rd in the 90lb Novice class.

In the 2005-2004 divisions Carter Falan placed 1st in the 105lb Open class and Logan Troupe placed 1st in the 100lb Open class.

In the 2003-2002 Open divisions Trevor Marsman placed 1st in the 85lb class, Andrew VanGessel placed 1st in the 95lb class & Ariana Meyers placed 2nd in the 155 class.

Trevor Marsman took fourth in the 2003-2004 70-75 pound weight class. Photo by J. Troupe.

By J. Troupe

Last weekend the Cedar Springs Youth Wrestlers hit the mats for the Belding Open & Novice Tournament hosted by the Belding Folkstyle Wrestling Club. We brought 25 grapplers~9 Open and 17 Novice that wrestled a total of 65 matches. “It’s early in the season,” said Coach Marsman. “Practices are so important. They did better than the Lions!”

Our Novice grapplers Caleigh Wood took 2nd place in the 09-11 46B lb weight class, Hudson Crystal took 1st place in the 07-08 72lb weight class, Blake Pickard took 3rd place in the 05-06 80lb weight class, Matthew Vaughn took 3rd place in the 05-06 90lb weight class, Annabelle Wood took 4th place in the 03-04 70/75lb combined weight class & Austin Miller took 2nd in the 03-04 183lb weight class.

The Open contenders were Trevor Marsman, who took 4th in the 03-04 70/75 combined weight class; Ariana Meyers placed 3rd in the 03-04 133lb weight class; and Andrew VanGessel brought home a 2nd place medal in the 01-02 80lb class.

The next competition will be January 3 at Reeths Puffer High School.

Visit their website at http://www.leaguelineup.com/cedarspringswrestling for more info about the club.

The Cedar Springs Boy’s JV Golf team was back in action competing in two OK-Blue events last week. Monday, the crew traveled to Ridgeview in Belding and carded a 210, which was good for 5th. Aeron White led the way with a 47, Hunter Chamberlin 48, Logan Tackmann, Kendall Vanputten and Nick Moorman each shot 59’s. Wednesday’s match was at Egypt Valley and the team shot a 229, which was good for 6th. White and Chamberlin had 53’s, Mooreman a 61 and Tackmann, Vanputten and Will Stockreef 62’s. “It was a weird week weather-wise,” said White. “We struggled through it though.”

The Red Hawk boys track and field team competed last Tuesday and Saturday. On Tuesday, they hosted a double dual with West Catholic and Belding. The Hawks improved to 6-0 on the young season by beating the Falcons 76-61 and the Redskins 85-52. On Saturday, they traveled to Coopersville to take on seven other schools at the annual Bronco Classic. They Hawks entered three teams—middle school, junior varsity and varsity. The middle school and junior varsity team placed second in their divisions, while the varsity placed fourth. Overall, they placed second.

Leading the way in points for the season are Derek Ash (throws), all-stater Connor Mora (distance), Aaron Brooks (distance), Ilan Cabarello (sprints), Aaron Dault (hurdles), Rylan Ash (throws), and Nate Jones (high jump).

“We showed a lot of improvement from the first week of competition before spring break. We were rusty in some events last Tuesday, but the boys responded well and improved on Saturday. This upcoming week is going to show if we are contenders or not in the hunt for the league title,” stated Coach Myers.

The Hawks hosted Coopersville in a league dual on Tuesday, and then travel to Chippewa Hills for a 14-team invitational on Saturday.

Lady Red Hawk Tiffany Karger had a career best scoring 26 points against the Red Skins.

Tuesday night the ladies from Cedar Springs hosted the Belding Redskins in girls basketball but they were not very generous hosts. Cedar got the victory by a final score of 56 to 32.
Cedar got off to a fast start in the first quarter and at one point led 15-2. Belding fought back in the second to close the lead to 8 points, with about four minutes to go in the quarter, before Cedar reasserted themselves to take a 27 to 14 into the break.
The second half was a shooting clinic by Cedar as they made 11 of 16 shots for 69 percent. Coach Taylor said it was gratifying to see the girls work the game plan that they had put in place this week.  “We played strong defensively, keeping our girls in front of us and denying their drives.  We did have some shot lapses where we seemed to play too loose and we have to eliminate those.”
The Red Hawks made 20 of 33 shots for the game and had a 28 point lead at one point in fourth quarter.
Tiffany Karger had a career best scoring 26 points while making 11 of 13 shots from the field and pulling in 10 rebounds. Rachael Ludtke followed with 7 points; Brittany Todd had 6, as did Hannah Wight. The rest of the scoring was Chaya Coxon with 5, Molly Holtrop, Shaelyn Fasel, and Jeanette Sukstas each contributed 2 point.
The Red Hawks have two more contests this week. Friday night they will meet West Catholic in a battle for the lead in the OK Blue Conference. On Saturday afternoon they travel to Howard City to face Tri County in a make up game from earlier this season.

#20 Jon Shaw challenges for the ball vs. Comstock Park. Also pictured are #7 Aaron Dault, #17 Luke Dault, #19 Ilan Caballero.

The Cedar Springs boys varsity soccer team walked on the field Tuesday, October 4, geared up for an aggressive match up with the Comstock Park Panthers. The tone of the game remained charged up when only a little over 10 minutes into the game, Red Hawks forward Kyle Szirovecz knocked the ball under the keeper’s gloves, giving Cedar Springs a quick lead (28:48) [Assist Aaron Dault]. With only 7:23 remaining on the clock, Comstock Park tying up tied up the game and put it into two 10 minute regulation overtime periods. In the first over-time, on a free kick, Aaron Dault blasted the ball past a wall of Panther players into the upper 90. Once again the Panthers tied the game up in the second over-time with only 5:07 remaining in play. But the Red Hawks fought back when #7 Luke Dault found the back of the net with only 4 minutes left on the clock. Assists were credited to Kyle Szirovecz and Jon Shaw. Cedar Springs claimed a 3-2 double over-time victory over Comstock Park.
On Thursday, October 6, the Red Hawks added another win to their OK Blue record by shutting out the Belding Redskins 8 to 0. The Hawks jumped to an early lead when Jon Shaw connected with a pass from Robert Klein and drilled it into the net (35:25). Minutes later, Aaron Dault drove a free kick past the goaltender into the upper 90 giving Cedar a 2-0 lead (29:49). The Red Hawks third goal was credited to Josh Champion, who rocketed a shot, from the 40 yard line, over the keeper’s head.(17:05). Freshman Parker Selleck, redirected in a corner kick, sent by Trevor Rose, giving Cedar Springs a comfortable lead of 4 to 0 at the half (14:29). The defensive line of Dontae Ensley, Trevor Rose, Josh Champion, Bryan Taylor and Kyle Longcore protected the Cedar Springs goal by shutting down the Redskin offense. Second half scoring began right away when Cedar Springs was awarded a direct penalty kick and the team called goalkeeper, Kyle Coutchie, upfield to score his first goal of the season (38:02). Minutes later, Aaron Dault scored his second goal of the evening, when he launched a free kick past the goaltender (36:20). The last two goals of the match were credited to forward Robert Klein, with Dontae Ensley assisting both, and Trevor Rose also assisting the final goal on the game. This secured Cedar Springs second mercy win of the season.
“This week our goal was to really enjoy the game and get back to the reason we all started playing soccer…for the love of the game,” said Cedar Springs Coach Kyle Avink.
Congratulations on another great win Red Hawks!

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.”

After two canceled meets due to the weather and three weeks since their team’s first meet, the Cedar Springs Red Hawk girls track team finally was able to get on the track to compete. The team opened the OK Blue season with a dual meet at Forest Hills Northern on Thursday, April 21. Despite many fine performances and an outstanding effort by all members of the team, the Lady Red Hawks lost by a close score of 72 to 65.
Sophomore Katie Weiler earned 4 first places in the meet. Katie won the 800, 1600, 3200, and was a member of the winning 3200-meter really team.  Senior
Amber Terhaar continued her dominance of the throwing events by winning the shot put and discus.  The team’s overall record are now 1 and 2.  They host the Belding Redskins at Red Hawk Stadium on Thursday April 28 for their first home meet of the year. Field events start at 4:00 and the running events start at 4:45.
Placing for the Red Hawks were:
First Place: Amber TerHaar Shot put and discus; Aly Hamilton 100 meter dash; Katie Weiler 3200, 1600, and 800-meter runs; 3200-meter relay team of Kayla Ovokaitys, Allie Veltkamp, Sommer VanDyke, and Katie Weiler.
Second Place: Jeanette Sukstas Shot Put and Discus; Aly Hamilton long jump; Sommer VanDyke 1600 and 800 meter run; Briana Pierson High Jump; Abby VanDusen 100 meter hurdles; Fenessa Cotton 300 meter hurdles.
Third Place: Fenessa Cotten 100 meter hurdles; Jessica Titus 3200 meter run; Rieley Hondalus High Jump; Abby VanDusen Pole Vault;Allie Veltkamp 400 meter dash; Aly Hamilton 200 meter dash.

Trey Reed goes up for 2 as Kyle Chaney (21) and Andrew Klompstra (right) battle for position.

For the first time since game two of the season in early December, the Cedar Springs boys’ varsity basketball team is healthy. The team welcomed back Hank Porter last week. Porter had undergone knee surgery and missed almost a month of the season. Porter responded with his best game of the year, scoring 15 points, as Cedar Springs defeated Belding 53-32.
The game didn’t start off well for Cedar Springs as Belding got out to a quick 7-0 lead, scoring 3 field goals and a free throw in the first minute of the game. The Red Hawks got the offense going with a Jason Gingrich jumper followed by a Hank Porter three-pointer. Alec Hanmer hit a put back lay up, then Porter made a free throw to cut the Belding lead to 9-8. Hanmer canned a three-pointer to give Cedar the lead 11-9, but Belding responded with a 4-0 run to retake the lead. Kyle Chaney tied the game with a driving lay-up and the score was 13-13 after one quarter.
“Belding is very physical and really pressures you on defense,” said Cedar head coach Andy Secor. “I think they were very prepared and got off to a great start. I am just happy with how my guys responded.”
A Chaney put back lay up gave the Red Hawks the lead 15-13 early in the second. Belding tied it up again at 15. Then Chaney pulled in an offensive rebound, made a dribble move in the lane and hit a short fade away jumper to give Cedar a lead they would not lose. Then Hank Porter took over, scoring 7 straight points, including a mid-range jumper, a three-pointer, and a put pack lay up. Andrew Klompstra got in to the act with a strong inside move for an “and one” lay up. Klompstra made the free throw to complete the 3-point play and the Red Hawks led 27-20 at halftime.
Cedar extended its lead with an 8-1 run to start the second half. Hanmer hit a couple of free throws and a jump shot, Gingrich hit a jumper, Porter hit a jumper, and the Red Hawks led 35-21. After two Porter free throws, Gingrich scored another field goal. Then Trey Reed grabbed an offensive rebound in traffic, and hit a short jumper over the defense. A Klompstra lay up gave the Red Hawks a commanding 43-25 lead after 3 quarters.
In the fourth quarter, Ryan Dines made 3 free throws, Reed hit a baseline jumper, and Gingrich made 2 free throws to extend the Cedar lead. Then Brandon Slater scored on a nice reverse lay up and Tyler Hinton made a free throw and Cedar Springs had a 53-32 victory.
“It was a much-needed win.” said coach Secor. “We responded well from some early adversity and played 3 of our best quarters of the year.” The Red Hawk defense held Belding to only 32 points and held their star post player, Gil Corder, to only 8 points. “We really hang our hat on half-court defense, and our defense was great,” said Coach Secor. The Red Hawks have held their opponents to an average of only 40 points per game this season.
Porter shot 5-7 from the floor on the way to his game high 15 points. Hanmer scored 9 points, had 5 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. Gingrich had 8 points and 4 assists. Chaney had 6 points and a game high 7 rebounds. Klompstra had 5 points and 6 rebounds. Trey Reed had 4 points, Dines 3, Slater 2 and Hinton 1 point.
The Red Hawks improve their record to 4-7 and 2-4 in the OK Blue. Comstock Park is threatening to run away with another league title with a 6-0 record, but all the other conference teams are either 3-3 or 2-4, so the Red Hawks are very much in the hunt for second place. Cedar Springs travels to Sparta Friday for another big rivalry game against the Spartans. Game time is 6 p.m. Then on Tuesday, February 8, they travel to Howard City to take on the Tri-County Vikings at 7 p.m.

Chaya Coxon was leading scorer for the Red Hawks against Comstock Park with 15 points. Photo by R. Karger.

After a two game losing streak, the Cedar Springs Varsity girls basketball team broke the slump on January 25 and came back to win against Comstock Park 49 to 42. The Red Hawks ended the 1st period behind 14 to 18 but made up ground in the 2nd by outscoring the Panthers 11-3. It was an exciting game with 3 lead changes. Leading scorer was Chaya Coxon with 15 points and three rebounds and went 5 for 5 at the line for free throws; Tiffany Karger with a double double had 14 points and 11 rebounds; Rachael Ludtke also with a double double had 10 points and 12 rebounds; Hannah Wight with 6 points and 3 rebounds; Molly Holtrop with 2 points and 2 rebounds; and finishing up the scoring was Lindsey Kline with 2 points.
On Monday, January 28, the Lady Red Hawks hosted the Belding Redskins. It was a tough loss at home with Belding holding the lead throughout the night. Belding finished the 1st quarter with a 10 point lead 16 -6. Cedar came back with a better 2nd quarter scoring 10 points, but still ended the half trailing 31-16. Cedar out scored Belding in the 3rd quarter 9-6 but Belding was strong in the 4th and finished the game 49-34.

Rachael Ludtke goes up for the shot. Photo by R. Karger.

The Red Hawks leading scorer was Tiffany Karger with 11 points, Molly Holtrop, Hannah Wight and Rachael Ludtke all had 6 points and Chaya Coxon had 5 points. Tiffany Karger led the rebounding with 8, Amber Milliagan with 7, Rachel Ludtke with 6, Chaya Coxon with 5, Hannah Wight with 4, Brittany Todd with 3 and Molly Holtrop and Meghan Andres both with 2.
The Hawks’ record is 7-5 and 4-2 in the OK Blue. The Hawks were scheduled to play Tuesday, February 1, against West Catholic, who remain undefeated in the OK Blue, but that came was canceled due to the weather.