Cedar Springs youth wrestlers have never been know to run away from competition. So when Alma announced its Monster Trophy Tournament held on February 9, the Hawks were all in. Twenty of Cedar’s talented wrestlers attended the tournament, where almost 500 of Michigan’s toughest wrestlers went to win the coveted “Monster Trophies.” Each wrestler battled through some of the toughest charts of the year, with up to 13 wrestlers on a single chart. Although they all fought tough, only seven of them were able to bring back trophies and three were champions!

Two of the champions were in the 5/6 year division. They were Veronica Tapia at 37lbs and Pistachio Gonzales at 58lbs. The only other champion was Trevor Marsman in the 9/10 year division at 63lbs.

Second place finishers were 7/8 year Keaton Klaasen at 49lbs and Tommy

Stevens at 58lbs. Rounding off the results with fourth place finishes were Cora Gonzales in the 7/8 division at 52lbs and Logan Hull in the 11/12 division at 90lbs.

Even though the other Cedar wrestlers went home empty handed, they did it with heads held high. Most of the wrestlers who went home from Alma with trophies were those who are expected to dominate MYWAY State Finals coming up at the end of March.

“Winning isn’t always everything. It is the lessons we learn in losing that make us better wrestlers and coaches,” said Coach George Gonzales. “You need to learn how to be a good loser, to be a good winner.”