A handful of West Michigan Conference wrestling teams competed in various events on Saturday, Jan. 14.
Here’s a roundup of what was reported to CatchMark SportsNet:
HART
Hart did not report results, but according to TrackWrestling.com, the Pirates had a great day in the LeRoy Pine River Fallen Bucks Memorial Tournament.
Hart won all five of its matches in convincing fashion. The Pirates defeated Montabella (80-0), Central Montcalm (54-13), Coopersville (50-25), Mason County Central (63-15) and Pine River (49-27).
WHITEHALL
Testing itself at the Rockford Duals on Saturday, Whitehall’s Division 3 sixth-ranked wrestling team finished with a 4-1 record with the lone loss coming against the Division 1 host Rams (45-27).
Whitehall defeated St. Joseph (57-19), Edwardsburg (48-22), Rockford B (59-12) and Middleville Thornapple Kellogg (47-24).
The Vikings’ Darnell Mack, Wyatt Jenkins, Shane Cook and Jackson Cook all finished unbeaten on the day.
“We brought a young team in here today — we only have a handful of upperclassmen — and really competed hard,” Whitehall co-coach Justin Zeerip said. “Thornapple Kellogg is ranked in Division 2 and we beat them. Rockford is extremely tough and we gave them a run.
“Honestly, we didn’t wrestle our best today, but we competed hard and battled. We’re proud of all of our guys.”
MONTAGUE
All four Montague girls wrestlers who competed in the Grand Rapids Northview Invite on Saturday advanced to championship matches.
Junior Savannah Winkleblack pinned her way to the finals before a tech fall secured her a fourth-straight tournament victory. She remains unbeaten against girls competition this season and has only two overall losses against boys.
Senior Natalie Bassett advanced to the finals in her second straight tourney and earned a 7-6 victory with a last-second escape.
Sophomore Ava Pelton avenged last year’s state finals blood-round loss by beating fourth-ranked Madison Ward of Niles Brandywine in the semifinals before Pelton fell to her West Ottawa opponent in the finals.
Junior Emma Pendell, coming off a few minor injuries, made her way to the finals for a second straight tourney. She suffered a finals loss to fourth-ranked Terra Booe of Allendale.
“We are starting to perform at a good time of the year,” Montague coach Kris Maddox said. “However, we need to get better at our adjustments.
“We have high expectations at Montague for our girls, so it was great to see all four of our girls performing and putting on a great showing (Saturday).”
MASON COUNTY CENTRAL
Mason County Central finished 1-4 at the Pine River Fallen Bucks Memorial Tournament on Saturday. Sophomore Hunter Sanford (113 pounds) and junior Zane McCabe (126) both went undefeated in the tournament.
Sanford defeated Division 4 13th-ranked Jordan Nelson, 12-0 in what Spartans coach Kendel Trim called the “best match of the day.”
McCabe defeated two ranked wrestlers — Division 4 No. 10 Jericho Holmes of Pine River (7-2) and Division 3 No. 16 Ty Thomas of Hart (7-0) — to remain unbeaten on the season at 27-0.
