By BUTCH HARMON
While the Greenville wrestling team may not have a mega-star like a Jordan Thomas in the lineup this year, opponents have felt the sting of the Yellow Jackets once again this wrestling season.
Moving to the new Bronze division of the Ottawa-Kent (O-K) Conference, the Yellow Jackets have been a force to be reckoned with not only in the league, but also in all of lower Michigan. Greenville shook off the sting of heavy graduation losses to build a team this winter that resembles the hard-working community in which it resides.
“I call us more of a blue-collar team,” coach Paul Johnson said. “We are a much more balanced team this year, and in that regard we have really enjoyed the season.”
Greenville has enjoyed plenty of success this winter. Along with winning the league title, the Yellow Jackets won their own Greenville Invitational, the Hudsonville Invitational, the Parma Western Invitational, and the Holland West Ottawa Invitational.
They then picked up a key piece of hardware when they traveled to Bay City Western and captured the Division 2 team regional and earned a fourth straight trip to Battle Creek for the state team finals.
Greenville put on an impressive display of wrestling at the regional, as it defeated Escanaba 53-21 in the semifinals and Bay City Western 45-19 in the regional title match.
The key to Greenville’s success this year lies in its blue-collar roots.
“I think a big key is people making it to practice on a regular basis,” Johnson said. “Each year our kids get better and better. We have kids filling in spots that are vacated by guys graduating.”
The Yellow Jackets have had to be road warriors during the post season. Along with traveling to Bay City for the team regional, they made the trip over “The Bridge” for the individual district in Escanaba.
“It was a long distance for everyone else as well,” Johnson said. “They [Escanaba] have to do it every year, so it was our turn this year.”
The trip north was a fruitful one, as nine Greenville wrestlers placed. Four Yellow Jackets brought home regional titles, including seniors Mike Schmidt (112 pounds) and Dakota Sherrick (189) and juniors Alec Ward (130) and Jake Hopkins (145). Also placing for the Greenville were senior Kyle Reamer (2nd at 140 pounds), junior Will Parmalee (2nd, 125), junior Jordan Dassinger (3rd, 285), senior Carter Magirl (4th, 215), and freshman Andrew Bowen (4th, 189).
While the Yellow Jackets have a number of wrestlers who are looking to medal at the state meet, the team tournament is the main objective.
“The guys definitely wanted to get to state,” Johnson said. “It’s always nice to get down there but it’s not easy to do, but if it was easy it would not be as rewarding.”