Butch Harmon
Sports Scene
One final hurdle remains for area high school wrestling teams in their march to the team state wrestling finals in Battle Creek. Team regional wrestling tournaments take place Wednesday in all four divisions and a number of wrestling teams from the Sports Scene coverage area are looking to bring home regional trophies along with having their tickets punched for the state tournament in Battle Creek.
Following is a look at Wednesday’s Division 1 and 2 regionals with previews of Division 3 and 4 appearing online Tuesday.
DIVISION1
@ EAST KENTWOOD
Semifinal matchups: Caledonia vs. Hudsonville, Rockford vs. Grand Haven.
The premier matchup of the regional is the battle between OK Red powers Rockford and Grand Haven. Rockford, ranked eighth in the state in Division 1, won the dual-meet portion of the conference while Grand Haven came on strong late and captured the OK Red conference tournament. Grand Haven enters the regional with plenty of momentum. The Buccaneers crowned six champions at the individual regional tournament at Muskegon Mona Shores while Rockford’s Tyler VanRooyen was the lone Ram to bring home a regional title. In all, a total of 10 Grand Haven wrestlers moved on to the regional while seven Rockford wrestlers made it out of the district. The two teams met head to head in December with the Rams claiming a 37-23 decision.
On the other side of the bracket OK Gold runnerup Caledonia had six wrestlers qualify for the regional. Hudsonville was a surprise district winner and enter the regional with a 9-19 record having defeated Grandville for the district title.
@BRIGHTON
Semifinal matchups: Brighton vs. Holt, Grand Ledge vs. Battle Creek Lakeview.
Brighton, ranked third in the state in Division 1, is the team to beat in a regional hosted in its own gym. The Bulldogs have a power-packed lineup the features plenty of seniors. Brighton had a total of five wrestlers capture district titles led by Aaron Calderon (160 pounds) who improved to 49-2 for the season and Evan Hoshaw (135) who upped his record to 46-2.
Holt will give the Bulldogs a test in the semifinals. A total of seven Holt wrestlers qualified for the regional title including Ben Gomez (103), Shane Wireman (112) and Dominic Trevino (130) who all won district titles.
The other side of the bracket features what should be a close dual between Grand Ledge and Lakeview. Both the Comets and Lakeview qualified 11 wrestlers apiece for the regional tournament. Both teams also crowned one champion at the district with Corey Arnouts winning the title at 285 pounds. Both Arnouts and Curtis Brownel (145) bring 34-5 records into the regional.
@MIDLAND
Semifinal matchups: Traverse Cit West vs. Saginaw Heritage, Bay City Central vs. Davison.
The Davison Cardinals are on a mission to return to Battle Creek and if the results from the individual district are any indications they should not be stopped at the regional. Davison qualified a total of 13 wrestlers for the regional including seven district champions. The Cardinals have plenty of firepower up and down the roster and will be heavy favorites over Bay City Central.
Saginaw Heritage has enjoyed a strong season and the Hawks look to continue that success against Traverse City West. The Hawks qualified five wrestlers for the regional tournament led by champions Tyler Balder stone (135) and Brandon Kolka (215). Heritage is coming off a strong performance at the team district where it defeated Flint Carman-Ainsworth and Flushing.