John Raffel
Sports Scene
It could be said that Ken Dittenber is a new and improved wrestler this season. But it could also be said that it’s the same old Ken Dittenber.
The 103-pound Carson City-Crystal wrestler stormed to the 103-pound state title in Division 4 as a sophomore last season with a 54-1 record. He seems to be right in line with a 47-2 mark this year. He’s again at 103, and both of his losses came to 112-pounders that he doesn’t expect to see at the state finals in March.
“He’s a tough kid, he’s wrestled well,” said Kacy Datema, CC-Crystal wrestling coach. “He hasn’t been beat at 103 yet. He’s certainly added a lot to his style. He’s a more well-rounded wrestler. He’s pretty good on his feet. He’s a little bigger this year than he was last year.”
Freshman Alex Baker is also at 103 pounds for the Eagles and finished third at districts. Going into regionals, he and Dittenber had not wrestled each other yet.
“He never gives up,” Dittenber said of Baker, adding that if the two did meet, it would be the same as everybody else.
Dittenber made it to the state finals as a freshman but got beat out before placing. As a sophomore, he was hoping to do much better, but admits that even he was suprised when he took first place.
He started out at The Palace a year ago by pinning Watervliet’s Marcus Rodriguez and then defeating Carter Ballinger of Jonesville 16-1 for a technical fall. His semifinal match was tougher, with Dittenber slipping past another Watervliet wrestler, Brock Thumm, 6-5. It was even scarier in the finals, with Chase Siersema of Hesperia falling to Dittenber 5-4.
“It was kind of a surprise, “ Dittenber said. “I had some hard matches, but I didn’t think I’d make it all the way.”
It’s an obvious goal to make it all the way again.
“I’ve wrestled pretty good at 103, but there’s going to be some tough matches,” Dittenber said. “There’s a couple of kids out there that will be a challenge.”
Dittenber, with more than 20 pins this season, has been strong at top work and with takedowns. He basically wants to be a stronger overall wrestler.
“I haven’t had any real close matches this year [at 103],” he said, adding that he’s improved “quite a bit from last year. Just take match by match, that’s about it.”
Dittenber has wrestled since his elementary school years. He’s also active in the sport outside of the high school season.