RAVENNA — Whitehall isn't accustomed to being tested at the GMAA tournament, so when the Vikings entered the final two championship bouts Saturday needing to win one to secure the team title, it was a pressure-packed spot. Luckily, sophomore Isaac O'Boyle was up to the challenge.
O'Boyle defeated Muskegon's Rodney Addison in the 126-pound championship match in a tough 8-5 battle, securing his Vikings their 19th GMAA crown in 20 years, by a 206-202 margin over runner-up Fruitport.
It was O'Boyle's first GMAA title, and having it clinch a team championship made it all the sweeter.
"That feeling's one of the best in the world," O'Boyle said. "I got taken down first, and I just (felt like), I've got to keep going because it could come down to me. I didn't know how Cody's match would go, but I knew it was definitely important (for me to win)."
O'Boyle managed to score an escape point at the end of the first period to limit the damage of Addison's takedown, then scored a two-point reversal on Addison in the second. In the third period, he scored a takedown that proved to be the final margin of victory. Because the win ensured the Vikings' championship, Whitehall's coaches, including head coach Justin Zeerip, who's normally unflappable on the mat, were more visibly fired up about O'Boyle's win than usual because of what it meant.
"He puts a lot of time in and he's a sophomore, so I think he's got a bright future ahead of him, and it's really cool that he could win the tournament today," Zeerip said.
O'Boyle's first-place finish was one of only two for Whitehall in the boys' division, an abnormally low total for the Vikings; Liam Leeke scored three straight pins at 165 to easily win his weight class. To win the tournament, it took every wrestler delivering victories, including in the consolation bracket.
Whitehall's Liam Leeke (right) grapples with Orchard View's Ca'Mari Reese during the 165-pound finals of Saturday's GMAA tournament in Ravenna. Leeke won this match by pin to win the championship, helping the Vikes take the team title.
"I thought every single one of our guys in the lineup today wrestled really hard," Zeerip said. "We won by a small margin, so every single point mattered, and we knew it was going to be tough.
"There's some really good teams this year in this tournament, so we knew it was going to be tight going in. We were really stressing to look for pins and look for tech(nical falls) and majors. I was proud of how tough and gritty our kids were today, and how they wrestled hard every single match."
Whitehall had several other finalists who finished in second place. Max Krukowski took second at 138, scoring a technical fall and a decision to reach the finals before falling to Fruitport's Murphy Lengkeek in overtime. Kolten Weiler also lost a close finals match, 8-5 to Montague's Fletcher Thommen, after earning a pair of pins at 150, and Robert Belinger picked up two pins on his way to a second-place finish at 106 as well.
Cody Manzo also finished second, at 132, and along the way he scored his 150th career victory. He scored a pin and a technical fall to finish second. Dom Zygmuntowski (120) and Billy Darke (215) placed third.
"We only had two champs today, so it was important for a lot of our guys that came back on the back side, and came back and got third and fourth (place)," Zeerip said. "That was huge for points. I just thought that our kids competed really hard, and we just want to keep getting better every time we go out there."
Reeths-Puffer finished third behind one boys' champion: Freshman Landon Learn, who has enjoyed an overpowering first run in high school wrestling and is now 29-0. Learn only had to wrestle twice to win the title at 113, pinning both of his opponents.
Learn, who was a star at the youth ranks as well, said he never expected to have this much success so early in high school, but doing so has opened his eyes to what he can accomplish. He now wants to win a regional championship, with full knowledge he'll have to go through stars like Brighton's Jameson Wood to do it.
"I thought high school was going to be this huge (jump up)," Learn said. "It's a mental block you need to get past. I've wrestled some good kids, but you just need to get past that mental block and just keep wrestling...I'm going for Jameson. I'm going to try to get him."
Rockets' coach Brad Cowles said Learn boasts great technical skills and wrestles very aggressively, a tough combination for opponents.
"He doesn't take days off," Cowles said. "Monday through Sunday, and in the summertime, four or five days a week. He wrestles all year in national tournaments. He puts in the work."
Learn was the only Rocket to make the finals, but R-P did have seven third-place finishers. Hunter Eek (144), Tanner Cowles (150), Aiden Neal (165), Andrew Corradin (175), Braxton VanHohenstein (106), Max Knowlton (126) and Cory Judd (132) all took third.
"We're still without our starter, Jake Rozycki, that could have made a huge impact for us today, too," Cowles said. "We could have been up there. We were out our heavyweight. Those were two starters. Once they're healthy and we have a full lineup of healthy wrestlers, we'll be (better off)."
Montague's Fletcher Thommen (left) maintains an edge over Whitehall's Kolten Weiler during the 150-pound finals of Saturday's GMAA tournament in Ravenna. Thommen won the match to retain an undefeated record for the season.
Montague placed fifth, a solid showing given the Wildcats were unable to fill four weight classes. Thommen and Isaac French each won their weight classes, and French's championship win was one of the day's highlights. The senior, forced to the sideline several times due to a nosebleed in the 190-pound finals, wrapped a makeshift mask around his nose to stop the bleeding and scored a dramatic third-period pin against Fruitport's Colton Smith, despite trailing 8-6 at the time. Thommen, meanwhile, boasts a perfect 29-0 mark on the season.
Gavyn Maddox added a second-place finish at 144, rallying to defeat Eek in the semifinals and earning a technical fall as well.
"The GMAA is a great tournament which pushes our kids with good, tough competition getting us ready for the tail end of our season," coach Kris Maddox said. "It’s a day that is filled with quality competition across the board."
Girls get first crack at GMAA
Saturday also saw a milestone at the GMAA, as a separate girls division was contested. Since there were not enough wrestlers for full brackets, each weight class wrestled a round-robin, with final standings determining a winner. Girls' points were not included in the final team standings.
Whitehall's Kassie Sapp (left) keeps an eye on the clock while battling Montague's Alex Dugan during a match at Saturday's GMAA tournament in Ravenna. Sapp was one of four area girls to earn weight-class titles in the first-ever girls GMAA competition.
Each local school produced at least one girls champion in the historic meet. Kassie Sapp won the 130-pound title for Whitehall, pinning all five of her opponents in the first period, and Miley Manzo added the 110/115 title, scoring two pins and a technical fall. Reeths-Puffer's Sidney Shackelford pinned one foe and scored a technical fall against the other to win at 145/155, and Montague's Zaniya Meza pinned all four of her opponents at 105 to win that weight class.
Brooklyn Colson finished second for R-P at 120/125, going 3-1 with two wins by pin, and Makenna Deshong was second for Whitehall at 170/190 with a pair of pin victories.
"It's the first year they've done girls' charts, so it's really cool for (them) to be the first girls champ for us," Zeerip said. "Kassie's had a great season so far. She lost maybe the first weekend out, and she's been on a roll since then. She's excited for the postseason. She should be successful."
