MUSKEGON — That Whitehall's district championship Wednesday night was all but secured before the night started doesn't keep the Vikings from celebrating where they are as a program, and they did after dispatching rival Montague and Orchard View to earn another district title. It's Whitehall's sixth straight such title, and 14th in the past 15 seasons.
The No. 2-ranked Vikings had too much firepower for Montague in the semifinals, earning a 64-11 win, and with finals opponent Orchard View only having five wrestlers, Whitehall cruised to a 66-16 win on the strength of nine forfeits.
The Vikings advanced to next Wednesday's regional meet at Kent City, where they'll face Tri-County in the semifinals. A potential battle with the host Eagles looms in the finals.
Whitehall eliminated the drama from the semifinal matchup very quickly, winning the first seven bouts to take a 36-0 lead. Viking wrestlers Cody Manzo, Tommy Leeke and Max Krukowski picked up pins in the first three bouts of the dual.
"We knew what we were up against walking into this," Montague coach Kris Maddox said. "We tried some different matchups individually, trying to see some things for this weekend. Those matches didn't go our way. I did the dual 10 different ways with 10 different (combinations), and we just didn't have enough manpower to swing it."
With things already clearly headed Whitehall's direction, the Wildcats elected not to send two of their top wrestlers - Gavyn Maddox and Fletcher Thommen - to the mat, instead trying out some different matchups in anticipation of this weekend's individual district tournament.
Both teams moved athletes around their lineup, resulting in a 150-pound bout between Hunter Peterson, who was up from his usual weight class, and Kaiden Jeffery, who slid down from his normal spot. Peterson impressed his coach, Justin Zeerip, by battling out an impressive 12-5 decision. Kolten Weiler also did well, moving up to 165 and scoring a technical fall.
"Overall, I'm pleased with how we wrestled," Zeerip said. "I thought we came in here and did a good job getting bonus points, and now,we're going to move on to Saturday and the individual districts."
Colten Kyser scored a technical fall for the Vikings, as did Liam Leeke at 175. Montague's lone win in a bout came at 190, as star Isaac French dominated en route to his own technical fall. Maverick Osborne later added a win by forfeit at 285.
"That's a tough kid," Maddox said of French's opponent, Tanner Woodworth. "Isaac got him both times (they previously faced off), and he made some adjustments. Isaac has been adjusting his offense a little bit...I think Isaac's going to have a great state run coming up. Once he really gets into his rhythm, he's hard to stop. He's strong as an ox."
After French's win, Billy Darke scored a pin, and at the lower weight classes, Whitehall reeled off three pins, from Robert Belinger, Blake Wallace and Dom Zygmuntowski. Isaac O'Boyle ended the dual with a 14-1 major decision victory.
The Orchard View dual featured only five bouts due to the lack of wrestlers for the Cardinals. Tommy Leeke, Krukowski, Peterson and Weiler each won by forfeit, and Liam Leeke followed with a dominant pin. Orchard View then won the next two bouts before Darke responded with another pin.
The final bout was the toughest moment of the night for Whitehall, as Easton Wisniewski went down hard on his knee while wrestling Shonvelle Cage at 285 and was unable to continue, giving Cage a win by medical forfeit. Wisniewski did walk out of the arena under his own power, though, and Zeerip was optimistic he would be alright going forward.
Wednesday's results were clearly the sign of a Vikings team hitting its stride at the right time once again. It's practically become a tradition at Whitehall for the team to peak in the postseason, and this year's team is one of the best examples of it, having developed into a lineup seemingly ready for another run to the final four.
"I think sometimes our guys come in from fall sports and they're a little rusty," Zeerip said. "At the same time, our guys work really hard, and we try to pay attention to the little details and continuously improve throughout the year and not necessarily worry about the wins and losses, but just worrying about improvement all the time and trying to make progress. Throughout the year, we're trying to get better for the postseason, and now the postseason's here, so it's just time to go out and have fun and let it fly."
Veteran leadership is no doubt a contributing factor for that development. Wrestling is a long season, and it is easy to become impatient, but wrestlers like seniors Manzo, Weiler and Krukowski have been around the block and can keep the atmosphere calm in the wrestling room.
"For us, for guys like Max Krukowski, who's been on that stage before, Kolten Weiler, being able to manage it mentally (is big)," Manzo said. "Mental (toughness) is a huge part of the sport, and so being able to help those guys manage it mentally is a huge part. Those guys have done a great job helping them too."
Their leadership will be needed, the Vikings hope, for at least a couple of more weeks. They've become regulars in Kalamazoo for the state final eight, and that's where they want to spend the last weekend in February again this year.
"They're the epitome of what we're looking for in all of our wrestlers," Zeerip said. "It's a great group for our underclassmen to look up to, and I've been really happy with how they've been leading us all year long."
