Zeeland East Wrestling advanced five (5) wrestlers to the MHSAA Regionals yesterday.  The top four placers in each weigh bracket in Districts advance to Regionals.  Joel Ledford was District Champion at 160, Marty Landes (125) and Carter Hinson (135) were runners-up, Noah Ledford finished in 3rd place at 140, and Josh Folkers was 4th at 189.  

Joel Ledford began the day with a bye in the first round before facing off against and defeating his teammate Nick Wichers.  Joel then defeated Tyler Dull of Hastings 15-5 before heading to the finals versus Doak Dean of Lowell.  Joel had an exciting match against Dean with a come-from-behind victory.  Joel was down 4-7 with 30 seconds remaining and scored a takedown.  Joel then released Dean bringing the score to 6-8 with 10 seconds on the clock.  Joel aggressively pursued a takedown with the time speeding off the clock.  A scramble at the end of the match resulted in Dean on his back, Joel scoring a 2 point takedown AND 2 point nearfall as the time expired with a final score of Joel 10 to Dean 8.  With the victory Joel remains undefeated at 48-0.

Marty Landes (125) marched through the upper half of the bracket pinning Hayden Hoffman of Wyoming Kelloggsville in 23 seconds, pinning Aadon Wagner of Wayland at 1:20, and then a technical fall of Blake Paciencia of Byron Center with a score of 17-0 to qualify for the finals match.  Landes then faced James Link of Lowell in the finals and was defeated 7-0.

Carter Hinson (135) had a similar path though the upper half of his bracket starting with a bye in the first round, a technical fall of Mason Muilenburg of Byron Center with a score of 18-2, and then a major decision over Christian Martinez-Ramos with a score of 14-5 to qualify for the finals match.  Carter then faced Dawson Jankowski of Lowell in the finals and was defeated 5-3.

Noah Ledford (140) started the day by defeating his teammate Justin Soukhome.  Noah then defeated Andrew DellaVecchia 11-2 before falling to eventual District Champion William Link of Lowell 7-0.  Noah worked back through the consolation bracket beating Hayden Barker of Byron Center 7-6, avenging an earlier season loss to Barker.  Noah then faced DellaVecchia pinning him at 3:46 in the second period to capture 3rd.

Josh Folkers (189) began the day defeating Eli Flinsky of Hamilton with a pin at 5:07 before being defeated by Isaac Sterenberg of Hamilton by pin at 2:00.  Josh then wrestled back through the consolation bracket beating Pedro Martinez III by pin at 2:35 and Carson Noyes of Wayland by pin at 2:07 to earn his trip to Regionals.  Josh lost to Sterenberg again by pin at 0:55 placing 4th. 

Congratulations to all Zeeland East Wrestlers on a great season.  The five remaining East wrestlers will be back in action next Saturday again in Lowell for the Regional competition to try to earn a State Championship berth.  Good Luck East wrestlers.