The last week was a whirlwind for Zeeland East Wrestling as we celebrated Gavin Drenten placing 6^th in State and then concluded with our year end banquet on Tuesday. 

Last weekend Gavin wrapped up his season by finishing in 6^th Place at the Individual State meet at Ford Field in Detroit.  While Gavin entered the meet with one of the top records in his weight class, placing was not a foregone conclusion.  Nothing at State comes easy.  We woke up Friday morning to the bad news in a text from his dad stating “Gavin is running a fever and hasn’t slept all night.  He doesn’t think he can wrestle like this.”  After significantly delaying to give time for cold medicine to take effect we left the hotel for Ford Field missing the warm-ups and pageantry.  Gavin’s first match went almost as anticipated for someone slightly dazed on medication and still feeling ill losing to Kaden Lapaugh of Dewitt by pin at 1:07.  Over the course of the next few hours as his fever subsided and the medication wore off Gavin was able to beat Noah Dalke of St Joseph by pin in the second period.  Then in the blood round, Gavin defeated Levi Baker of Fowlerville by major decision 12-0 to secure his place as an All-State Wrestler.  The next day saw Gavin square-off against Alex Buskirk of Greenville who had barely beat Gavin in Regionals two weeks prior 8 to 7.  This time however, Gavin prevailed by pinning Buskirk in the second period at 3:46 to continue to climb the placement ladder.  The next match pitted Gavin against Trenden Bashore of Dewitt who defeated Gavin in a close match by final score of 4-2.  The loss put Gavin into the 5^th-6^th place match with a rematch versus Lapaugh.  While this match was a little closer, Gavin still fell by decision to Lapaugh with a score of 13-7 earning Gavin 6^th in State. 

Gavin is only the second sophomore under the current coaching staff (since at least 2010) to achieve All-State honors.  Along the way this year has set new school records for falls (39) and total near-fall (104). His 49 records place him in the top four (4) all-time in season wins in Zeeland East.  His career record at end of only his sophomore season is a spectacular 91-14 which is the best in Zeeland East history. Gavin was also awarded MHSAA Individual Academic All-State honors with a GPA over 3.8.

On Tuesday night, the East Wrestling team gathered to celebrate the team’s season.  The celebration included awards for Freshman Phenom to Ben DeLost, Most Improved Wrestler to Gabe Amid, 15^th Wrestler to Eric Segocia-Estupinan and Gavin Maurer, and the team Stats award and Most Valuable Wrestler to Gavin Drenten.  Additionally, the team was awarded MHSAA Team Academic All-State for the 6^th year in a row with a Team GPA of 3.57.

The East wrestling team will continue to be active in the off-season with multiple events including hosting a WAAAM tournament on March 18, open wrestling rooms throughout the rest of the school year, pop-up clinics by current college wrestlers throughout the off-season, and most importantly hosting a team camp on August 4-6 with Jake Herbert (3x big Ten Champion, 4x NCAA All American, 2x NCAA Champion, and 2012 Olympic wrestler).