With the holidays coming up on everyone’s mind as the year winds down, the FHC wrestling team has yet to slow its roll even with all of the excitement in the air.

This week on Wednesday, December 15, the team put out one of its last efforts of the year to add to its record before 2022 comes to an end. The girls and boys teams both traveled to Portland High School to take on Portland and East Lansing in two extremely heated matchups. 

After starting off the season slow due to sickness plaguing the team and putting major setbacks on who could compete and practice, this week was one of the first times back for some of the wrestlers who faced adversity and were hungry for a good match. 

With the team going 1-1 for the night with a strong 45-25 win over East Lansing and a 66-12 fall to Portland, the team had lots to celebrate with some key athletes taking center stage in the night’s competition.

Senior Landon Cooke didn’t waste time getting to work against both of his opponents, and in both of his matches at 165, he was able to pin both opponents in the third period.

“Landon wrestles a very workmanlike style,” head coach Brad Anderson said. “He sticks to the basics but executes flawlessly and does not panic in tough matches. Currently, he is ranked 14th in the state and he deserves it. He has beat some good opponents and he’s going to keep climbing the ranks.“

Landon wasn’t the only star of the night though; junior Greyson Ripmaster is a force to be reckoned with and follows in Landon’s footsteps in terms of getting to work early to get the clean wins he deserves. 

“Greyson is a tough match for anybody. He’s really hard to score on and he’s very stubborn. His style frustrates people,” coach Anderson said. “He’s off to a good start this season.”

With some great performances all around by the wrestling crew, it is only a matter of time until they narrow the point game and start claiming all the wins that they deserve. 

The team’s next match will be at the Kent County Championships, at East Kentwood High School, on Saturday, December 17.