Whitehall's 103-pounder, Logan Irey, won his weight class at the Division 3 district tournament to move onto the regionals.

He not only turned 17, but on Saturday, Feb. 11, he and 10 of his teammates qualified for the Division 3 individual regional tournament by placing in the District tournament held on the Vikings’ home mats.

The top four places in each weight class advanced to regionals.

Better yet, Irey, a junior rated number two in the state at his weight class in Division 3, won his weight class. In the finals, he pinned Jackson Lambdin of Allendale in 2:43.

In all, Whitehall had wrestlers in the championship match in nine of the 14 weight classes. From that, Whitehall came out with five district champions.

“That’s pretty cool,” said Whitehall Coach Cliff Sandee, who said the Vikings had 10 advance last year.

Sandee said his wrestlers have worked hard all season and are hitting their stride. “Everything we do is a test of how good we can be,” he said. “A lot of our guys have 10 to 15 losses. They’re peaking at the right time.”

Sandee added, “The coolest thing is every kid on the team wrestled to his seed or higher.”

He mentioned sophomore Alex Whitener (125), who was seeded seventh, but finished second in the district.

“I felt like we weren’t getting the respect we deserved.” Sandee said the wrestlers used that for motivation.

In addition to Irey at 103, district champions for Whitehall were: Nate Manthei who defeated teammate, Casey Robinson in the finals by a 6-0 decision, Dillon McCarthy (145), Logan Potter (189) and Logan Morningstar (285).

Finishing runnerup for the Vikings, along with Robinson, were: Alex Whitener (125), Josh Couturier (130), Steven Sika (152) and Joe Sika (171).

Cameron Lewis (160) finished third by decisioning Brandon Heiss of Grant 4-0 in the consolation finals.

There were wrestlers from 16 schools participating in the District 19 tournament at Whitehall High School.