LAST YEAR: The Trojans had another great season, posting a 15-3 dual match record. Along the way they won the O-K Silver conference championship – their first conference title since 2014 – by going 5-0 in dual matches and taking first place at the O-K Silver tournament. They also won their third straight Division 2 district championship with easy victories over Coopersville and Spring Lake, and advanced to team regionals before falling in a heartbreaker, 33-31 to Zeeland East.

LOTS OF TALENT RETURNING: Fruitport is not expected to skip a beat this season with eight wrestlers returning from last season’s starting lineup, including five regional qualifiers,  and two who advanced even further to the individual state finals. The returning state qualifiers are senior Cooper Lengkeek (169 pounds, 39-8 last year) and junior Zach Aardema (138, 31-10). The other three who advanced to regionals are seniors Luke Westerlund (285, 28-13) and Davis Johnson (150, 36-11) and sophomore Alex Aardema (157, 31-15). Also back are in the lineup are seniors Blair Zimmer (175, 25-14),  Chase Rosema (215, 30-12) and Kalan Teeter (175, 17-22). Fruitport will have lots of experience and leadership, with 12 seniors on the team.

Davis Johnson (top) in action last season.

ADDED DEPTH: Sophomore Colton Smith (190), who won 10 matches at the varsity level and was a JV standout last year, is also back to give the Trojans more depth.

PROMISING NEWCOMERS: Freshmen Austin Jacobs (106), Rylan Thorson (113) and Murphy Lengkeek (144) are three of many good young wrestlers who will start working their way into the Trojan attack.

BIG ROSTER NUMBERS: While some schools struggle to find enough wrestlers to fill out a lineup, that’s not an issue at Fruitport. The Trojans have 54 wrestlers in the high school program this winter, which is way more than enough to field high quality varsity and junior varsity teams. That number includes 12 seniors, 6 juniors, 12 sophomores and 20 freshmen.

Luke Westerlund (left) in a match last season.

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FIRST COMPETITION: The Trojans will open the season by competing in a four-team event on Wednesday at Zeeland East.

COACH COMMENT: “We’re looking forward to a strong season and building on the success of last year. Our lineup has solid depth at every weight class and plenty of wrestling experience throughout the roster. Several athletes have also put in meaningful work during the offseason, and we’re eager to see that effort show on the mat.” – Chad Johnsonstorage