It's been 20 years since the Knight's Wrestling Program has won a Team District Championship....and it's only been accomplished 3 other times in past 55 years of school history!  

The "2022" team has done it!! The Knight Wrestling Team traveled to Kelloggsville this past Thursday for the D2 Districts.  

In the first round the Knights defeated Godwin Heights 46-33 to advance to the finals.  In the championship round the Knights beat Kelloggsville 51-28.  

The Team Trophy will be passed around the school to share the school pride!!

Congratulations to the following 25 members of the Knights Wrestling Team:

Ayla Lipscomb

Jackson Pinkelman

Euguene Barrientes

WIll Landero

Shofi Alom

Jacob Whalen

Seth Peebles

Jacob Collins

Allona LaFond

Van Bruin

Lucas Sage

Harley Bentley

Jake Jonker

Kayden Smith

Nate Moe

Henry Wolfe

Clark VanDop

Gabe Gatson

Brenden O'Dell-Sims

Sam Johnston

Anthony Winston

Kiel VanDyken

Josh Smith

Natalie McCune

This past Wednesday the Knights dropped the first dual to the returning conference champions Thornapple Kellogg before going on to takedown cross-conference rivals Sparta!  The Knight came into the night "short-staffed" on the varsity level due to illnesses but found willing depth calling up four wrestlers from the Junior Varsity to assist!  In addition, several wrestlers were asked to bump up weight classes to help fill the line-up and some dropped a weight class to give the Knights the best possible match ups.  Nate Moe dropped to 140# to win by a quick PIN over Cy Aune and recorded 6 points for the Knights!  Other Knights coming up with BIG wins were Jackson Pinkelman #112 defeating Joe DeKorne 10-8, Jake Jonker 135# won by pin at 1:50, Kayden Smith 145# won by decision 3-0, Clark VanDop 160#, Sam Johnston 189# and Ayla Lipscomb 103# all won as well.  The dual was all tied up 36-36 and came down to the final match of the night where Sophomore Eugene Barrientes came up big at 119# with the PIN over Zach DeKorne to give the Knights the victory 42-36. Coach Bennett added, "while we didn't get all the match ups we wanted, this team keeps showing so much passion, they love to compete and work together to find a way to exceed expectations. They actually care about each other , they have come together as a family and trust their training."

This past week the Knights kicked off the 2021-22 wrestling season with a great deal of success!  On Wednesday, Dec. 8th the team defeated Kelloggsville and tied Northview (decided on 10th criteria) before traveling to Mona Shores on Saturday, Dec. 11th where the team took 2nd place out of 12 teams!  

The team is 27 members strong!  22 Wrestlers representing the boys team and 5 Wrestlers representing the girls team!  

The team travels to GR Catholic Central tonight at 5:30pm to take on the Cougars and Belding in a quad meet.  

Team captains this season are Jackson Pinkelman, Nate Moe, Jake Jonker and Ayla Lipscomb!  

Off to fast start this season is Sophomore, Eugene Barrientes at 119#.  Eugene is a perfect 5-0 on the season and took home the Championship in his respective weight class at the Mona Shores Invitational. 

Winning is the new norm in the Knights wrestling room!  The schedule is tougher this year then it's been in awhile and yet six wrestlers are flexing their muscles by boosting winning records!

Al Lipscomb (103) 7-2

Jackson Pinkelman (112) 8-3

Eugene Barrientes (119) 8-2

Jake Jonker (140) 8-3

Nate Moe (145) 8-2

Keil VanDyken (189) 8-5

This past week Al Lipscomb lead the team with a 1st Place finish at the Kent County Championships.  Also 5 others reaching the podium for Kenowa were Nate Moe (2nd), Kaia Schenk (2nd), Jake Jonker (3rd), Allona LaFond (4th), Keil VanDyken (6th).

The team travels to Grandville on Wednesday for the Marge & Tate Duals.

Freshman Kiel VanDyken is getting better each week and is willing to do whatever he's called upon to support the team!  VanDyken has already posted 11 Varsity Wins and has contributed the most team points this season.  What makes Kiel's contribution impressive is he's willingness to put the team first.  He's competing at 189# and is willing to go up a weight class to 215# when needed, both these weight classes are upperclassmen dominated weights!   Today at Grandville, Kiel went 3-1 all by pin scoring 18 team points vs D1 East Kentwood, D1 Jenisoin and Adrian HS.  Another underclassman stepping up today contributing 12 team points by bumping up to a higher weight class is Sophomore Eugene Barrientes.  Eugene bumped from 119# to 125# today to gain a major decision 11-0 verses D1 Jenison and scoring a win by pin at 125# vs D1 East Kentwood.  Eugene has also reached double digit varsity wins on the season with 10 victories.  Another Sophomore in the varsity line up today is Jake Jonker going 3-1 competing at 140# and is now 11-3 on the season.  Senior Nate Moe went 3-1 at 145# and is chasing an individual accolade closing in on 100 career wins.  Senior Team Captain Jackson Pinkelman had a big win over D1 East Kentwood at 112# by a hard fought score of 9-8.  

The Knights sent 21 wrestlers to Grandville today, gaining high level competitive mat time against some of the States best!

The SIX seniors had a successful send off on January 12th with a win over Forest Hills Eastern and Godwin Heights!  

Coaches Bennett & Troost are honored to have the following senior leadership for the 2022 season!

Join us in recognizing the following senior wrestlers:

Jackson Pinkelman

Nate Moe

Josh Smith

Kaia Schenk

Natalie McCune 

Shofi Alom

It took a TEAM effort last Friday night under the SPOT LIGHTS at D1 Forest Hills Central HS to walk off with the victory 38-36.  The lead switched hands several times on the night...and while it came down to the last match with Senior Jackson Pinkelman winning the battle at 112#, it took everyone's help.  But according to the Senior Captain Pinkelman, the spark that changed the momentum came from a freshman earlier in the dual casting credit to Seth Peebles at 135#.  Seth was competing in his first varsity competition of his career winning 5-4.  

The Knight's Wrestlers have been facing some of the States best competition this season and it's preparing the team and individuals for success in the post season!  

The team has faced multiple D1 & Ranked opponents this season!  Team record is currently 7-11 overall and 1-2 in conference duals.  The Knights have entered 3 very tough individual format tournaments placing 2nd of 12 in Mona Shores Invite; 10th of 20 in the Kent County Championships and 8th of 12 in the Grand Haven Invite.  Next weekend the varsity travels to a 23 team individual tournament at Battle Creek Central and the JV travel to a Varsity B/C tournament at Rockford!  

Nine Kenowa Hills Wrestlers currently have winning records:

Jake Jonker 24-4, Nate Moe 22-5, Al Lipscomb 20-9; Keil VanDyken 20-11, Eugene Barrientes 19-7, Jackson Pinkelman 17-12, Seth Peebles 10-5, Kayden Smith 7-5, and Jacob Collins 6-4.  

Four KNIGHTS have PLACED in every tournament entered this season!

Jackson Pinkelman placed 2nd at Mona Shores, 4th at Kent County Championships and 7th at Grand Haven Invite.

Jake Jonker placed 2nd at Mona Shores, 3rd at Kent County Championships and 1st at Grand Haven Invite.

Nate Moe placed 2nd at Mona Shores, 2nd at Kent County Championships and 2nd at Grand Haven Invite.

Keil VanDyken placed 4th at Mona Shores, 6th at Kent County Championships and 5th at Grand Haven Invite.

BIG TEAM WINS this season for the Knights includes:

60-24 over Kelloggsville, 54-30 over Hopkins, 48-45 over Forest Hills Eastern, 49-30 over Godwin Heights, 38-36 over Foresrt Hills Central, 42-36 over Sparta, and 54-27 over Thornapple Kellogg B.  

On the GIRLS TEAM the Knights have 3 currently STATE RANKED wrestlers Ayla Lipscomb at 100#, Natalie McCune at 145# and Kaia Schenk at 255#.  Ayla Lipscomb won the Kent County Championships.  Allona LaFond is making her presence known at 120# as well having placed 4th at Kent County Championships and 2nd at Grand Haven Invite! 

The Knights have 2 weeks remaining in the regular season facing Cedar Springs and Comstock Park  on Wednesday and Wayland and Kelloggsville next week Wednesday and the OK Gold Conference Tournament the following Saturday!  Team District will be held Feb. 10th at Kelloggsville and Individual Districts Feb. 12th at Whitehall!

Looking forward to seeing the Knights finish the season strong!!

Senior Nate Moe lead the Knights today with securing an Individual Conference Championship at 140# with an Overtime Victory in his finals match vs Lane Button of Wayland 2-0.  

Senior Josh Smith, Junior Kayden Smith finished as conference runner-ups!

Sophomore Jake Jonker dropped a close 4-3 match in the semi-finals but finished the day strong to take 3rd and improve his record to 32-6 on the season.  Also finishing 3rd were Al Lipscomb, Sam Johnston and Kiel VanDyken.  Jackson Pinkelman and Anthony Winston took 4th.  

Harley Bentley went undefeated to win the OK Gold JV Conference Championships.  Also placing in the JV Conference were Seth Peebles 2nd and Clark VanDop 3rd.  

The team heads to Kelloggsville to compete for a TEAM DISTRICT title on Thursday and Individual District on Saturday at Whitehall.  

The Knights entered 13 wrestlers in the D2 Individual DIstricts on Saturday at Whitehall HS....9 of which are underclassman and will return next season!   

The following wrestlers advanced past the first round of the day, Jackson Pinkelman, Eugene Barrientes, Seth Peebles, Jacob Whalen, Jake Jonker, Nate Moe and Kiel VanDyken!  Barrientes fought through season ending injury; while Peebles, VanDyken and Moe battled back though several tough tournament day obstacles winning 2 matches each.  

At the end of the day, Sophomore Jake Jonker went 3-1 reaching  the podium at 135#. Jake placed 3rd and will carry his 38-7 season record into Individual Regionals next Saturday.  

The team has reached the TOP 32 in the State and will compete in the semi-finals of Team Regionals this Wednesday facing off against D2 Ranked #2 Whitehall.  Winner will advance to the finals vs either Hamilton or Allendale for a chance to reach the Team State Finals!

On Sunday, February 20th the Knights will have three wrestlers battling to earn a trip to the MHSAA State Wrestling Finals for the Girls Division at Ford Field!  

Competing for the Knights will be Sophomore Ayla Lipscomb at 100#, Sophomore Allona LaFond at 130# and Senior Kaia Schenk at 190#.  Lipsomb and Schenk are both returning All-State Wrestlers and have competed on the boys varsity team all season!  

The wrestling team beat conference foe Cedar Springs in round one 56-24 and were defeated by Comstock Park 72-12.  

Anthony Winston 171#, Jake Jonker 140# and Kayden Smith 145# went 2-0 on the night!  Sophomore Jake Jonker improved his overall season record to 26 wins and only 4 close losses to high state caliber opponents!  

This Saturday the VARSITY line-up is splitting up between two locations sending 7 wrestlers to Battle Creek Central and 16 wrestlers to Rockford.