The Reeths-Puffer wrestling team split four dual matches on Wednesday at Grandville High School.
The Rockets defeated Jenison 57-15 and East Kentwood 61-16 but lost to Grand Haven 42-30 and Whitehall 57-23.
Three R-P standouts posted perfect 4-0 records – Kaden Malotke (138 pounds), Ian Cook (126) and Jake Rozycki (113).
Malotke had the best day, pinning all four of his opponents - East Kentwood’s Dominic Lemos in 28 seconds, Whitehall’s Blake English (no time recorded), Grand Haven’s Tristan DeWitt (3:01) and Jenison’s Andrew Wangler (1:41).
Kaden Malotke, who pinned all four opponents on Wednesday.
Sage Secrest (165 pounds) and Omillion Wyrick (175) also had very good days, posting 3-1 records.
Secrest collected all three of his victories with pins. He stopped East Kentwood’s Cameron Stinson in 31 seconds, Whitehall’ Thaydon Reed in 3:50 and Jenison’s Brody Schuiteman in 1:21.
The Rockets had some missing wrestlers, which forced them to forfeit two weight classes in all four matches and cost them valuable team points.
Sage Secrest, who had three pins on Wednesday.
“We wrestled tough and certainly got some improvement from last year against Whitehall, but we're still not where we want to be,” said R-P wrestling coach Jared Fleming. “We came in wanting to win and get after it. We have the firepower to hang with the tough teams when we're at full strength.
“Getting guys healthy and on the mat is the toughest part. When we give up weight classes, it's hard to win duals against tough teams.”
The Rockets will return to the mat next Wednesday at Mona Shores, when they wrestle the Sailors at 5:30 p.m. in an O-K Green conference match, and Spring Lake as well.