Loy Norrix Sophomore Wrestler Places 2nd At States
Sophomore wrestler Heaven Cole continues to shine on the wrestling mat as she competes in the MHSAA ring of wrestling. Just last year was the first-ever state tournament for girl's wrestling in Michigan and Cole placed 3rd in her regional and 4th in the state, vowing to make a return.
This year, Heaven was on a mission as she blazed through competition and battled hard with girls and boys in her weight class before taking 1st place and winning a girls' regional wrestling title. This past weekend she took the trip to Ford Field to try and achieve the ultimate goal, a state championship.
After taking the regional crown in dominating fashion, Cole turned her focus to obtaining the state title. She would be looking to best her finish from the year before where she placed 4th and just missed the podium. And on Day 1, she showed that she was coming for the crown.
After winning her regional tournament Heaven got to relax and watch some competition as she got a bye, and her first match would come in the quarterfinals. Heaven wnet on to have a perfect first day going 3-0 and moving on to the semi-finals the following day.
She won all of her matches by pin in times of 53 seconds, 1 minute and 47 seconds, and 1 minute and 28 seconds respectively to reach the state final. In the final, she faced Khloe Williams from Clio High School in a battle to be crowned the best girls 170-pound wrestler in Michigan.
Heaven would fall to the Senior Williams who pinned Cole in just 30 seconds to take the crown. Williams had actually won all 32 of her matches this year by pin, which was a goal she had for the year. Cole finished in 2nd place in her 2nd trip to the state tournament and her first to the championship mat.
Heaven Cole went 14-3 on the year with her third and final loss coming in the state final. Heaven continues to get closer to the ultimate goal and with her efforts this year many wouldn't be surprised to see her back on the championship mat and possibly having her hand raised this time.