Ethan Weatherspoon, left, of Napoleon High School practices with Olympic hopeful and former University of Michigan wrestler Domenic Abounader during a recent practice.
By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports
A wrestling tradition started a dozen years at Napoleon High School continues today.
That tradition is a Weatherspoon winning a wrestling state title for the Pirates.
It has almost become a battle of one-upping one another in the sports arena.
Ethan Weatherspoon won a wrestling state title last year in Division 3 at 189 pounds with a 6-4 overtime win against Brockton Cook of Birch Run.
A dozen years ago his brother, Jason, started the tradition of winning state titles with a championship in the same weight class and division.
Lelund Weatherspoon duplicated Jason’s feat with a 2011 championship in Division 4 at 152 pounds. He became the school’s first undefeated state champion in the process.
A year later he won a state wrestling title at 160 pounds in Division 3.
Just for good measure, their sister Kaniya Weatherspoon won a pair of titles in track and field.
“There is definitely a competition in our family,” Ethan said. “It is all about creating your own bragging rights in the family.
“The secret is you want the next one to be better than the last one.”
That will be a long road for Weatherspoon’s eighth grade brother – also a wrestler.
If Ethan continues to win out this season – he is 32-0 – that means he will be a two-time state champion and have a pair of undefeated seasons under his belt.
A little better than Lelund who recently completed his collegiate career at Iowa State.
But Ethan was not always the polished wrestler that he is today. Weatherspoon was a state qualifier at 160 pounds as a freshman and earned all-state honors by finishing seventh at the Michigan High School Athletic Association state finals.
Weatherspoon, only a freshman, used his natural strength to defeat opponents.
“He had all the talent needed to be a great wrestler as a freshman,” NHS Coach Chip Bunker said. “He just had to learn about positioning and grow in his mental preparation.”
As a sophomore in 2017, Ethan again finished second at the individual wrestling regional at 171 pounds and earned all-state honors by finishing eighth at the state meet.
But he wanted more and did something about it. After wrestling practices, Weatherspoon began doing other workouts – running, skipping rope or swimming just to name a few.
“I took the mentality that I was not going to lose again,” Ethan said. “I wanted the winning mentality and kept pushing to be better.”
It worked as the junior blitzed through the regular season undefeated and into the wrestling playoffs. He won a regional title at 189 pounds and advanced to the championship match.
“For some reason I was not nervous my third year at the state meet,” Ethan said. “Until the finals.”
In the championship match, Weatherspoon was taken down for the first time all season and ended up in overtime with the Birch Run wrestler. But his strong mind took over again.
“I told myself I did all of the extra training, working harder than anyone else here,” Ethan said. “I was not going to waste it all by losing.
“I knew what he was going to do in overtime, so I baited him into that move and scored a takedown.”
Weatherspoon is again undefeated in 2018-19 and looking solid for a fifth family wrestling title. He plans to wrestle at the University of Virginia next fall.
The senior has learned a lot about the sport the last four years.
“There are no retakes in wrestling,” Ethan said. “It is all real-life situations that you have to react to.
“I hope it takes me all around the world someday.”
Weatherspoon is not the only wrestler in the area who has a shot at a state title. MichiganGrappler ranks wrestlers in Michigan each week. Here are the locally ranked wrestlers in the Jackson County area according to MichiganGrappler.com for Jan. 30:
DIVISION 1
JACKSON
135 – #2 Jared Riggins, Senior
DIVISION 2
JACKSON NORTHWEST
112 – HM Payne Boulter, Freshman
125 – #5 Reese Darrow, Senior
140 – #10 Jake Race, Junior
160 – HM Austin Tapley, Senior
PARMA WESTERN
103 – HM Lincoln Raczkowski, Freshman
145 – #3 Seth Phebus, Senior
DIVISION 3
MICHIGAN CENTER
125 – #1 Corey Gamet, Senior
130 – #2 Josh Rankin, Senior
285 – #2 Brock Kuhn, Senior
DIVISION 4
ADDISON
130 – #6 Nathan Rodlund, Sophomore
NAPOLEON
189 – #1 Ethan Weatherspoon, Senior
GRASS LAKE
140 – #9 Barrett Bagby, Senior
171 – #8 Trenton Holden, Sophomore
LUMEN CHRISTI
125 – HM Drake Frederick, Senior
SPRINGPORT
112 – #5 Robert Paterson, Sophomore
119 – HM Trenton Graddy, Senior
140 – #3 Thomas Potter, Junior
145 – #9 Zach Potter, Senior
215 – #5 Aaron Ludwig, Senior
HANOVER HORTON
119 – #9 Randy Frailey, Sophomore
189 – HM Trent Hocter, Sophomore