For a lot of standout high school wrestlers, reaching the 100-victory career mark tops off a list of goals that have already been achieved.
For Reeths-Puffer senior Kaden Malotke, it’s just the opposite.
He still has several big items to shoot for in his final season of varsity wrestling, like winning district and regional championships and earning All-State status at the MHSAA state finals.
He might have accomplished those things last season, but a hand injury severely limited his effectiveness.
So for Malotke, reaching 100 career wins is just the launching point of his final effort to get things done.
R-P senior wrestler Kaden Malotke
“I still have a big bucket list,” he said. “I’m shooting for the stars this year.”
It’s not that Malotke wasn’t excited about reaching 100 career victories, which happened on Wednesday at Fruitport High School when he pinned Fruitport’s Blair Zimmer in 1:56.
“I can’t even explain it – it’s like a dream,” Malotke said. “I’ve been counting down since last year. I’ve been in contact with my old head coach, to make sure I had all the records correct. If feels like something I’ve achieved that not many people get to do.”
R-P wrestling coach Jared Fleming knew how excited Malotke was about the pending milestone.
“He’s been talking about when it might happen for a couple of weeks,” said Fleming, who was a 100-win wrestler himself in high school. “We’ve been kind of counting down the days with him.”
Malotke poses with his 100-victory poster, flanked by his dad, Casey Malotke, and his mom, April Fox. Photo/Joe Lane
More excitement could be just around the corner for Malotke, for things that were just out of his reach last season.
He was cruising through a great junior season when an opponent landed on his left hand in a regular season match at Montague. X-rays revealed that he broke a single bone in the hand, but it was enough to inhibit his ability to compete at full strength for the rest of the season.
“Everything just swelled up in my hand,” he said. “I had the trainer tape up everything and I wrestled two more matches that day, but by then it was swollen up like a golf ball.
“My mom was stressing out and took me for an X-ray. Luckily it was a clean break. They told me if I had broken it any more I would have needed surgery to get a pin in my hand.”
Malotke missed several weeks of competition, then returned for the postseason with a cast on his hand.
Malotke has had his hand raised in victory a lot throughout his career. Photo/Joe Lane
He advanced to the finals in the 135-pound class at the district tournament, then withdrew before competing for the title, since he had already qualified for regionals.
"I was in a lot of pain,” Malotke said. “I couldn’t do it anymore.”
He tried to push all the way through regionals with the injury, but it still held him back.
“I qualified for the third-place match, but I couldn’t beat that kid,” Malotke said. “It’s pretty tough to wrestle good competition with one hand. I couldn’t hold on to anything. I had three fingers that I was able to use, but two of them were taped to the cast to hold it in place, so really I just had my thumb.”
The fourth-place finish at regionals sent Malotke to the Division 2 state finals, where he needed one more victory in what they call the “blood round” (AKA loser’s bracket) to finish in the top eight in the 135 division and earn All-State status, but he lost.
Malotke is at full strength this season, with a 30-1 record and 20 pins. Photo/Joe Lane
“I lost a close one in the first match, then I pinned a kid, but then I lost again in the blood round,” he said. “It was pretty tough. If I had been healthy I never would have ended up in the blood round.”
Malotke was completely healed by spring, and in the summer was invited to be a member of Team Michigan Blue, a collection of top high school wrestlers from around the state who travel around the nation and compete as a team against top kids from other states.
He did very well, posting a 10-2 record and earning All-American honors.
“I learned so much from that, and made a lot of friends, too,” Malotke said. “I really needed that. It was a big confidence booster after going through the injury.”
This season a healthy Malotke has been on a tear, posting a 30-1 record so far with 20 pins – four more than he had all of last season.
Malotke closes in on a pin in a recent match. Photo/Joe Lane
He’s become more of an aggressive wrestler, particularly now that he’s become less dependent on the “chin whip” move, which he used very effectively when he only had one good hand.
“When someone is grabbing you around the legs, you grab their chin and their legs, throw their head to the side and they go straight on their back,” he said. “It was the move that helped me get out of the blood round at regionals last year and make state.”
The problem with depending too much on the “chin whip” is that it’s a reactive move against opponents who are being the aggressors. This year Malotke is being far more aggressive himself, and it’s working out well.
"He’s really developed more offensively on his feet and he’s getting more takedowns,” Coach Fleming said. “He really got reliant on the chin whip last year. That’s really how he got to state, using that over and over, but you can’t do that all the time against really good opponents. It’s been a joy to watch him wrestle this year. He’s really looking sharp.”
The first remaining item on Malotke’s “bucket list” will come next Saturday when R-P competes in the Greater Muskegon Athletic Association City Tournament at Montague High School.
He probably would have won an individual city championship at 130 pounds last season, but chose to move up to the 135-pound class to take on Montague’s Cale Coppess, who was one of the top wrestlers in the state.
Malotke lost to Coppess in the finals, but doesn’t regret the decision to challenge himself against a tough opponent.
“He was ranked first in the state in Division 3, and I knew, even if I lost, it would be a good learning experience,” he said.
This year, with only one more chance, Malotke is definitely aiming for a city title before turning his attention to other unfinished business.
“That’s big on my bucket list,” he said. “I would love to win that this year.”
