By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
Recent Allegan graduate Luke Wedge was a member of the boys soccer program all four years of high school and wrestled for the last two years.
For his efforts in those sports, Wedge was named as the 2025 recipient of the vanMelle Award, which the Allegan Athletic Department presents annually to the top male athlete of the graduating class.
According to Wedge, he couldn’t image what his life would be like without sports in it, as he got involved in athletics at an early age.
“I started playing soccer when I was pretty young, around six years old,” he said. “I love it right away. I just like being active and being able to run around out there.”
In addition to the more traditional school-sponsored sports in which Wedge participated, he was also active in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and kickboxing.
It was one of those sports that he actually enjoyed the most.
“My favorite sport was Brazilian jiu-jitsu,” he said. “There’s just so much to learn from it and it can teach you a lot of great lessons about life.”
Given his passion for Brazilian jiu-jitsu, it should come as no surprise that Wedge eventually decided to give wrestling a try during his junior year at Allegan.
Because while jiu-jitsu and wrestling have several distinctions, they are similar in that they are both “grappling-based combat sports that share foundational techniques like takedowns, sweeps and various control positions.”
Allegan wrestling coach Chase Beard is definitely glad Wedge joined the team.
After winning district and regional championships, the Tigers advanced to the state level of the postseason tournament for the first time since 2019.
In its Division 3 quarterfinal match against Hart, Allegan trailed 24-19 with four weight classes remaining. That’s when Wedge earned a 15-7 decision at 138 pounds before Treydan Vanderkooi picked up a pin at 144.
That put the Tigers up 28-24 with just two weight classes left to be decided.
A 10-3 decision by Landon Fance-Coulson upped Allegan’s lead to 31-24, thereby guaranteeing the win for the Tigers.
“After (Wedge) won that 138-pound match, I knew that the dual was over, even with three weight classes remaining,” Beard said.
And while the Tigers fell in the semifinals to eventual state champion Dundee, the experience was one to remember for Wedge.
“Being on the team that made it back to the state tournament is one of my favorite memories from high school sports,” Wedge said.
Another favorite memory was competing at the individual State Finals.
Wedge went 1-2 in his matches.
“To compete at the State Finals as a team and individually was a great experience,” Wedge said.
It was those experiences—as well as the others he had during his high school athletic career—that taught Wedge some great lessons.
“Athletes taught me that as long as you try, you can achieve great things,” he said. “The key is just to work harder to improve myself.”
According to Wedge, Allegan boys soccer coach Aaron Rogers helped him learn those lessons and many others.
“Coach Rogers was a coach who really made an impact on me,” Wedge said. “He’s just an overall a good guy and taught me a lot about good sportsmanship.”
Moving forward, Wedge plans “to keep working and training” with a goal of opening his own gym in the future.
