Columbia Falls has a rich tradition on the mats, but standout Shonn Roberts is looking to become the first Wildcat to join an elite group of high school wrestlers.

The three-time Class A state champion will be going for his fourth title when the season ends in February in Billings.

Only 23 wrestlers in Montana have achieved that honor.

“He put in a ton of time in the offseason,” Columbia Falls coach Jessie Schaeffer said of his senior standout.

“He went to a couple of big tournaments. He’s been all over the place. His hard work is definitely paying off.”

Roberts, the first three-time winner for the Wildcats, is coming off an exceptional junior season, winning 39 times with no losses at 126 pounds. He holds a career record of 120-4, which includes his four pins to start the current campaign last weekend at the Polson Invitational.

He won by a second-period fall in the Polson final at 138.

“He’s matured more this year,” Schaeffer said.

“The way he holds himself (off the mat), carries himself out there (on the mat).”

Schaeffer says Roberts is also a stronger wrestler technique wise, which is bad news for his competition.

Roberts will wrestle next year at the University of Great Falls.

Columbia Falls, along with Flathead, Glacier and Polson, will get a good indication of what’s to come this season this weekend at the Mining City Duals.

It’s dual or other tournament action this week for Bigfork, Eureka, Libby and Whitefish.

Class AA

Flathead

Rich Vasquez, in his second season as head coach, returns an experienced crew with high expectations.

The Braves have three returning state placers in sophomore Hunter Rush, who finished fourth at 98, and sophomore Cody DeVall, who was sixth at 98.

Rush starts this season at 103 with DeVall at 113.

Cameron Mantel, who finished sixth at state at 152, had rotator cuff surgery last month. He is a sophomore.

Vasquez said Dyan Guzman, who missed state last year because of a concussion, would have placed. He is a senior.

Sophomores Austin Gabbert, Michael Schmeusser, Jay Harrison, juniors Logan Wilson, Payton Boyce, Anthony Wright and senior Tyler Davis qualified for state last year, but did not place.

Vasquez is excited about his freshman class, which totals 19 and includes his son Trae. Trae was second in the World Team Trials last year and finished third at a national tournament in Fargo, North Dakota.

He will wrestle at 113.

“He should be a front-runner (at that weight),” coach Vasquez said of Trae.

“He has power, his mat awareness is excellent. I’m excited to see what he can do at 113, which is loaded with a lot of state placers.”

Other top freshmen candidates are Tucker Nadeau at 152 and Payton Hume at 132.

“He’s pretty talented, a real strong kid,” Vasquez said of Nadeau.

“I’m counting on him being a top four kid for us this year (at state),” Vasquez said of Hume.

“He’s real good on his feet, real offensive. He’s a good leg rider.

“On paper we are younger than last year, but we’re more experienced,” Vasquez said.

“Some of those freshmen will be impact freshmen. They will be in the fight right away.”

The Braves have a total of 43 wrestlers on their roster.

“I’m pretty excited about our depth,” Vasquez said.

“We expect to compete with the better teams. I honestly think we’re a top five team.”

Flathead finished 11th at state last year.

Glacier

Ross Dankers, in his second year as head coach of the Wolfpack, likes the work ethic of this year’s team.

“A good, scrappy, hard-working group that will progress throughout the year,” he said.

“We’re excited about this year. We have a strong core group returning from last year.”

He says there is a good mix of veterans and “new people” in the wrestling room.

The Wolfpack has two returning state placers back in Justin Gibson, who was fifth at 98, and Cody Decker, who finished fifth at 126.

Gibson is a sophomore. Decker is a senior.

“He’s hungry, not satisfied with a fifth place finish last year,” Dankers said of Gibson.

“He will make a run at 113. He’s real solid on top, gets a lot of turns there with his strength. He’s also solid on his feet. (He) has good motor.”

Regarding Decker ....

“A real physical wrestler,” Dankers said.

“He rides really well. A good leg rider. He always makes sure he gets his escapes when he’s on the bottom.”

Other state qualifiers back include Sam Barber, Austin Cheney, Cody Decker, Ryder Day, Tyler Eierdam, Quinn Barber, Arik Lybeck, Donavon Macura, Jacob Ferkin, Isaac Sanez and Andrew Brewster.

Dankers has 35 wrestlers on his roster.

“One of our goals is to place higher (at state) than we did last year,” Dankers said.

Glacier was 10th.

Class A

Columbia Falls

Schaeffer, in his 10th season, fields perhaps his most complete team to date.

The Wildcats finished third at state last year, their best showing in a decade, and return a good portion of that lineup.

“Individually they have some pretty high goals,” Schaeffer said. “Team wise it’s still too early (to make predictions), but we want to improve on last year’s performance.”

The Wildcats have six other wrestlers back who placed at state: Winfield West, sophomore, was fourth at 106 (this year 113); Nathan Fetters, sophomore, fourth at 113 (120); Haze Bell, senior, fifth as a sophomore and sixth last year at 132 (126); Cameron Linstead, junior, third at 106 (126); Spencer Ross, senior, third at heavyweight (heavyweight); and Cody Walters, senior, third at 160 (152).

“It’s a great group to work with,” Schaeffer said. “We should be salty all the way through (the lineup).”

Libby

Coach Kelly Morford, in his fourth season, returns four performers with state experience. Heading that list are senior Garret Chapel, the defending state champ at 170, and junior Zach Crace, a third place finisher at 145.

Chapel will stay at 170 while Crace moves up to 152.

Chapel won his 100th career match last year in the state final.

Crace, who was sixth as a freshman and third at state as a sophomore, is 30 wins away from breaking the Loggers’ individual career win mark.

Senior Dylan Roby, 132, and sophomore Dylan Parrish, 145, advanced to state a year ago, but did not place.

“I’m looking for a breakout year (from Roby),” Morford said.

Senior Alex Yeadon is a veteran who should contribute this winter, along with newcomer Michael Miller, who played basketball at Troy last year. Miller has wrestled in the past.

Morford is also high on two freshmen — Laine Young and Mason Sams.

“Those young guys show some promise, can hopefully do some good things,” he said.

Morford has 15 kids in the wrestling room, which is an improvement over last year. The Loggers will have three open weights.

“Some of those seniors have some big individual goals,” Morford said.

“We’ll work hard to bring the younger guys along and see where they are at, at the end of the year.”

Polson

Coach Bob Owen, in his 39th season with the Pirates and 40th overall, has three state placers back in Thunder Morales, who was fifth at 106; Tele Seemann, sixth at 182; and Isaiah Williams, sixth at heavyweight.

All three are juniors.

Seemann was a divisional champion. Williams and Jaben Wenzel, 113, were runners-up.

Polson finished third at the divisional and placed 10th at state.

The Pirates have 17 on the mats for practice, which is about the same number as last year.

“I wish I had better numbers, but we’re not the only one struggling with that,” Owen said.

“We have a really good group of freshman who came in. I’m starting six, probably starting seven. They have all been in the little guy program and were part of that group that took second in state tournament last year. The biggest thing is getting those freshmen some seasoning under them.

“They will be good. They will take their lumps in the beginning, but they will all be good wrestlers. All have potential to be state placers as freshmen.”

Owen said Seemann will benefit by dropping down to 170 this season.

“He looks pretty good at that weight. He did a lot of work out of season.

“All three (Seemann, Mike Corrigan and Williams) of my upper weights are pretty solid. They are quality wrestlers.”

Corrigan is a junior.

Wenzel was one match away from placing at state last winter.

Whitefish

Coach Ryan Boyle, in his fifth season with the Bulldogs, returns no state placers, but seven wrestlers who qualified — Dillon Thorsteinson, junior, 120 or 126; James Buckley, junior, 120 or 126; Matthew Sampson, senior, 152 or 160; Judah Prestegaard, senior, 152 or 160; Matt Carr, junior, 182; Travis Cantina, sophomore, 205; and Steven Quimby, junior, heavyweight.

Sampson, 152, and Quimby, heavyweight, were divisional runners-up last year.

“The guys are pushing each other,” Boyle said.

“Those five seniors work really hard.”

On the mats for their finals seasons are Garrett Rice, 132, Christian Newby, 132, Prestegaard, Sampson and Skyler Bowerman, 160.

Sampson, Buckley and Quimby were one win away from placing at state.

Whitefish is dealing with a few injuries to open the season, but Boyle expects his squad to be at full strength by this weekend.

Class B

Bigfork

Year 2 with the program under coach Josh Feller promises to be better.

“It’s been very encouraging,” he said after two weeks of preseason practices. “It’s kind of interesting because we have a few returners and some new kids. There is some swagger with the kids coming back and that is rubbing off on the new kids. A lot of them haven’t wrestled before.”

The Vikings return one wrestler with state experience — Vinny Quirk. He was one win away from placing last year at 182. The senior will be at 205 this season.

Bigfork has 13 wrestlers on the mat.

“Four freshmen, one sophomore, seven juniors and a senior,” Feller said.

Shade Youso, a junior at 132, and Connor Meyer, a junior at 120, are expected to be big contributors this year.

“He was a little undersized at 132 (last year),” Feller said of Youso. “(That weight class) is a little more natural fit for him this year.”

Feller said Meyer was limited last year because of an elbow injury.

“He’s looking stronger this year,” Feller said.

Feller said Bigfork will fill all but three weight classes this season, which is a big improvement from a year ago.

Eureka

Dan Lemer, in his 10th season as head coach, has two state placers back — Garrett White, a senior, who was second at 113 last year, and Zach Burden, a senior, who was fifth at 120.

White and Burden are three-time divisional champions.

“He hit the weights hard in the offseason,” Lemer, who was a state champ for Eureka in 1996 at 112 pounds, said of White. “He bulked up a little bit. He’s going up a little bit in weight at 126 to start off with.”

Lemer said Burden did a lot of work in the offseason as well.

“He’s mentally ready,” Lemer said.

“He wants it this year.”

Advancing to state last year, but not placing, were Zach Schmidt, a junior, who was third at divisionals at 126, and James Dunn, a sophomore, third at divisionals at 138.

Lemer has 14 wrestlers on the roster.

“We’re pushing toward a divisional title,” Lemer said. “We host it this year. We want to win it.”

The last time that happened he said was in the late 1990s.

“I think we have two state contenders,” he said of White and Burden.

“They are poised to take it this year.”

White starts the season with 99 career wins. Burden has 96.