Glacier wound up with two individual wrestling champions and Flathead had one after a long day of mat action at the Western AA seeding tournament on Saturday at Glacier High School.

Glacier sophomore Justin Gibson claimed a tough 2-1 decision over Cameron Hagel of Missoula Sentinel at 103 pounds in his final while senior Quinn Barber turned in a workmanlike 8-3 decision over Chance Stack of Sentinel at 152.

Flathead freshman Trae Vasquez put on a clinic with his 9-2 decision over Demo Koures of Missoula Big Sky at 113 in the championship session.

Flathead had a banner day on the team front, however, qualifying 21 wrestlers for this week’s state tournament in Billings.

Glacier, on the other hand, will send just 10.

The top eight wrestlers in all weight classes advance.

“We ended up with two champs, so that was good,” Glacier coach Ross Dankers said.

“I thought we finished the day really well. We had a few things go wrong early, but they fought back, they rose up and continued to fight even when there was adversity early on.”

There was no team scoring in this event.

Second-ranked Missoula Sentinel had nine finalists and four champions. Helena High totaled three champions.

“We have a lot of young guys getting in there,” Flathead coach Rich Vasquez said of his state qualifiers.

“We had a good tournament.”

Flathead had nine freshman and eight sophomores competing.

It was the third meeting of the season for Trae Vasquez and Koures. Vasquez has now won all three by decisions.

“It was a little bit of a grind,” he said this time around.

“But those matches you have to grind out are the most fun to wrestle in and the most rewarding because I know I worked hard to get the win.”

He said facing someone for a third time can be challenging.

“It’s easy because you know what works and doesn’t work for you,” he said.

“But it’s also hard because he knows what works and how to counter it.”

Vasquez advanced to the final with a pin and a major decision in earlier rounds.

Barber, who finished fifth in this event last year, was third as a sophomore and second as a freshman, finally left the mats as a champion.

“It feel great,” he said.

Barber and Stack were also facing off for the third time. Both won by pin in the earlier meetings.

In this one, Barber led 2-0 after the first period thanks to a quick takedown and was up 4-0 after two periods.

“I started out with a takedown and then I controlled him,” Barber said.

“I prevented him from escaping.”

Up 6-3 in the final period, Barber closed with another takedown.

“I kind of got what I needed and eventually won the match,” he said.

“I feel I controlled most of the match.”

Barber won his first match Saturday by pin and followed that with a decision.

Unlike the other two finalists, Gibson was tangling with someone he had yet to wrestle this season.

“I wanted to get out and score points and win the match,” Gibson said of his gameplan.

“I wasn’t paying any attention to time (left in the match). I was just trying to do my stuff.”

Gibson won his two earlier seeding matches by pin and decision.

“He’s pretty tough,” Gibson said of Hegel.

“He’s a good wrestler. It was a good win for me.”

Flathead had three finalists to Glacier’s two.

Flathead freshman Payton Hume lost in the title round 7-5 to top-ranked Jace Kovalicky of Sentinel at 132. That match was tied at 5-all at one point.

Hume won his two earlier seeding matches by pins.

Flathead sophomore Matt Gash-Gilder lost by technical fall, 15-0, to defending state champion Luke Entzel of Missoula Big Sky in the 170 final.

Glacier had just one individual champion last year, Arik Lybeck at 145. He finished fifth on Saturday at 160.

Flathead did not have a seeding tournament champion in 2014.

Western AA Seeding Tournament

Saturday

At Glacier High School

No team scoring

Top 8 individual to state

103

Championship — Justin Gibson, Glacier, dec. Cameron Hegel, Sentinel, 2-1

Third place — Hunter Newton, Sentinel, major decision Hunter Rush, Flathead, 9-0

Fifth place — Austin Murphy, Helena, dec. Bryce Shaffer, Flathead, 5-1

Seventh place — Tavis Morgan, Capital, pinned Kyle Mulcahy, Glacier, 2:39

113

Championship — Trae Vasquez, Flathead, dec. Demo Koures, Big Sky, 9-2

Third place — Nick Kunz, Capital, won by injury default over Jon Conklin, Big Sky

Fifth place — Taron Morgan, Capital, pinned Cody DeVall, Flathead, 3:34

Seventh place — Isaac Renfro, Sentinel, pinned Kyle Krstulich, Sentinel, 1:40

120

Championship — Seth Schroeck, Capital, dec. Jake Hegel, Sentinel, 7-2

Third place — Wyatt Gordon, Big Sky, pinned Kyle Tabbert, Helena, 4:30

Fifth place — Austin Gabbert, Flathead, dec. Kyle Gordon, Big Sky, 4-3

Seventh place — Tristan Traver, Sentinel, won by injury default over Michael Schmeusser, Flathead

126

Championship — Landon Bailey, Helena, pinned Asa Hoerner, Hellgate, 1:42

Third place — Dyan Guzman, Flathead, major decision Kenyon Fretwell, Flathead, 14-3

Fifth place — Kadin Lahti, Big Sky, dec. Caden Sant, Hellgate, 3-2

Seventh place — Brad Gilstrap, Helena, dec. Alex Simon, Sentinel, 9-4

132

Championship — Jace Kovalicky, Sentinel, dec. Payton Hume, Flathead, 7-5

Third place — KJ Swanson, Big Sky, dec. Travis Schulte, Capital, 4-2

Fifth place — Dylan Lewis, Hellgate, pinned JT Nygaard, Helena, 1:19

Seventh place — Sam Barber, Glacier, pinned Gage Taylor, Big Sky, 2:27

138

Championship — Dylan Duffalo, Sentinel, pinned Noah Manibusan, Helena, 1:28

Third place — Cody Decker, Glacier, pinned Shawn Olson, Hellgate, 3:40

Fifth place — Josh Brunner, Big Sky, dec. Jack Murphy, Capital, 2-0 OT

Seventh place — AJ McBroom, Capital, major decision Tyler Puddy, Sentinel, 9-1

145

Championship — Chandler Paulson, Sentinel, dec. Logan McGreevey, Big Sky, 5-3

Third place — Hayden Schrull, Helena, dec. Tyler Davis, Flathead, 7-0

Fifth place — Walker Ryan, Helena, dec. Malachi Stickler, Sentinel, 13-7

Seventh place — Nick McVey-Touchette, Capital, pinned Derek Baker, Hellgate, 2:15

152

Championship — Quinn Barber, Glacier, dec. Chance Stack, Sentinel, 8-3

Third place — Ryder Norris, Helena, dec. Brodie Long, Helena, 11-9

Fifth place — Kody Keenan, Hellgate, dec. Donavon Macura, Glacier, 8-1

Seventh place — Tucker Nadeau, Flathead, dec. Jon Andres, Big Sky, 6-1

160

Championship — Caiden Crawford, Helena, major decision Bryar Newbary, Sentinel, 14-0

Third place — Braxton Wilcox, Big Sky, dec. Anthony Wright, Flathead, 5-2

Fifth place — Arik Lybeck, Glacier, dec. Shamus Bartmess, Capital, 7-1

Seventh place — Keeven Tamol, Capital, dec. Jonas Nyman, Flathead, 3-0

170

Championship — Luke Entzel, Big Sky, tech fall Matt Gash-Gilder, Flathead, 5-0

Third place — Kory Broussard, Capital, dec. Gabe Peppenger, Sentinel, 6-1

Fifth place — Isaac Sanez, Glacier, pinned Jay Harrison, Flathead, 2:29

Seventh place — Ricky Clevenger, Helena, pinned Brenden Gallagher, Big Sky, 4:30

182

Championship — Jeremy Van Dyke, Helena, major decision David Petersen, Capital, 9-0

Third place — Cy Steele, Sentinel, dec. Logan Wilson, Flathead, 5-3

Fifth place — Jake Riekena, Big Sky, pinned Stefan Karchut, Flathead, 2:22

Seventh place — Jacob Ferkin, Glacier, pinned Tanner Stack, Sentinel, 1:47

205

Championship— Colin Hammock, Sentinel, dec. Conner Gordon, Big Sky, 5-2

Third place — Sheldon Fladland, Capital, pinned Payton Boyce, Flathead, 4:27

Fifth place — Evan Sampson, Capital, dec. Daniel Long, Flathead, 5-4

Seventh place — Kellen Bemis, Glacier, pinned Chris Powers, Helena, 2:00

285

Championship — Alan Schmitz, Capital, pinned Jake Rebish, Sentinel, 2:27

Third place — Eli Horn, Glacier, pinned Cody Howe, Flathead, 3:55

Fifth place — Riley Leigh, Flathead, dec. Angelo Flores-Cork, Capital, 6-4

Seventh place — Gabe Miller, Big Sky, pinned Tanner Schatz, Hellgate, :49