Bulldog grapplers see important action ahead of holiday break

With health and the upcoming holiday break affecting wrestlers' availability, Whitefish headed over to Great Falls and came back with some hardware.

“We were also supposed to have duals with Browning and Columbia Falls, but Browning’s school got a bomb threat,” Whitefish wrestling coach Danny Neff said.

Taylor Dorvall placed eighth in the 126-pound bracket at the CMR Girls Holiday Classic in Great Falls over the weekend in what was Whitefish’s final wrestling action before Winter Break.

“I was really excited to see our girls compete well,” Neff said. “This tournament for the girls is one of the bigger ones, and this is where we get to see a lot of wrestlers from the east side of Montana. 

“I was excited to see Taylor come back to place on the second day,” he added. “She showed a lot of heart, and I talked to the team, pointed out her heart and dedication on the mat, and said it’s one of the things all our athletes should be striving to do.”

Dorvall moved through the championship bracket with three straight pins before falling in the quarterfinals via a 10-6 decision to Ronan’s Brynn Courville.

Dorvall bounced back in the consolation bracket with a pin of Fort Benton’s Etta Wicks and would finish the tournament eighth.

Samantha Bennetts also competed in the 126-pound bracket, winning three matches and losing two.

On the boys side, Sam Akey and Carter Olson took on their respective weight brackets, and while they didn’t place, Neff said they competed well.

“For being so young, Carter and Sam did a great job,” Neff said. “I always like to see growth in tournaments like this, and we did that.”

Great Falls also hosted a JV Tournament on Saturday, and that’s where Akey and Olson really shined.

Both placed third in their brackets, getting a lot of important competitive reps under their belts.

“Carter bounced back from a mistake in the first match and recorded four pins to take third,” Neff said. “Sam really got some ideal wins under his belt that really were confidence builders.

Ihsan Gray and Axton Foley, both freshmen, got some great work in at the JV Tournament as well.

“They showed a lot of willingness to go out there and take what we learned in the practice room and put it out on the mat,” Neff said. “I’m proud of these guys; they’re new to the sport, and tournaments like this are a real eye-opener.”

Whitefish will now go into the holiday break with the goal of getting better. Neff said they’ll do a few different things during that time, including some weight room work and some focus on fundamentals.

“We need these two weeks,” Neff said. “We’re looking forward to after the break while licking our wounds a little, but we hope to come back stronger than ever.”

Tournaments tend to throw a lot of matches at kids over a short weekend, but Whitefish wrestlers are getting their work in while gearing up for Western A wrestling action.