This was the performance Coach Charlie Crabb’s Superior Bobcats wrestlers have been building for and looking for all season.

Their talent and depth was on full display this past Saturday as the Cats used championship efforts and strength up and down the lineup to win the team title at the Ted Kato Invitational event in Thompson Falls.

With individual champions in three weight categories and runner-up finishes from three others, the Bobcats amassed 154.5 team points to easily outdistance second place Fort Benton, which had 114.0 points.

Host team Thompson Falls also crowned a pair of individual weight class champions, while Plains/Hot Springs had one champion and several top five finishers in what was a strong weekend for Sanders and Mineral County high school wrestlers.

Plains/Hot Springs and T Falls finished tied for seventh in the 16-team field before a packed house crowd at the Thompson Falls High gym. Both schools had 86 team points.

Leading the way for Superior were two seniors who have collected multiple meet championships during the 2022-23 season.

Decker Milender captured the 126-pound title and ran his season record to 32-7 when he pinned Plains/Hot Springs’ senior Jacob Schulze at the 3:36 mark of their title bout.

Thompson Falls wrestler Diego Long was fourth at 126.

The Bobcats also got an individual champion at the other end of the weight class spectrum when 285-pounder Chandon Vulles continued his impressive season by pinning Fort Benton’s Damian Ort in 2:28. The victory boosted Vulles season record to 27-6.

Sophomore Kaleb Pearce added to the Bobcats’ point total with his third-place showing at 285, winning by fall over Hal McGregor of Cascade.

Perhaps the most dominating performance of the meet came from Thompson Falls 160-pounder Eli Ratliff, who captured the weight class title with a pin of Fort Benton’s Cade Ball. Ratliff, a senior multiple sport standout for the Blue Hawks, won his opening match by pin in less than a minute as he rolled to the 160-pound championship.

Ratliff is now 29-1 on the year.

He was joined by teammate Max Hannum who won a 12-7 decision over McCoy Banner of Fairfield in the 170 pound category. The Blue Hawks junior upped his season mark to 21-5 with the 12-7 win.

Plains/Hot Springs grappler John Waterbury also got in on the local championship haul when he muscled out a 9-5 decision over fellow Savage Horseman Drew Carey at 132 pounds. Waterbury pushed his season mark to 32-4 with the win, while Carey now stands at 26-4.

In collecting the team title, Superior also got second place medals from Micah Acker at 120 pounds, eighth-grader Turner Milender, 152 pounds, and Jaxon Green, another Superior junior, who was runner-up in the 205 pound division.

The Savage Horsemen, meanwhile, got a third place finish from Mason Elliot (145), and a pair of fourth-place medals from Donny Nelson (145) and Gabe Rasmussen (182).

The other local wrestler to finish in the top five was Thompson Falls 152-pounder Noa Stevens.

The annual meet, held in honor of local wrestling legend Ted Kato, attracted teams from throughout Western Montana and two teams from North Idaho.

All three local teams will participate in the Thompson Falls Mixer this Thursday, then all three will journey to St. Ignatius for the Mission Invitation tournament this Saturday.