Grapplers compete in Butte, Kalispell
Nancy Underdahl | Hungry Horse News | UPDATED 1 day, 2 hours AGO
Kloey Wager of Columbia Falls takes on Olivia Johnson of Simms at the Kalispell Invitational last week.
Columbia Falls grapplers had a busy week on the mats.
The boys team had a couple of matchups this past week. The first being on Dec. 9 for the Bigfork Quad and then Butte for the Mining City Duals on Dec. 12-13.
“Against Bigfork, we wrestled a mixer format to match up our kids the best we could with kids around the same experience and abilities. We wrestled a total of 14 matches that night and ended up winning 9 of the 14. Fun night of wrestling for the team,” said coach Jessie Schaeffer.
The Mining City Duals started off with the Cats ending the first day of competition 2-1 on Friday in the pool play. Wins would come against both South Fremont (ID) and the Warriors out of Ronan. They would beat South Fremont 41-31 and Ronan 47-36. Billings West, Class AA, would prove to be too much for the team with a loss of 73-5.
“In Butte, the kids wrestled with a lot of heart! We started right out of the gate with Billings West who ended up as the overall tournament champions. We took our lumps in that dual but the boys responded well. Coming up with dual victories against South Fremont and Ronan to finish Friday’s competition and finding ourselves in the championship bracket on Saturday,” Schaeffer said. “I think the highlight dual for us was against Gonzaga Prep and just how the boys wrestled against them. It was exciting to see the team improve from one dual to the next. By the end of the weekend, our boys were stepping out on the mat with a goal and the confidence to compete.
“The boys knew going into the competition it would be a test of their skills early in the season, and the championship rounds on Saturday had them going 0-2. They fell to both Gonzaga Prep, out of Spokane, 50-28, and then Frenchtown 46-30.
Kolbe and Blaise Cronk were both highlights for the weekend. Kolbe, at 138 pounds, went 4-1 and Blaise, 165 pounds, once again had a stellar weekend. He would end his tournament with three pins and a technical fall.
“In a dual format, all are important when it comes down to the end result. But I would like to shout out to Brander Christianson, K. Cronk, Kale Schaeffer, B. Cronk (6-0 and the only one to get undefeated), and Kolton McCoy on their performances. K. Cronk was named our athlete of the week for his hard work, continual never give up attitude, his coachability over the weekend, and his overall performance,” Schaeffer said.
The Cats will be sending a small team off to the Holiday Classic in Great Falls on Dec. 19-20, and a team off to Corvallis on Dec. 20.
The Columbia Falls girls wrestling team faced stiff competition this past weekend at the Flathead Girls Invitational on Dec. 12-13 in Kalispell.
Korah Yerian earned a 6th place medal in the 135-pound division, making her the only medalist for the Cats at the tournament. Overall, the team would come in 16th with 59 total points out of 29 teams varying from Class AA to Class C.