It’s time, time to fight for the right to wrestle and to move on to the bright lights of Billings and the Montana All-Class tournament.

The Montana high school wrestling campaign enters its post season this week with the Western B-C divisional meet at the Civic Center in Butte, beginning Friday and wrapping up Saturday in the Mining City.

The top eight finishers in each weight class, plus or minus one or two depending on the circumstances, will earn their ways into the State B-C portion of the 2026 Montana All-Class wrestling tournament at Metra Park in Billings Feb. 19-21.

Locally, teams from Superior (which also includes a few athletes from St. Regis), Plains-Hot Springs and Thompson Falls will all have wrestlers in the hunt hoping to gain entry into the biggest prep wrestling show in Montana at the storied Metra in Billings.

“This is a very tough tournament, one that you have to earn your way through,” Superior coach Charlie Crabb said of the super divisional, as it has become to be called. “And this is where the work you put in all year matters. Every match you have wrestled all season is important in determining seeding, and any advantage you can have at this level can make the difference between moving on or going home.”

Displaying the best credentials for advancing are this area’s three grapplers who were ranked in the top six of their weights in the state last week.

From the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks Weston Block is ranked No. 4 among Montana B-C wrestlers at 118 pounds, from the Superior Bobcats Turner Milender is No. 4 at 165 and from Plains-Hot Springs Beau Crabb is No. 6 at 150.

The Bobcats competed at the Buzz Lucey Memorial tournament Saturday to mark the end of regular season mat action.

Milender won first place at 165 and Sam Doughty second at 150 in the Lucey meet. Coach Crabb said that Cael Crabb (138) and Ethan Durovey (157) also wrestled in Eureka

but that two other Bobcat grapplers stayed home sick, a seemingly recurring theme in Montana high school sports this winter, affecting most every team at one point or another.

Sensing some at least minor improvement in the sickness area, Crabb says the tournament is tough enough already without factoring in illness. He has been looking at the brackets his wrestlers will have to contend with in Butte.

“I’ve been eyeballing a few things but what it comes down to is pretty simple really,” he said. “To get to state you have to beat somebody. You have to go out and wrestle your best when it counts.”

The Thompson Falls and Plains-Hot Springs wrestling squads have also been devastated by mass illnesses so far this season but will also look to make a go of it in Butte this week.

For the Thompson Falls boys besides Block, Jonathan Toyias and Ethan Traver have been wrestling at 118 pounds, Billy Albano has been going at 103, Carson Kenney 138, Easton Helvey 157, Liam Pallister 175, Zarek Pallister at 217 and Jacobe Wood and Pierce Hutton at 285 will be wrestling in Butte.

For the Hawk girls, Lexi Volk-Ocacoa will compete at 110 pounds and Aubree Cribbs and Matea Keefe at 115.

From Plains-Hot Springs, Matthew Thurston (126 pounds), Billyray Holotta, Remy Ryan and Andrew Waterbury (all 144), and Brock Ryan and Cody West (157) are expected to compete for the Savage Horsemen, while Kiara Brown (125), Ireland Corbin (130) and Hila Wright (155) will wrestle for the P-HS girls.