Turner Milender won his way into the championship match at 165 pounds and settled for second place after falling by decision in the final to lead a contingent of five Bobcats at the State B-C portion of the Montana All-Class wrestling tournament in Billings last week.

Dyon Arbogast (132 pounds), Cael Crabb (138), Wade Calloway (144) and Sam Doughty (150) also wrestled well, representing Superior after winning the opportunity to compete in Billings the week before at the Western B-C Divisional in Butte.

All said and done, another fine season of Superior Bobcat wrestling in the eyes of coach Charlie Crabb, who has attended his fair share of these always tough tournaments, first as a young wrestler for the Cats himself, and now as the coach and mentor.

“It was an incredibly tough tournament this year,” he said. “Normally there is a little bit of drop-off at some weights but not at this tournament. It seemed solid all the way through, there were no easy matches for anyone.”

Milender seemed to take exception to his coach’s rule however, in propelling himself into the 165 championship match. The Western B-C champ and the top seed into the State B-C, Milender almost made it look kind of easy in rolling to the championship match and the bright lights and hoopla of title night in the Magic City.

Starting Thursday, Turner turned and pinned R. Mikkelson of Shepherd in 2:21 of the first round then, enjoying a fantastic Friday Milender cemented his spot in the final by scoring a major decision 11-3 decision over Chinook’s G. Crowley in the quarterfinals and pinning Colstrip’s K. Heck in 1:38 of the semifinals.

Milender lost a hard-fought 8-4 decision to Glasgow’s W. Kirkland in the 165 championship. “Turner wrestled well. He fell a little behind early and we couldn’t catch up,” coach Crabb offered. “He had a great season though, and should be back to get after it again next year.” Milender is a junior.

Crabb said Calloway won two matches in the very challenging competitive environment in Billings, Arbogast won one and that his son Cael, an eighth grader, and

Doughty also wrestled well on the sport’s biggest stage in Montana. Coach Crabb said he enjoyed the season as much as any he has experienced.

“We never had a bad practice all season, everybody was on the same page. We wrestled hard, learned some, had some fun,” he reminisced while speaking on phone, traveling home Sunday on a bus, somewhere in the vicinity of Bozeman. “And it was a good tournament, hard to beat that.”

    PICTURED WRESTLING on Montana’s biggest high school stage, Superior’s Wade Calloway in mat action at the State B-C tournament in Billings last week. (Kami Milender photo)
  

    SUPERIOR EIGHTH GRADER Cael Crabb competed in his first State B-C tournament in Billings last week. (Kami Milender photo)