Little Guys hit mats at Mission
Photo by Ed Moreth Superior Bobcat Billy Tucker grabs the leg of his opponent, Ronan’s Austin Hakes, during the Mission Mountain Classic Little Guy Wrestling Tournament at St. Ignatius High School. Tucker, wrestling in the middle 100-pound class, beat Hakes 11-0 at Friday’s competition.
The Superior Little Guys Wrestling Team sent two small teams to a packed St. Ignatius High School gym Friday and Saturday for the two-day Mission Mountain Classic Little Guy Wrestling Tournament.
This is the first year Mission officials have held the tournament over a two-day period, said Jason Sargent, head coach for the Mission-Charlo-Dixon Bull Dawgs Wrestling Club.
Middle and junior weight classes battled it out Friday evening and the beginner and novice competition was held Saturday. Sargent said the tournament went a lot smoother and he plans to do it the same way next year.
The Superior Little Guys sent 29 grapplers over the entirety of the two-day tournament. On Friday, 13 wrestlers attended the middle and juniors wrestling tournament, and 16 competitors attended the beginner and novice competition.
“We're considered a small team,” said Superior coach, Charlie Crabb.
Crabb said that he did not keep results for the beginner and novice classes.
Wrestlers in the middle age group were 11 to 12 years old, and wrestlers from the junior age group were 13 to 15 years old.
From the middle class, Billy Smith took first place, Tucker Smith took second, Trevor Clark took third, and Dan Dominguez took fourth. In the junior class, Cody King and Matt Campbell took first place, Max Sarimento took third and MacKenzie Crabb took fourth place.
Crabb said that he was pleased that most of his wrestlers placed Friday.
“I think we did pretty well. Most kids placed, and Saturday I think most kids won at least one game,” Crabb said.
Sargent said they gave out medals for first, second and third for all 33 middle and junior classes Friday. For the beginner and novice classes, they held two rounds and for the third round - the championship round - they gave out a blue ribbon for first and a red for second place.
Two hundred and fifty-one grapplers from the middle and junior classes from 15 teams competed for more than three hours Friday. The teams ranged from 35 wrestlers from the Polson Pirates to the Trout Creek Eagles, which had one contestant Friday.
On Saturday morning, nearly 200 beginners competed from about 9 a.m. to shortly before noon, when over 100 novice wrestlers went head to head. The novice class started right after the beginners finished and went until about 2:30 p.m. The Lolo team had the largest contingency with 68 wrestlers. Trout Creek had the smallest with nine.
High school wrestlers volunteered as referees at the tournament while parents served as scorekeepers.
Kenny Marjerrison, a Plains-Hot Springs coach, said that volunteering at the Little Guy matches is part of the Plains-Hot Springs' wrestling lettering process.
“It takes a lot of commitment and work, but the older kids did it for them and now they're doing it,” he said.
Superior will host a Little Guy meet for the older classes Thursday at the high school at 5 p.m.