Nine Superior wrestlers take 1st at the Valley Tournament in Thompson Falls

The Superior Little Guy wrestlers heading into the Valley Tournament Saturday with new shirts, and while brandishing the large Superman “S” across their chests may not have given them the strength to leap over tall buildings in a single bound, outrun speeding bullets or stop a locomotive, but it did give them strength to take home nine first place finishes from Thompson Falls.

“We're the men of steel,” said Little Guy coach Jason Mann, of the team's new T-shirts with the Superman artwork on the front. He said he's not sure if the T-shirts give the team any extra strength, but the team sure does like them. And what's not to like after Superior's showing at the first qualifying match of the season. Mann, who is mostly in charge of the beginning and novice ranks, said most of his wrestlers are moving on to Libby Saturday for the Inter Valley Tournament.

To qualify for the Inter Valley Tournament, novice and beginner wrestlers had to place in the top four at Thompson Falls. For the middle class, they had to finish in the top eight. All wrestlers in the junior class move on to the next level. “Most of the guys got through to next week and the ones that didn't will be back next year,” Mann said.

Superior had four wrestlers place in first in the novice division. Nicholas Ververis won the 55-pound class by pinning Libby's Chaz Judkins in 58 seconds. Seth West pinned Zak Higareda, from Libby, in 40 seconds to take home the crown in the 95-pound class. Both Aaron Kelley and Kyle Yadon won their division by beating Bluehawks. Kelley beat Joey Milner in the 100-pound class and Yadon continued his dominance in the 140-pound class with a victory over David Knerr of Trout Creek. “That kid's a monster,” Mann said of Yadon.

Both Bridger Lapierre and Blaine Parkin finished in second place in the novice division. Nathan Lapinski was the Bobcats' highest finisher in the beginner division, taking second after falling to Libby's Dylan Parrish in the 85-pound class. Tucker McLees finished in third in that class by beating Bluehawk Riley Riffle in the consolation match. Donteah Mellen also finished in third in the beginner division.

All of Superior's middle and junior division wrestlers will be moving on to Libby next week. Brothers Tucker and Billy Smith finished in first place in the middle division. Billy continued his perfect season by pinning Libby's Josh Massey in 19 seconds and Plains-Hot Springs Carson Chisholm in 30 seconds in the 100-pound championship match. Tucker won the 80-pound class by pinning Libby's Zach Crace at 2:27.

Anthony Parkin's ride to the championship was easy. Parkin didn't need to wrestle anybody to take home the title in the 65-pound class. Tanner Smith and Daniel Dominguez both finished second in the middle level and Marcus Simpson and Trevor Clark each came home with a third place finish. River Sides finished in fourth and will also be moving on to Libby.

In the junior division, Superior's 171-pounder Mackenzie “Spud” Crab triumphed over Logan Neubauer to take home the crown. Crab dominated his only match of the day, beating Neubauer 7-1. In the 112-pound class, Dan Taron finished first after pinning Savage Horseman Kris Beech at 1:19. Matt Campbell also didn't need to wrestle anybody to finish in first in the 90-pound class. Anthony Steinebach had a second place finish and Tyler Wharry finished in third.

“We'll take that,” Little Guy coach Charlie Crabb said after learning that nine of his wrestlers had won the class. Crabb said it was a good tournament for his team and they're getting better every week. He said that at the Valley tournament he saw his wrestlers using a lot of the techniques they have been working on in practice the past couple of weeks.

With the state tournament only weeks away, Crabb said the team just needs to fine tune a few things and they should do all right. “If they keep doing what they're doing, they'll be fine,” he said. The Little Guy State Championships will be held at Sentinel High School in Missoula for the novice, middle and junior classes Saturday, March 22. The beginners' final tournament will take place at Arlee Friday, March 21.

Superior took 25 wrestlers to the tournament. Six teams took 215 wrestlers to the near five-hour long tournament, which had 341 face-to-face matches.

The Inter Valley Tournament will begin around 10 a.m. Saturday at Libby. Wrestlers must finish in the top four spots in the beginner and novice classes to qualify for the state championships. The top eight wrestlers in the middle class will go on to state; all juniors qualify.