T-Falls hosts Valley Tournament for Little Guys

For nearly five hours, Little Guy wrestlers went face-to-face in 341 matches to see who would qualify for the Inter Valley Tournament at Libby Saturday.

Saturday's Valley Tournament at Thompson Falls was an important competition, said Colby Cline, the Little Guy Thompson Falls team coach, because this is the first qualifying meet of the season. For numerous Little Guys, Saturday was the final competition of the season. Those moving on to Libby will have to qualify again Saturday for the Little Guy Wrestling State Championships at Missoula March 22.

Six teams and 215 wrestlers took part in the Little Guy tournament at Thompson Falls, where relatives and friends packed the bleachers to watch their favorite athletes. At times there were six matches going on at one time. When the tourney was over, 79 wrestlers from Sanders County would be moving on to compete at Libby.

“We have some first year wrestlers that are learning quickly, and that's always encouraging,” said Jeff Kujala, who co-coaches the Wildhorse Wrestling Club of Plains and Hot Springs with Jerry Marjerrison and Chris Clairmont. “Sometimes, it takes kids two or three years, but overall, they're doing good and learning fast,” said Kujala, whose son Russell finished third place in the novice 80-pounders at Thompson Falls and qualified for Libby. Wrestlers had to finish in the top eight slots in the novice and middle classes to qualify. For the beginners, it was the top four. All juniors will move on. Plains-Hot Springs had 41 wrestlers at the meet Saturday.

Six Plains-Hot Springs juniors qualified for the Inter Valley competition. Kolby Chisholm, grabbed the championship in the junior 130-pound class with a 31-second pin over Libby's Dalton Jones. Chisholm went undefeated Saturday. The Wildhorse Club had two second places and one third in the junior class.

Aisha Nava of the Plains team took first in the beginner 130 class after defeating his twin brother Izhar Nava in the final round. Four Savage Horsemen finished in second place in the beginner class; two finished in fourth to qualify. In the novice class, Plains-Hot Springs had 10 little grapplers qualify. Five took second place and three finished in third.

Nine Savage Horsemen in the middle class qualified, including two champion placers - John Wallers in the 166-pound class and Kaleb Beech in the 110-pound class - along with one second placement and one third.

Of the 40 Thompson Falls Bluehawks coached by Colby Cline, 32 will go to the Libby contest. Thompson Falls had four finish third in the beginner class, one second and Bluehawk Cody Garrison fought his way to the top after defeating Trace Ward of Plains-Hot Springs, who took second. Cline believes Garrison is undefeated, although he didn't have his win/loss record.

Cline had four athletes finish in the top three spots in the novice class. Tanner Laws won first in the 60-pound class while teammate Warren Wood grabbed first in the 85-pound novice class. Wood won all four of his matches Saturday to continue his undefeated season record.

Wade Gascon of T-Falls took the championship in the middle 75 when he defeated Sydnea Ehlenfeldt of the Libby Loggers. Libby had 80 wrestlers at the tourney. Bluehawk Wyatt Clay had to defeat teammate Tyler Garrison in the middle 95 class for the championship. The Hawks had three wrestlers place second and four in third place in the middle class competition.

“We did very well this week,” said Cline, adding that his team members are starting to learn more wrestling moves and techniques. “Each week we improve a little more.”

Dakotta Kinser, the only competitor in the junior 100-pound class, took first place. Eric Milner, also of Thompson Falls, finished in the champion round by pinning Justin O'Brien of the Loggers in 3:54. Austin Kinser was the only other Bluehawk junior; he finished in second place.

“Our kids have come a long way,” said Kelly Moore, head coach for the 24 Red Devils at the tournament. The Noxon team will send 14 wrestlers to Libby, said Moore, who added that his athletes have improved a great deal since the start of the season only weeks ago. “Each week, we just keep getting better.” Noxon officials have kept precise records on their wrestlers from the start of the season in mid February.

Clay King of Noxon finished the tourney with his undefeated record intact after beating second placer Plains-Hot Springs' Anthony Neal. King, competing in the beginner 70-pound class, has a 13-0 record. Noxon's David Crow, who carries a 13-2 record, also finished on top Saturday, winning both his matches, including claiming victory over his teammate, Aaron Johnson, in the beginner 55 class. Red Devil Edison VanVleet accomplished top honors by pinning Shane Westman of Noxon in 45 seconds. Noxon's Steve Palmer has a 10-1 record after taking three wins, including two pins, Saturday, for the championship in the beginner 65-pound class. And in the novice 65 class, Red Devil Austin Johnson took the championship when he defeated Savage Horseman Orion Burrell to give Johnson an 11-2 record.

In the middle 105-pound class, Brandon Piazzola finished the championship round by beating Daniel Dominquez of Superior. Oliver Grupenhoff also took first for Noxon in the middle 175 class by defeating Chet LeForce of Thompson Falls.

Of the five Trout Creek Eagles head coach Shane Barnes took to the Valley Tournament, four - all novice class competitors - will move on to Libby. Sam Arnold, a Plains resident, but wrestling on the Eagles team, took first in the novice 158-190 class. Brian Fishbaugh, competing in the novice 75 class, triumphed over Plains-Hot Springs' Trevor Paro. His other two wrestlers took second and third.

The Inter Valley Tournament will begin around 10 a.m. Saturday. 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. 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 beginner class wrestlers compete at Arlee Friday, March 21.