TFalls sees tough competition at first meet

Danielle Switalski

Thompson Falls met some of their toughest competition they will face this wrestling season at their first meet this past Saturday in Polson.

Thompson Falls faced off against three of the toughest AA schools in he state, Glacier, Flat Head and Sentinel on Saturday. Although, this was a tough competition, Head Coach Colby Cline said team wise they did very well for it being both their first meet and tougher schools. Also at the meet were Polson, Columbia Falls, Whitefish, Frenchtown, Eureka, Mission and Superior.

Although Thompson Falls only had half of it’s team eligible to hit the mats on Saturday, Cline was pleased with the individual performances. The team and individual wrestlers did not place at the meet, however, there were some strong performances during the matches

Freshmen John Gunderson and Dalton Nelson both won their first ever Varsity matches. They wrestled against some older and experienced opponents later in the meet, but are definitely showing potential for the rest of the season.

Tanner Gascon also went home with two match wins.

“It’s as tough a tournament as it’s ever been because when Glacier started out, they weren’t very strong and now they are in AA, so it’s a tough competition and I don’t judge anything off this tournament for the whole season,” said Cline.

Erik Hilety is new to the wrestling world and went home with two wins for his individual matches.

Seth Knuth also won two of his matches, while Shawn Sacchi, Dakotta Kinser and Zach Lyons won a match each.

Although Cline is not making judgments on his team based on this tournament, he is confident that they will have a successful season as they fill most of the weight classes with around 21 wrestlers on the team. The Polson tournament was a learning experience for most of the Thompson Falls wrestlers.

“We will use it (the tournament) to plan our practices and work on getting in shape a little more,” said Cline.

Thompson Falls wrestled Tuesday night at Mission. They have a home meet Thursday at 6:00 p.m. and will be in Superior on Saturday.