Superior wrestlers 'knock off the rust'

The Superior boys had a short week with only a chance to get in a few practices after coming back from break. On Tuesday of last week, the boys wrestled against Drummond and Mission.

“I think we lost two out of eight matches overall,” said Coach Charlie Crabb. “The kids wrestled well and had a good showing.”

Crabb said that the match was a good way to “knock off the rust” coming back after the break.

“And they did very well considering this was their first match back,” Crabb said.

On Friday and Saturday, the boys headed up to the Ronan Duels. The tournament was setup in duel format. On Friday, they wrestled against Kalispell-Flathead in round two and went up against Corvallis in round three.

Against Kalispell-Flathead, Superior wrestler River Sides, at 112 pounds, found himself pinned by his opponent. Dan Taron, however, pinned his opponent at 135 pounds with just 28 seconds left on the clock. Wrestling at 140 pounds, Seth Lapinski put up a fight, but ended up pinned. At 145 pounds, Josh Wright pinned his opponent with 2:28 left on the clock. Tyler Wharry won by decision, 14-13, at 152 pounds.

On to round three, the Bobcat wrestlers were matched up with wrestlers from Corvallis. It was a rough go around.  Lapinski got pinned, but not easily. Wright also found himself underneath his opponent rather than on top. Wharry lost as well by pin.

Without wrestlers to fill the weight classes, Superior didn’t have the manpower to win any points to find victory in the duels.

On Saturday, the boys wrestled against Drummond. Lapinski got his first pin of the weekend with a match against Jake Doyle. With 18 seconds left on the clock, Lapinski put his man into a hold and won. Wharry also found success on the mat. He pinned his opponent with 1:21 left in the match.

Up against Corvallis again for round six, River Sides won by decision, 6-4. Taron pinned his man. Wharry won by technical fall in his match while Lapinski was pinned with 55 seconds left on the clock.

To finish out Saturday, Superior wrestlers were up against wrestlers from Plains. Sides pinned his man, but the other wrestlers found themselves unable to handle their opponents on the mat. Wharry and Taron both got pinned.

Crabb said that one of the main points of the tournament though is so that kids get to wrestle in a lot of matches, which equates to experience.

“If you don’t get away from the practice mat, you won’t figure out what works and what doesn’t,” Crabb said. “And there’s that whole competition thing too.”

This week, they are looking toward the Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula.

“We’re the only B-C school there so it’s going to be a bunch of big schools,” Crabb said. “It’s usually a tough one.”

Crabb said that he figures if kids do well at the classic then they are going to do well at state. He said that the wrestlers are settling into their weight classes and are figuring out what they have to do and who they are going to have to beat to come out of divisionals.

“They’re gaining and improving,” he said. “I’m happy.”