Superior wrestlers conquer Ted Kato Tournament

SUPERIOR – The Superior wrestling team performed well in two tournaments this week with all three wrestlers ranking high throughout the weekend.

The first tournament of the week, on Thursday January 9, was an unscheduled match in Arlee. All three wrestlers were undefeated. Head Coach Charlie Crabb said senior Anthony Parkin, 113-pound class, and freshman Tate Trudeau, 105-pound class, both won in their three matches. Freshman Blaine Parkin, 98-pound class, had one match in his weight class, which he also won.

According to Crabb, Anthony got first place for his weight class in Saturday’s tournament. He had three matches, all of which he won. Anthony’s brother, Blaine, won third place.

Trudeau took fourth place. This was his first tournament of the season. For the first month of the season, Trudeau has been unable to wrestle because of a football injury.

The guys performed well over the week. According to Crabb, Anthony’s toughest match of the week was won 11 to 5. He said Blaine and Trudeau also did well, working hard for their victories.

“It was awesome,” said Crabb. “Big improvement this weekend.”

Crabb felt Trudeau did especially well under the circumstances. Because of his injury, Trudeau was behind the rest of the team in practice and experience on the mat. The coach felt he did a good job and performed well. However, Crabb said he is still fairly green and will need to train up to reach full strength.

The coach said it was tough for Trudeau psychologically as well. When the rest of the team has 10 to 15 more matches, it can be a bit of a rush to try to improve quickly.

“He’s a little disappointed in himself, but I guess that’s a good sign,” said Crabb. “He thinks he can do better, which I know he can. He’s not his best right now, but he’ll get better.”

Bridger Lapierre, 138-pound class, was unable to wrestle in either match because of a neck injury suffered earlier in the season. While not serious, the injury has continued to give him pain. Crabb was uncertain if Lapierre would be ready to go back out on the mat before the next match.

“We’ll have to wait and see how he is, I don’t know,” said Crabb.

The team had little time to prepare for this week’s matches. However, Crabb said he worked with the team to improve all around and refine everyone’s skills. A few problems were present in the team’s performance last week, which needed to be worked out before this week’s matches.

“There’s some errors where they’re weak, so we’ll work on those,” said Crabb. “They’re picking things up, though. They’re working hard.”

With four weeks left before the divisional tournament, the practices have become especially important. Crabb said the team needed to refine their skills and be at their best for the tournaments after the regular season.

The team wrestled at home on Tuesday, January 14, against Arlee, Thompson Falls and Granite at 5 p.m. Information on the matches was not available at the time of press.

The team’s next matches will be Friday, January 17, and Saturday, January 18, in Missoula at the Rocky Mountain Classic. According to Crabb, this is a big tournament and will have approximately 36 teams in attendance.