Battling in the Bigfoot

The Blue Hawk Wrestling Club wrestlers battled gamely at the Bigfoot Battle in Spokane Saturday, as nine of the club's finest competed in the prestigious youth tournament at the Spokane Convention Center.

Although club coach Mike Thilmony said all of the local grapplers performed very well in Spokane, his son Trae Thilmony turned in the best result, winning six matches while losing only two in the Middle School – 102 pound division and grabbing a fifth place medal for his efforts.

"Trae lost 5-4 to a very good wrestler in the second round but came back strong to earn his medal," a proud coach Thilmony said, "and he won a really good match in the final for fifth and sixth place."

Trae Thilmony was one of five middle school grapplers from the club competing in Spokane. "All five of our middle school kids did really well," coach Thilmony said. "The Bigfoot Battle is one of the biggest tournaments in the Pacific Northwest and it takes a lot to place in the top six of a tournament like this that draws competitors from all over the western U.S."

That said, Spur Ryan went 0-2 in the Middle School – 97 pound class, Elijah Ratliff went 1-2 at MS-97, Max Hannum went 0-2 at MS-114 and Shane Reishus was 1-2 at MS-119. Wrestling in the Bantam class, Weston Block won one of three matches in Spokane.

Grappling in the True Beginner division, which gave each wrestler three round-robin matches while competing in pre-determined groups of four, Hartleigh Block (37 pounds), Weston Haun (39) and Lane Thilmony (48) all enjoyed their day of wrestling in the Bigfoot Battle.

"It kind of shows how tough the competition is in this thing when even the True Beginners are pretty good wrestlers," coach Thilmony offered. "But it was great experience for our kids to get going up against competition like that."

Now that the Bigfoot Battle is done, club wrestlers turn their attention to the next big thing, the King of the Mountain, another semi-national tournament with even better competition than at the Bigfoot Battle, in Denver, Dec. 1-2.

"We will see a lot of the same wrestlers we saw in Spokane," coach Thilmony said, "plus some from other locales like the Midwest and Arizona.