Youth wrestlers take aim at qualifying tourneys

High school wrestling season may already be over for another year but the Little Guy and AAU seasons are hitting full stride over the next few weeks.

In Little Guy wrestling, the post season begins this week with the first qualifying tournament, the Valley tourney in Superior Saturday. On the AAU trail, all roads lead to Great Falls this weekend for the Montana State Folkstyle AAU meet, which will be held Friday through Saturday on the campus of Great Falls High School.

Local grapplers have been busy competing in preparation for these meets. Thompson Falls Little Guys competed in the Kootenai Classic in Libby Saturday.

At Libby, in the Junior – 105 pound class, Trae Thilmony claimed first place, Elijah Ratliff lost a close 8-6 decision to a heated rival from Libby in the championship in the Middle – 105 division and settled for second place, and Jonah Leisz competed in the Middle-80 division but did not place.

In the Novice weights, Noa Stevens won second place at 100 pounds, Paul Sundstrom won third at 60 and Arianna Grounds claimed fourth at 80, Trevor Peterson (65 pounds), Isaiah Sprecher (70), and Cayden Hall (80) competed in Novice classes at Libby but did not place.

Among the Beginners, Noah Sprecher won first place at 45 pounds, Jayden Grounds won second at 95, Brylon VanElswyk won fourth at 65 and Alex Hensley took fourth at 80. Kamdin Hensley (55 pounds), Tristan Kelly (55) and Andrew Sundstrom (85) wrestled in Libby but did not place in the top four.

This week's Valley Tournament in Superior is the precursor to the Inter-Valley, the tourney where grapplers qualify for State. The Inner-Valley will be wrestled off in Stevensville March 17.

The top eight finishers in each Middle and Novice division weight class from the Valley tourney will qualify for the Inner-Valley the next week. All Beginners automatically move on.

Additionally, youth coach Mike Thilmony said he will again accompany several wrestlers to the Montana AAU meet in Great Falls this Friday through Saturday. He said his son Trae, Ratliff, Max Hannum and Roman Sparks will be the local athletes wrestling for state honors in Great Falls.

Thilmony said the AAU tourney doubles as tryouts for Montana duals teams that will later travel to Des Moines, Iowa for a national duals tournament. Thilmony said rosters for middle school, junior high school and senior high school teams will be decided in Great Falls, with the final spots often determined by wrestle-offs following the tournament on Sunday afternoon.

Sparks, Thilmony and Ratliff all earned spots or alternate spots on that team and went on to Iowa last year, and coach Thilmony hopes all four of the grapplers going to Great Falls this week make the grade and earn spots on this year's Montana team.