Wrestlers head to Monster Mash

They did the Mash… They did the Monster Mash…

Seventeen local youth wrestlers from this little corner of the wrestling world will travel to Denver this weekend for the Monster Mash, an annual wrestling tournament featuring some of the best grapplers in the country.

Mike Thilmony, who is one of the coaches and parents accompanying the contingent to the Monster Mash, said several Thompson Falls High School wrestlers (Trae Thilmony, Garrett Jones, Roman Sparks, Nathan Ostwald and Dakota Irvine), three Libby prep grapplers (Trey Thompson, Zach Morrison and Buddy Doolin), one Plains-Hot Springs prep wrestler (Josiah Vanderwall), one Bonners Ferry athlete (Eli Richards) and several Falls youth (Elijah Ratliff, Max Hannum, Brandon Fisher, Weston Block and brothers Andrew and Paul Sundstrom) will be making the trip.

As a bonus to the competing in Denver over the weekend, the group will also be treated to watching the College All-Star Classic Friday night. That premier meet features the top two U.S. collegiate grapplers at each weight facing off, and also has some of the best prep wrestlers in the nation wrestling in preliminary matches.

The Blue Hawk Wrestling Club participated in a tournament in Bonners Ferry last weekend, and several of the Denver-bound grapplers competed there as well.

Ratliff won the Middle School-128 division in Bonners and Hannum took second to Ratliff at that weight, Owen Frank won second in the Intermediate-77 division, Block was second at Intermediate-56, Paul Sundstrom took third in the Novice-67 class, and Andrew Sundstrom (Int-95), Lane Thilmony (Int-56) and Nathan Bartlett (Bantam-55) also competed in the Idaho meet.

Hartleigh Block went 2-1 matches in the Pre-Bantam division in Bonners Ferry.