Thilmony wrestles down Cut Bank title, three other Hawks place in Hi-Line tourney

Trae triumphant! Again.

Thompson Falls freshman Trae Thilmony won the individual title at 113 pounds to lead the Hawks at the Cut Bank Invitational last weekend. The 27-team tournament began Friday and ran through Saturday.

The Blue Hawks finished a very respectable tenth in team scoring among the 27 Class B-C and A squads.

In addition to Thilmony’s championship run, sophomore Roman Sparks won six straight matches after falling in the second round to come back and win third place at 120, Seth Alarcon grappled down fourth in the heavyweight division and Dakota Irvine won fifth place at 182.

Shane Reishus (126 pounds), Lucas Anderson (138) and Dane Chojnacky (160) also wrestled well for the Hawks in Cut Bank but did not quite make the medal round.

Continuing down the tournament trail, the Hawks return to northern Montana this week to participate in another two-day event in the Choteau Tournament Friday and Saturday. Thompson Falls wrestlers were also set to compete in a quadrangular match, also involving Clark Fork, Plains-Hot Springs and Mission-Charlo, Tuesday, but results of that mat action were not available at press time.

Coach Ian Taylor was pleased with how his wrestlers performed in Cut Bank last week.

“I feel like we did pretty well,” he said. “We were competing against a mix of Class A and B-C schools over there and we ended up going 21-11 overall in our matches, with 13 of those wins by pin and one by technical fall.”

Thilmony is now already a three-time champion as he also won individual titles in the Polson Tournament and the Bob Kinney Classic in Superior earlier this season, as well as placing fourth in the prestigious CMR Invitational.

“Trae had another real nice tournament,” Taylor said. “He gave up only one takedown all tournament and beat two or three ranked kids along the way.”

Sparks, after having his title hopes dashed, came back strong to earn his third place medal. “Roman really got after it after that loss, he had a great tournament from then on,” Taylor said.

Unseeded into the draw at 138 pounds, Anderson pinned his first opponent before falling into the tough side of the bracket, Taylor offered, adding that Chojnacky went 2-2 in his matches at 160, including a revenge win over a Eureka grappler he had lost to earlier this season. Reishus also went a respectable 2-2 in his matches at Cut Bank.

Taylor was also impressed with the strong, medal-earning efforts turned in by Irvine and Alarcon.

Looking back at Cut Bank and ahead to Choteau, Taylor says he wants the Hawks to go out there fighting each and every time.

“I like how we wrestled in Cut Bank,” he said. “There was no quit in anyone, the kids went hard to the final whistle in every match. And that is our ultimate team goal, for each wrestler to give their very best effort every time out.”

Taylor was grateful to the TFHS administration for allowing the Hawks to travel to Cut Bank as they were originally scheduled to compete in the much closer Western Montana Duals in Ronan last week.

“I am very grateful for being allowed the opportunity to go to Cut Bank,” he said. “And it was great for the kids to get into a tournament like this on such short notice.”