Christmas Classic a big gift for TF wrestlers

Talk about that special kind of Christmas gift for the wrestling coach who already has everything grappling he will ever need, the CMR Christmas Classic Tournament – perhaps the biggest regular season tournament of any given prep wrestling season in Montana – is in Mike Thilmony's singlet stocking hung by the chimney with care this year.

Thilmony and assistant coach Jase Miller will take their Thompson Falls-Noxon Blue Hawk grapplers partway across our great state this week to participate in the Christmas Classic, the annual tournament in Great Falls that draws some of the best teams and individuals from Montana of any prep event any given season.

"This is about as good as wrestling gets in Montana, it is a great tournament with a very high level of competition," said Thilmony, who grew up wrestling in Sidney. "I have loved this tournament since I was a kid and I still love it.

"It's the best of Montana wrestling from Class AA, A and B-C all in one place and the competition is intense," he added. "We look forward to going over there, doing our best and seeing how we stack up. It should be a great weekend."

The 2019 Christmas Classic will begin Friday and wrap up Saturday in the Electric City. Thilmony says 55 teams are entered in this year's Classic.

The Blue Hawk wrestlers warmed up for Great Falls by participating in a double dual meet in Mission Thursday and grappling in the Bob Kinney Classic in Superior Saturday.

The Hawks swept their dual meets in Mission – taking down Plains 42-27 and Eureka 52-18 – before placing fifth in team scoring in the Kinney Classic Saturday.

Trae Thilmony, Elijah Ratliff and Dakota Irvine all won individual titles in the Kinney, and Lucas Andersen and Seth Alarcon both placed fourth.

Thilmony, whose mat exploits were detailed in a feature story in a prominent western Montana daily newspaper story this past Sunday, worked his way to the title at 126 pounds in Superior, pinning Leroy Orel of Whitefish in 1:19 of the quarterfinals, pinning Jackson Carson of Whitefish in 1:11 of the semifinals and finally, winning a 15-0 technical fall from Xander Spady of Libby in 4:29 of the championship match.

A freshman, Ratliff dropped down to 132 pounds last week after Roman Sparks suffered a knee injury and Ratliff made the most of the opportunity, winning his first three matches by pin to land in the championship, where he out-pointed James Wissenbach of Corvallis 11-8 to claim his Kinney title.

Coach Thilmony said the Hawks still haven't settled on their final weights for the season. In Montana, wrestlers must make weight at the lowest weight they intend to wrestle for 50% of the season weigh-ins.

"We are still not sure where everyone will end up, but we do have a little flexibility with some of the kids," he said. "The bottom line is we want to put the kids where they have the best chance for success and can still safely maintain their weight."

Not too worried about making or maintain weight at 205, Irvine was impressive in pinning his way to the championship in Superior Saturday, sticking his first opponent in only 19 seconds, falling the second in just 48 seconds, and finally, taking down and pinning Chanden Vulles of Columbia Falls in 4:44 of the championship match.

Andersen's fourth place win was a testament to his hard work the past few years, Thilmony said. "Lucas has really made great strides the past few years and is really coming into his own," he continued. "And the conso match

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went to overtime. He really had a good tournament."

Alarcon went 2-2 in Superior, winning two matches by pin and losing two by pin.

Shane Reishus (2-2 at 145), Dane Chojnacky (1-2 at 170) and Will McPherson (2-2 at 285) also contributed to the Blue Hawks' point total in the Kinney Classic.

In the duals at Mission Thursday, Trae Thilmony won two matches – the second one a convincing 11-5 win over Eureka's Gunnar Smith, who had defeated Thilmony the week before in the Owen Invitational in Polson – and the first one by pin.

Ratliff pinned Eureka's Nathan Schmidt in 1:42 but lost by tech fall to Conrad Vanderwall of Plains-Hot Springs, Reishus won a major decision from P-HS's Gage Fuhrman and pinned Eureka's Sam Resh in 2:50, Lucas Andersen pinned Jaxon Hume of Eureka in 3:24, Chojnakcy pinned Eureka's Coly Johnson in :53, Alarcon pinned Johnny Fehr of Eureka in 1:51, and McPherson won two matches by pin, sticking Stephen Yother of Plains-Hot Springs in 3:06 and flattening Eureka's Dennis Schietne in 1:24.

All of which brings us back to coach Thilmony's favorite Christmas gift – the CMR Christmas Classic, which he gets to share with all his Blue Hawk grapplers this year..

"This should be a great weekend for our team but we will have to be ready for it," he said. "This is the best of the best in Montana we will be going up against.

"This is about fighting through the tough moments in tough matches," he added. "We will have to wrestle our best to be successful over there."