Hawks place 5, win 4th in Kato tourney

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The Thompson Falls Blue Hawk wrestlers, as part of a weekend celebrating the 1979 and 1980 Thompson Falls State B-C championship teams, made a strong showing at the Ted Kato Memorial tournament at TFHS, putting five grapplers in the finals (with two winning titles) and finishing fourth in team scoring in the 13-team meet.

It appears that the Hawks are now primed and ready for the stretch run of the season, which will reach its zenith at the State B-C meet in Billings, Feb. 14-15, after, of course, an important stop at the Western B-C divisional meet in Mission Feb. 8.

The Hawks wrap up the regular season this week, hosting a dual match with Plains-Hot Springs Thursday and wrestling in the Whitefish Duals Saturday. Thursday's match was originally scheduled as a quadrangular but Florence and Mission-Charlo backed out of the event.

In Whitefish, the Hawks will face off against Browning, Columbia Falls, Eureka and Whitefish in a busy day of duals.

Back in Thompson Falls Saturday, Trae Thilmony (120 pounds) and Elijah Ratliff (132) won 2020 Kato titles while Lucas Andersen (152), Dane Chojnacky (170) and heavyweight William McPherson all placed second.

Shane Reishus (138), Hunter Little (138), Weston Brown (138), Derek Andersen (145), Josh Baldwin (160) and Seth Alarcon (182) also all wrestled for the Hawks Saturday. Little and Brown wrestled in the 138B division, a separate weight class for the tourney, and Little finished third in that bracket.

Western B-C power Mission-Charlo claimed the Kato team title with 150 points, Clark Fork (the co-op between Superior and Alberton) finished second with 142.5 and Sandpoint third with 130. The Hawks (117) were fourth, followed by the Missoula Big Sky JV (102), Florence (93), Priest River (89), the Kalispell Flathead JV (84), Plains-Hot Springs (60.5), the Kalispell Glacier JV (33), Bigfork (29), Arlee (17) and the Missoula Sentinel JV (9).

"I think fourth place in the team standings represents a great effort by our kids," coach Mike Thilmony said. "It seems like they got a little fired up by having that tribute to the state championship teams Friday and it carried over into our efforts Saturday."

The Hawks hosted a triangular dual, also involving Priest River and the Polson JV Friday evening at TFHS, honoring the Blue Hawk State B-C championship teams between matches.

"We had a really good crowd at that tribute Friday, getting some people in the gym that normally don't come in," Thilmony said. "It was great to finally honor those folks on those teams and it was really a motivator to our kids seeing this."

Seeing that State B-C champions can be raised and made in Thompson Falls obviously did not hurt the Hawk wrestlers' outlook on the sport. The Hawks then went out and wrestled like champions Saturday.

Trae Thilmony and Elijah Ratliff led the Hawks with their outstanding efforts Saturday, transforming themselves into Kato champions before the day was through.

Thilmony, who is now 27-3 for the season and the No. 1 ranked Class B-C wrestler in Montana at 120 pounds, pinned his way to the 120 crown, pinning Kayden Chuey of Flathead in 1:08 in the quarterfinals, sticking Florence's Oliver Post in 1:30 of the semis and finally, taking down Keith Poirier of Priest River in 1:02 of the championship match.

One of the best freshman grapplers in the Western B-C division and just maybe the whole state of Montana, Ratliff was on top of his mat game

Saturday, winning an 8-1 decision from Darrian Resso of Sandpoint in the quarters, pinning Mission-Charlo's Canyon Sargent in 5:31 of the semifinals and then pinning Adyn Meinzen in 5:27 of the championship match.

Ratliff improved his win-loss record to 27-10 with his big Ted Kato day.

Lucas Andersen also had a tremendous day for the Hawks in winning his second place medal. Andersen started his Kato run with a tough 9-8 win over Mason Doran of Kalispell Flathead in the first round, kept the momentum going by pinning Archie Brevik in 4:19 of the quarters, and then scored perhaps his biggest win of the season in the semifinals, pinning Hunter Haskins of Clark Fork in 2:40.

Darwin Adams of Mission-Charlo defeated Andersen in the 152 final. "That was a big win for Lucas, defeating Haskins in the semis," coach Thilmony said. "He has really been coming into his own lately and the Kato was a great tournament for him."

Chojnacky bulled his way into the 170 final by pinning Sean Larson of Florence in 1:34, pinning Kaden Henshaw of Flathead in 1:08 and winning a 12-2 major decision from Hunter Curtiss of Big Sky in the semifinals. Now 21-12 for the season, Chojnacky lost to Mission-Charlo's Isaiah Alik, the No. 1 170-pounder in the Montana B-C ranks, by pin in the title match.

McPherson earned his title shot by pinning Carson Mavity of Sandpoint in 2:25 of the semifinals but lost to Jacob Lapinski in the championship match.

The twin brother of Lucas, Derek Andersen had an encouraging performance at 145. "Derek hasn't wrestled since sixth grade so he's still trying to catch up," Thilmony said. "But he is working fast, has been showing a lot of improvement these last few weeks and has been coming on all year."

Thilmony said Resihus and Baldwin have both been battling illness lately, and that Alarcon had a tough draw in the Kato.

The dual match with Plains-Hot Springs will double as senior night for the Blue Hawks Thursday. Alarcon and Little are Thompson Falls' only seniors this season.