Western B-C wrestling gets drastically realigned

The mass mat chaos of 2020, explained.

Montana Class B-C wrestling was going to be different to begin with in 2020-2021, COVID-19 has only added to the change. Some of it will be considered a bad change but, on the other hand, some of it will be good, too.

Thompson Falls coach Mike Thilmony and all the other B-C coaches around the state face a new wrestling reality this already-altered season, a reality where there will be none of the traditional tournaments, but a lot of dual matches with teams rarely seen in these parts before, will be contested.

But it all starts with the biggest change of all, one implemented for the first time this year which had nothing to do with COVID-19. The MHSA reorganized Montana B-C wrestling from four divisions down into two for this season, meaning that there are only the Western and Eastern divisions.

Thilmony has mixed feelings about all of this. He said the original wrestling schedules, which were formerly dotted with several tournaments each season, were thrown out due to COVID-19.

“They wiped the slate clean and started over as there are no regular season tournaments this season,” he said. “The result, with the divisions being realigned, is that there will be a lot combined duals, and a lot of travel, with the division being so large now.”

The Hawks will open with just such a combined dual meet, a double dual January 2, also involving Mission, Cut Bank and Simms, one of five such dual combos Thompson Falls will host this winter. The Hawks will then travel to Dillon and Corvallis for what are believed to be single dual matches January 8 and 9.

The upshoot of the realignment is that the schools will miss their tournaments and the handy one-stop grappling these events provide, but they will likely get to see some opponents they normally would not have seen as well.

“I was against the realignment initially, but can see some benefit to doing it now,” Thilmony said. “We will really miss the tournaments – it will be strange not hosting the Ted Kato this year – but they should be back in the coming years.”

During a more normal season, the Hawks would usually open the mat campaign at the Polson Invitational, and then compete in the CMR Christmas Classic in Great Falls, before moving on and competing in the Choteau and Cut Bank tourneys in January.

None of that tournament action will be happening this winter and even the Western B-C and State B-C tournaments are subject to change, listed as TBD (to be determined) on the current TFHS schedule.

Although the new Western B-C divisional tourney is set for one location somewhere in western Montana, Thilmony says he could the Montana High School Association reverting back to the four-division setup for one year at least to cut down on travel, and possible COVID-19 exposure concerns.