Hawk grapplers ninth at state

It was a roller coaster ride for the Blue Hawk wrestling team at the state tournament in Billings last weekend. The team took four boys and two girls to the three-day competition and came home with a state champion, a second-place finisher and two wrestlers within one match of the podium.

Along with Trae Thilmony wrestling for his third state title, senior Shane Reishus qualified for state a fourth time. Junior Elijah Ratliff wrestled hard to a second-place finish and sophomore Max Hannum didn't come home with a medal, but finished a great season with some tournament titles. Blue Hawk girls Desani and Veronica Bewick also competed in their first state competition.

Ratliff overcame injury to place second at 152 pounds. "He had a great tournament," Coach Mike Thilmony said. "He was dealing with some adversity with a sprained thumb and battled through that hard." Ratliff was the top seed in the tournament, and won his first match 10-4 over Dalton Duncan of Custer County. In the quarterfinal round, Ratliff won a 16-11 decision over McCoy Banner of Fairfield. Ratliff's semifinal match against Jaron Taylor of Circle was one of the most exciting in the entire tournament, with the wrestler battling through three periods before Ratliff pinned Taylor with 22 seconds left in the third period. In the championship match, Ratliff went up against Canyon Casterline of Circle, a second-place finisher in last year's state tournament. "We expected that match to come down to the end," Coach Thilmony said. "It was a one-point match and then Canyon got Eli on his back. Eli put in a lot of effort. A lot of things didn't go our way in that match. It was unfortunate." Ratliff ended up losing a 12-5 decision to Casterline, but Coach Thilmony said he saw a lot of improvement from the junior this year. "I saw it in the way he approached practice. That made the difference. I saw a change in Eli this year. He was focused and putting in the energy and practice to improve. He wrestled a great tournament."

Reishus, a senior from Noxon, was one match away from the podium, but Thilmony was proud of his wrestling career. "The time he has spent in wrestling will pay off for him as he goes out into the world. He had a great career and gave a great effort." Reishus won his first match of the tournament at 160 pounds with a 6-2 decision over Colton Mears of Malta. Reishus then got caught in a pin in the second period of his quarterfinal match against Choteau's Perseveran Bechtold. In the consolation bracket, Reishus pinned RJ Knolle of Arlee in 1:25, then lost to Zach Cox of Colstrip.

Blue Hawk sophomore Max Hannum competed in his second state tournament, also getting one match away from the podium this year. Hannum won his first match with a pin as the buzzer sounded in the first period against Sam Mycke of Red Lodge, but then fell in the third period of the quarterfinal round to Glasgow's Damien Nesbitt. In the consolation wrestlebacks, Hannum pinned Whitehall's Kyle Denny in the third period before meeting Canyon Sargent of Mission-Charlo. The two Western B/C wrestlers were 2-2 in matches for the season. "It was two good wrestlers chasing the same goal," Coach Thilmony said. "That match could have gone either way." In the end, Sargent won a 7-2 decision. "Max had a great season. He won at Polson, was in the finals at Choteau and the Ted Kato and in the finals at the divisional tournament. He'll grow and learn from that loss."

Blue Hawk Desani Bewick competed at 103 pounds and Veronica Bewick in the 205-pound bracket. While neither of the girls got a tin at state, Coach Thilmony was happy with the improvement he saw in the girls' team through the year. "They needed to see what the competition was like" at state, he said. "I wanted them to compete hard and enjoy the experience. When you're a small program, it's tough to compete with larger schools." Thilmony was proud of the girls, who were both first-time wrestlers this year. "We will be looking at more opportunities for them to wrestle next year and they will be better based on this year's experiences.

Thilmony said the state tournament was a roller coaster. After all four boys winning their first matches, the Hawks had two big wins and two losses in the quarterfinal rounds. The Hawks finished ninth as a team, marking the second year in a row they have finished in the top 10.