Broadus hosts wrestling mixer

Several years have elapsed since Broadus last hosted a high school wrestling event. That changed last Thursday, as Circle and Baker wrestlers converged on Broadus to wrestle in a mixer. The event came about when Broadus Wrestling Coach Frankie Schoonover conversed with the other town's coaches, realizing that all the teams were going to wrestle in Moorcroft, Wyoming on Friday. In the interest of saving travel time for Circle and Baker, as well as getting a few extra matches in for the Broadus wrestlers, Schoonover suggested the mixer.

The mixer consisted of nine matches, as well as a Senior Night event for wrestling manager Tawna Quiroz. The event also featured several state ranked athletes from the Circle and Baker teams, in face Circle won Class C State Wrestling as a team last season.

A boisterous local crowd was on hand to cheer for their Hawk wrestling team, which led off with Canyon Casterline of Circle defeating Corbin Irish of Broadus, at 138 lbs. Donnie Steen of Baker then beat Hawk Seth McDowell via points, followed by Dakota Holbrook of Broadus beating Baker's Marcos Gallegos in a high scoring affair, 19-11.

Coach Schoonover commented that Gallegos had previously beaten Holbrook in two other matches, so Dakota's win in front of cheering fans was sweet victory indeed.

Hawk wrestler Josiah Middle Rider, wrestling at 205 then faced Baker's Heavyweight, O'Connell Qualley, with Middle Rider pinned by the heavier opponent.

At 120 lbs, Bryson Bartelson of Circle then wrestled Jacee Gorder of Baker, with Bartleson winning by pin.

Corbin Irish wrestled a second match, this time against Damien Nesbitt of Baker, with Nesbitt winning by pin.

Donnie Steen lost to Tug Taylor of Circle by pin, while Seth McDowell also lost by pin to Bryson Bartleson.

The final match of the evening featured Hawk Kyle Minow going up against Marcos Gallegos, with Gallegos eventually winning by pin in a hard-fought match.

Frankie noted that the Broadus team performed really well in front of the home crowd, and he was thrilled with the turn-out and support from the community, commenting: "I want to give a shout out to the fans and people who helped out with the mixer. I'd also like to give a big thanks to the folks who donated housing for the teams to spend the night."

Coach Schoonover plans on holding the event next year, with the addition of Colstrip to the mix.

An added benefit of the event was the chance for community youth to see just what wrestling was all about – the long drought between home meets meant that many youth had never seen wrestling in person, until the Thursday mixer. Several comments were overheard from elementary age youth to the effect of "that looks like fun"; comments which hopefully will bode well for the future of Hawk wrestling.

On Friday, Broadus made the trip to Moorcroft, Wyoming, for their meet, wrestling Friday and Saturday. Broadus wrestlers lost out in the Friday meet, but came back to wrestle in the second chance tourney on Saturday.

"The team is learning how to interpret my instructions and turn it into wins," Schoonover said of Moorcroft. He was especially proud of Seth McDowell, who went 2-2 in the main tournament. No Hawks made the podium, though Schoonover said of the team: "We wrestled really well this weekend, and I saw some breakthroughs in performance."

An interesting approach was used for coaching on Saturday – Schoonover sat back and let the team coach themselves and each other. The goal was to make the wrestlers think for themselves, and Schoonover said it seemed to work to open the teammember's eyes to just how much they are capable of, all by themselves.

This Tuesday, the Hawks attend a mixer in Colstrip, and the team will then wrestle in Hardin this weekend, before going on to Divisionals next weekend in Huntley.

Here are the results of Broadus athletes from the Moorcroft wrestling tournament:

Dylan Humes Memorial Results for Powder River Co. (Broadus)

126

Seth McDowell (4-13) place is unknown and scored 5.0 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 - Oscar Martinez (Greybull/Riverside) 19-11 won by fall over Seth McDowell (Powder River Co. (Broadus)) 4-13 (Fall 2:33)

• Cons. Round 1 - Seth McDowell (Powder River Co. (Broadus)) 4-13 received a bye () (Bye)

• Cons. Round 2 - Seth McDowell (Powder River Co. (Broadus)) 4-13 won by fall over Gabe Bland (Sheridan Varsity) 0-2 (Fall 2:22)

• Cons. Round 3 - Seth McDowell (Powder River Co. (Broadus)) 4-13 won by decision over Drake Fisgus (Sheridan Varsity) 0-2 (Dec 5-4)

• Cons. Round 4 - Jeric Igo (Thunder Basin High School) 18-10 won by fall over Seth McDowell (Powder River Co. (Broadus)) 4-13 (Fall 2:15)

138

Corbin Irish (5-13) place is unknown and scored 0.0 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 - Deonte Taylor (Hulett) 20-5 won by fall over Corbin Irish (Powder River Co. (Broadus)) 5-13 (Fall 2:37)

• Cons. Round 1 - Colten Smith (Wright) 9-11 won by fall over Corbin Irish (Powder River Co. (Broadus)) 5-13 (Fall 3:48)

170

Dakota Holbrook (6-8) place is unknown and scored 1.0 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 - Dakota Holbrook 6-8 received a bye (Bye)

• Quarterfinal - Wyatt Peters (Moorcroft) 19-4 won by fall over Dakota Holbrook 6-8 (Fall 2:50)

• Cons. Round 2 - Dakota Holbrook 6-8 won by decision over Aidyn Mitchell (Thunder Basin High School) 7-12 (Dec 7-3)

• Cons. Round 3 - Lane Raney (Glenrock) 23-5 won by fall over Dakota Holbrook 6-8 (Fall 1:25)

182

Kyle Minow (4-9) place is unknown and scored 0.0 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 - Josh Womack (Newcastle) 18-12 won by fall over Kyle Minow 4-9 (Fall 2:48)

• Cons. Round 1 - Chay Bales (Sheridan Varsity) 1-2 won by fall over Kyle Minow 4-9 (Fall 3:46)

220

Josiah Middle Rider (3-10) place is unknown and scored 0.0 team points.

• Champ. Round 1 - Lukas Dregoiw (Sheridan Varsity) 1-2 won by fall over Josiah Middle Rider 3-10 (Fall 2:46)

• Cons. Round 1 - Josiah Middle Rider 3-10 received a bye () (Bye)

• Cons. Round 2 - Aiden Fronek (Sheridan Varsity) 1-2 won by fall over Josiah Middle Rider 3-10 (Fall 0:42)

Dylan Humes Memorial- JV/Second Chance Results for Powder River Co. (Broadus)

Second Chance 124-126

Seth McDowell's place is 4th and has scored 4.0 team points.

• Round 1 - Toni Rosalez (Sheridan) won by decision over Seth McDowell (Dec 7-2)

• Round 2 - Jacob Anderson (Moorcroft) won by decision over Seth McDowell (Dec 4-2)

• Round 3 - Donnie Steen (Baker) won by decision over Seth McDowell (Dec 4-0)

Second Chance 136-139

Corbin Irish's place is 4th and has scored 6.0 team points.

• Round 1 - Deonte Taylor (Hulett) won by major decision over Corbin Irish (Maj 12-2)

• Round 2 - Corbin Irish won by fall over Clay Pilcher (Thunder Basin High School) (Fall 0:26)

Second Chance 170-182

Kyle Minow's place is 3rd and has scored 8.0 team points.

• Round 1 - Aidyn Mitchell (Thunder Basin High School) won by fall over Kyle Minow (Fall 4:30)

• Round 2 - Quinton Mangus (Sheridan) won by decision over Kyle Minow (Dec 9-6)

• Round 3 - Kyle Minow (Powder River Co. (Broadus)) won by major decision over Kolter Robbins (Spearfish) (Maj 11-0)

Second Chance 206-216

Josiah Middlerider's place is 3rd and has scored 0.0 team points.

• Round 2 - Kagan Lawrence (Hulett) won by fall over Josiah Middle Rider (Fall 1:48)