Broadus wrestlers compete at Divisional Tournament

Two Broadus wrestlers came within one place of a State berth at the Eastern B-C Divisional Tournament in Worden, last Saturday. Unfortunately for the Hawks, only the first four places advance to State.

Corbin Irish, wrestling at 138 lbs, began his meet wrestling the top seeded John Cremer of Glasgow. Broadus Coach Frankie Schoonover said during a Monday interview that Irish gave the match his all, and wrestled the full match against Cremer, but ultimately lost 13-6. Irish then received a bye, and eventually wrestled Blake Zimmerman of Huntley Project. Schoonover commented that in this match, Corbin's nerves got the best of him in the intense atmosphere of the tournament, and Zimmerman was able to pin Irish.

Dakota Holbrook, wrestling at 170 lbs, led off his tournament against William Turcotte of Poplar, who beat Holbrook by pin. He then faced Ty Kittleson of Glasgow, with the same result. In the 5th and 6th place match, Dakota was able to pin Treyton Koch of Red Lodge, to bring home 5th place.

"Dakota had a tough time relaxing and being mentally prepared at the beginning of the tournament," Coach commented. "Once the pressure of placing was off in that last match, he dominated. That mental toughness is something we will work on for next year."

Kyle Minow, wrestling at 182 lb, has been battling a back injury for much of the season, while Kyle gave up weight to many of his opponents as he pushed to make 180. He also started the season late, so experience on the mat was less than that of his opponents. Despite this adversity, Kyle wrestled hard, losing by pin to Levi Beeler of Shepherd (Beeler would go on to the finals), and losing by points to Mason Garfield of Wolf Point, in a close match. Minow would win 5th after a forfeit by his final opponent.

Josiah Middle Rider, wrestling at 205, was a success story all on his own. Schoonover commented: "Josiah was a success the minute he stepped onto that mat, even if he hadn't won a match all year, because he lost 120 lbs of weight in the last year."

The weight loss gave Middle Rider confidence on the mat, and speed against his opponents, but 205 lbs is a tough weight class, with some absolute units of muscled-up, strong human beings.

The strong opponents at Divisionals got to Middle Rider, where he lost by pin to Cooper Larson of Glasgow, Jacob Berger of Poplar, and Davin Pinkerton of Forsyth.

Though no Hawks advanced to State, Schoonover is still optimistic about how far the team has come this season – the majority of the team had not been on a wrestling mat previous to the season, and the majority of the team was within a win of going to State.

The upcoming 2020-21 wrestling season will see some major changes. Instead of four divisions, the state is dropping to two. This means that next year's divisional will also feature wrestlers from the northeast corner of the state, but will also mean 8 wrestlers from each weight class advance to state. Our current division has perennially been one of the toughest in the state, with wrestlers from this division going on to many state titles. With the current crop of Broadus wrestlers performing at the level of which they are capable, we will hopefully see green and gold singlets on the mats at State in the near future.

In the meantime, Coach Schoonover is not twiddling his thumbs waiting for next season, nor are his wrestlers – the team is on the mats this week, continuing to practice.

"We hear lots of comments about how there's always next season. Well next season starts now. We're out on the mats working on our fundamentals, and always looking to improve."

Schoonover encourages other students throughout the school to come out for wrestling, and is always looking for recruits.

Another potential change comes with the inclusion of Girls Wrestling as a state sport in the coming year, passed by MHSA in January. According to Schoonover, two girls in Broadus are currently interested in the sport, and he mentioned five girls wrestled with the boys last weekend at Divisionals. As an official sport, girls would wrestle other girls but not boys at competition. A decision on whether to include Girls Wrestling as a sport will be made by the school board at a later date.

He also wanted to thank the community, both at the mixer earlier this year, and throughout the season: "I know deep down that Broadus is a wrestling community, and I appreciate everyone's support."

He continued: "I'm excited for next year, and excited to see what this team can do."