PREP WRESTLING: Bison fifth, Rustlers 11th as state tournament wraps up in Billings

BILLINGS – It was not the result either Great Falls High nor C.M. Russell wanted.

With just one individual champion between the two schools, both Bison boys and girls squads and the Rustler boys are ready to do work – and a lot of it – to climb the ladder of the Class AA wrestling elite next year.

The Bison boys captured fifth overall and the Rustlers 11th as the 2022 Montana High School Association Combined Wrestling Championships concluded its three-day run Saturday evening at the First Interstate Bank Arena at MetraPark, while the Great Falls girls – both of them – amassed 29 points to finish in 28th.

What could have been a shining weekend for several wrestlers materialized into just one state championship. The Bison's Brendan Lockart got the final day of the tournament by pinning Chase Youso of Kalispell Flathead at 2:59 of the second period to earn the Class AA 205-pound honors.

He was so stoked about the win that he pulled off his headgear and launched it into the seats inside the 12,000-seat arena before launching himself into the arms of his head coach, Luis Carranza. But, unlike former teammate Liam Swanson last year, Lockart did not bodyslam his coach.

"It was a mental game from the beginning," Lockart, a junior, said about wrestling against Youso. "I was looking at him and making sure he knew I was ready.

"Once the match started, I was in his face, letting him know he was wrestling Brendan Lockart."

"That kid has worked his tail off for a long time," Carranza said. "He got a little taste last year, fell short, so for him to punch that through was absolutely huge for him.

"I'm proud of him, proud of our team. But really, it was a great accomplishment for him to finally get a state title."

Their remaining three finalists didn't fare nearly as well: Heavyweight Raven Hensley was pinned in the first period by Talon Marsh of Helena Capital, Kale Baumann was blanked 9-0 at 126 pounds by Carter Schmidt of Belgrade, and Dylan Block lost to Bozeman's Avery Allen in a technical fall, 15-0.

The only Bison semifinalist to not reach to finals was 145-pounder Irish Furthmyre. He did rebound after his loss to Israel Moreno and took third with a decision over Butte High's Maverick McEwen,

"My opponents are tough," Furthmyre said. "They showed up, I did, too ... I ended up third.

"I'm not proud ... but I still have a whole summer to get better. I still have another year. And there's a lot more, even after high school."

Gavin Cotton, also wrestling at 126, took fifth for the Bison.

Lockart finished off a perfect 29-0 season for the Bison, who tallied 152.5 points as a team, well behind the Braves of Kalispell Flathead, who ran away with the crown for the second consecutive season with 289. Billings Senior was 19 points behind Flathead in second, with Billings West (199) and Butte (175.5) in third and fourth, respectively.

Spots six through 11 are occupied – in order – by Helena Capital, Billings Skyview, Belgrade, Kalispell Glacier, Bozeman High, and – with 67 points – Great Falls Russell.

Flathead also ran sway with the girls' All-Class title, knocking off Senior 205-157. Skyview, at 115.5, was third.

The past weekend also marked the tournament's triumphant return to the MetraPark Arena after COVID-19 forced the MHSA to look elsewhere to host the tournament (AA boys was at Flathead, the girls met at the brand-new Lockwood High School east of Billings). And the year also marked the first year where girls participated on the mat at MetraPark.

Both Kaylin Taylor and Erica Guerrero earned 29 points for the Lady Bison. Taylor, who was shooting for a second straight title in as many years, suffered a 12-4 major decision to Lily Grismer of Cascade in the 113-pound semifinals.

The sophomore rebounded well, defeating Anaconda's Cora Pesanti in the consolation semifinals with a pin at 1:49, then decisioned Hannah Hurst of Hamilton 10-4 to earn a bronze medal for third.

She also earned a bloody nose in the final seconds of the bout.

"I just wanted to get everyone hyped up for it," she said when asked why she waited until the end of her last match to get the nosebleed.

Not many of her matches went the full six minutes, and third place wasn't what she was hoping for, especially after winning the very first Montana individual girls' title at 103 pounds last year at Lockwood High School.

"It wasn't exactly what I wanted," she admitted, "but I have a lot of friends and my family supporting me.

"I just decided to turn it around and get as high as I could."

This season has been an eye-opener for Taylor, whose only other loss came at the hands of Poplar senior standout Jazmin Gorder, who beat her at the Cascade Mixer two weeks ago: "I think I learned a lot from it. Although it's not how I wanted to end the season, I still have two more years to get it."

A 205-pound sophomore, Guerrero was eliminated after three bouts on Friday. She dropped her opening round match to Lucille Libby of Flathead, then came back and pinned Ashlee Wilcox of Butte before she was ousted by Celia Jaeger of Senior.

Gorder went on to successfully defend her 113-pound crown from last year when she beat Grismer with a pin at 5:55, avenging the loss she suffered to the Cascade senior earlier in the year when Gorder bumped her weight up to 120 to take on Grismer. It was Gorder's only blemish in 27 matches.

"It felt great, just knowing that I wanted it and I worked for it, and it came down to that," Gorder, on the verge of tears, said after her final career match. "It's just great to have my family here, and the coaches, everything ...

"Being here at the Metra, it's amazing to have everyone's support."

Gorder's teammate, freshman Angelina Escarcega, took the title at 103 when she stopped Glacier's Brooke Yeadon at 3:50.

There were a lot of emotions going through Angelina's head. By the way, she's also known as "Nina."

"What's going through my head right now?" she responded after getting off the mat. "I don't know; I'm just so proud, putting in the hard work, and my teammates helped me – my brother, my cousin, and my best friend Jaz – they all helped me."

And her coaches, starting with head coach Jason Fredricks: "They pushed me hard, knew my limits; that's how I got here."

The Rustler boys had three wrestlers in Saturday morning's semifinals, all going down to defeat: Logan Younkin was pinned by Keyan Hernandez of West at 113, but went on to finish third by stopping Aiden Downing of Flathead at 2:37.

When told third place is nothing to sneeze at, Younkin responded: "You're darn right! It definitely feels really nice to be here (at Metra). The atmosphere here is great.

"There was a lot of mental battles there. Once you knock those demons down, you start to take control."

At 152, Calvin Carroll fell to Avery Allen Saturday morning, but also took third by decisioning Logan Cole 6-2: "I wanted to be in that finals match at 4, but I lost in the semis and had to battle back for the next best thing.

"Being my senior year, I've only wrestled in here twice, as a freshman and this year; the atmosphere here is so amazing. I'm sure going to miss that part. But after that loss this morning, I just wanted to get that third-place prize."

AJ LaFurge also went for third, but took fourth place following a 6-3 decision to Logan Cole after dropping a 6-2 final score to Senior's Cole in the third place bout and took fourth.

"It was tough, a good year, the kids worked really hard this year," CMR head Aaron Jensen said. "We did come away with some hardware this year; not quite what we wanted, but we'll go back to work for next year."

Some will argue that success is not always measured by wins and losses and championships: "That is true, but you still want to strive for them," Jensen added. We had some kids striving for them; they didn't quite get there, but they'll learn from it and we'll continue to get better.

"I'm proud of how our guys responded after the semis ... punching three guys in for third was good for them, and winning two of the three was good. We're pleased with the effort, but we're not satisfied with the outcome, so we'll keep working."

Mariah Wahl of Cut Bank also successfully defended her 138-pound crown and finished a perfect 36-0 season by downing Makenzee Neal of Billings West 2-0, and was asked if it gets any better.

She waxed philosophic: "Maybe a third ... but I'm graduating this year. It would have been nice if (girls wrestling would've started a couple of years earlier), but I'm so excited for college."

Fort Benton, trying to get their wrestling program restarted, got quite the boost when senior Brock Hanford won the Class B-C heavyweight championship by pinning Cascade's Caden Crowell at 5:35 of the third period.

It has been a while since a Fort Benton wrestler has left here with a gold medal around his neck.

"Our school is trying to reboot wrestling, and I'm excited for the future," Hanford said. "We've got some good middle schoolers and good underclassmen coming up.

"I'm excited for it."

This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Bison fifth, Rustlers 11th as state tournament wraps up in Billings