Braves wrestling well at National Duals

The Daily Inter Lake

The Flathead Braves showed the rest of the nation what Montana wrestling is all about. The team went 2-1 at the National Duals in Rochester, Minn., on Friday.

Dan Ogden, Levi Holt and Mikey Kuehne all went undefeated for the first day. Ogden, after dealing with an injury the past couple weeks, is the last Brave with a perfect record for the season.

The event also chooses 10 scholar-athletes to honor, and Flathead's Colter Lane (140) earned the Wellstone award, which comes with a medal and a trophy.

"He's just well-rounded," Thompson said. "We're happy for him and his family."

Flathead's first match was against Stewartville, a team from Minnesota, and won easily, 49-12. The next dual was an impressive win for the Braves as they beat Owatonna, Minnesota's No. 1-ranked team, 35-28.

"That was just a barn-burner," Flathead coach Jeff Thompson said. "Our kids came to wrestle."

The Braves needed to win their final dual of the day to earn a trip to the final four. Unfortunately, a streaking Hastings, Minn., team earned a 26-23 win in a hard-fought battle.

"We lost a heartbreaker," Thompson said. "Hastings had upset the No. 1 seed in the previous match. Our last match had been such a huge high, it was tough for us to come back."

Flathead, the No. 1 team from Montana (Billings Skyview went in to the tournament No. 2), will now wrestle today for fifth place. The worst the Braves could finish is eighth. Skyview, 1-2, could place as high as 21st.

The tournament features 32 teams from California to New Jersey and is high school wrestling at it's peak.

Some of the schools attending are massive, reaching as high as 5A.

"We really proved a point," Thompson said. "We can compete with the best teams in the country."

Complete tournament results are posted online at www.clashmn.org