Glacier, Flathead have high hopes for tourney

Kalispell is a wrestling town.

That was the message on a banner in the Glacier High gymnasium before a recent Flathead/Glacier wrestling dual.

The town will get the chance to prove that to all of Western AA wrestling fans this weekend.

The Western AA seeding tournament begins at 4 p.m. today at Glacier. It should wrap up at about 5 p.m. on Saturday.

There will be seven teams - Glacier and Flathead, Missoula Hellgate, Sentinel and Big Sky, Helena High and Helena Capital.

Each team can enter two wrestlers in each of the 15 weight classes.

Wolfpack coach Mark Fischer expects about 180 wrestlers to descend on Glacier High.

Team scores will not be kept, but the top eight wrestlers in each weight class advance to next weekend's state tournament in Billings.

The Wolfpack has had some stresses this week in the form of the flu.

"Just like every team across the state is going through this sickness. It's a challenge for us coaches," he said.

"Some of our kids are only going to get one practice this week, but we'll get through it," he said.

"The stress level is high," he admitted.

"People are starting to take notice of Glacier High School a little bit more. That's something we haven't had to deal with yet. You want to do well in front of your home crowd," he said.

"Hopefully, this week we can remember to still have fun and just go out there and battle. We've got to continue to have fun this week," he said.

Glacier is hoping to qualify at least 20 wrestlers for the state tournament.

"If we had 20, we'd be real happy. I think that's very realistic," Fischer said.

"I wouldn't put it past us to get a few more, but we'd be very happy with 20."

He added his thanks to all the community and the parents "for everything they have done for us this year."

The Flathead Braves, Class AA state defending champions, are also looking forward to a good tournament and to being in Kalispell for the weekend.

"It's really nice. It's basically like having it at home, even though it's not in our gym. It's going to be great for the kids to go home at night," Flathead coach Matt Owen said.

Flathead will enter 28 wrestlers in this tournament - and Owen has high hopes for all of them.

"We're shooting to get everyone through, all 28 that we're entering. I'll be happy with anything in the 20s, but definitely the more the better," he said.

"Hopefully (they'll qualify) with high placings, because those set you up for the state tournament," he added.

"They look really good. Everybody is wrestling really well," Owen said of the Braves.

"We're as healthy as we're going to be. I thought we had a great week of practice, probably our best one of the year, and I think we're going to look really good this weekend," he said.

The Braves have had their challenges this week, too. They lost 189-pound senior Tyler Komenda to illness.

"That was a big-time bummer," Owen said. "I felt really bad for him. He's been really coming on well," he said.