Libby's Leir on a mission

LIBBY - Don't ask Libby junior Kyle Leir about his 2010-11 season wrestling record.

There are a lot of guys right now who wish they had his mark, but he'd rather not talk about it.

Leir is 33-1 this year with championships at two prestigious tournaments - the Tri-State Tournament in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, and the Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula.

But the ‘and 1 part of 33 and 1' drives him nuts.

"Every time (he tells someone), they want to know who beat you," the 140-pounder explained.

The loss came early - Leir's second match of the season, but he can give the score (6-1), his opponent's name (Trevor Hampton of Bonners Ferry, Idaho), and describe the match in complete detail.

According to Leir, Hampton had him in a Russian tie and was pushing in. Leir did a 360 spin to a far-side single, but got into a scramble and gave up a takedown and nearfall.

Leir continued to push the tempo, and did get an escape at the end, but couldn't score enough points to rally.

Libby co-head coach Mort Curtiss points out Hampton is a two-time Idaho state champion and Leir was wrestling up a weight class (145) to face him.

"He got caught with a five-point move in the first period. It's tough to come back against a good wrestler," Curtiss said.

"It was a good wake-up call, but it was pretty disappointing. I was playing his game and I want to play mine," Leir said.

"After I lose, I go back to the drawing board and I look at what I did wrong. There were a lot of things that I did wrong (against Hampton). I thought about it for about a week. Then you've got to move on."

Leir admits he is itching for a second shot.

"I want to wrestle (Hampton) again. I know that I can push him for six minutes the hardest he's ever been pushed," Leir said.

But he did move on.

He practiced nearly every day after with Libby coach Jason Harrington, and nine days later Leir won the Tri-State Tournament in Coeur d'Alene.

"Once I got to Tri-State, it started jelling," Leir said.

More specificially, everything came together in his third match.

"He was a really tough kid. Once I beat him, I knew if I kept wrestling like I did, I could keep winning," he said.

"When I won, I was so focused in on it, I thought that's awesome, but it didn't hit me until 10 minutes later. I got probably like 11 texts in a row and a couple calls," he said.

He's continued to win, claiming the Rocky title in mid-January and rolling to the Northwestern A divisional title last weekend. He'll open this weekend's Class A state tournament in Butte against Dillon's Jacob Lenegar, the fourth place wrestler from Southwestern A.

"I'm kind of surprising myself. I have to give a lot of credit to my coaches. They're 100 percent there for all of us kids.

"It's a great feeling when you go out there and win. You work so hard the whole week ... that victory feels like the best thing in the world," he said.

But he also doesn't want to get too far ahead. The objective is a 2011 state championship.

And while this season has been wonderful in many ways, Leir has also faced adversity.

His stepfather, with whom he was close and with whom he spent his summers in Washington, died unexpectedly in his sleep just a few weeks ago.

"I'd just seen him four days before he died. He was down in Libby and he watched me wrestle," Leir said.

He spent the next several days in Richland, Wash., with his mother, Carla Miller.

"When I was down there, she would cry a lot. I would hold her and hug her. I pray every night for her and my dad and my sisters. I have a goal for state, but before anything comes of that, it's my family. My family is No. 1 to me."

All the season wins "are cool, but I try to not even think about it. Anything can happen. I don't want to float on my glory. I don't want to go high on my horses, then go to state and get dropped," he said.

Curtiss doesn't think that will happen. He believes hard work is simply paying off for someone who put in the time.

"He's on a mission. He's not going to get denied," Curtiss said of Leir.

"He is determined to be No. 1 - and that's what it takes in the sport," the coach said.

In addition to hitting the weights hard, Leir attended the North Idaho College camp last summer.

"He's prepared himself. Kyle has definitely paid the price to be where he's at. He wrestles every match like it's the last he'll ever wrestle. He doesn't quit. When he goes out there, he wrestles as hard in the last 30 seconds as in the first 30 seconds.

"He doesn't complain and he doesn't back away from wrestling anybody," the coach said.

"He is one of the hardest workers in the room. I've known all along that he has the tools and the natural ability. Now he's starting to realize it within himself," Curtiss said.

Leir has been a wrestler since second grade. It's the only sport that has taken his interest.

Medals were the thing that caught him - Dylan Berget brought his Little Guy Wrestling medals in for show-and-tell.

"I went home and told my dad (Randy) ‘next year, I'm wrestling.' He said ‘OK,'" Leir smiles.

His dad has continued to be a huge source of support, he said.

He and Berget (160 pounds) are workout partners today.

"It's just something that gets the competitiveness out of you. The competitiveness, the adrenaline, there's just something. You go out there by yourself and you leave the mat by yourself. You can't blame (mistakes) on anybody else," Leir said.

"I think wrestling is the hardest sport you can choose in high school. You know nobody else is working harder than you. I don't know ... I guess it's something you fall in love with," he added.