Bigfork High School adds wrestling, swimming

BIGFORK — Bigfork High School wrestling is back.

Efforts to restore the program after it disbanded in 2002 came to fruition this spring when the school board voted in May to add wrestling and girls swimming to Bigfork High School’s lineup of winter sports.

Bigfork’s wrestling team was cut along with softball because both programs suffered from low enrollment, but a plan to bring back wrestling was hatched in 2007 with the start of a Little Guy program designed to feed the high school.

“The wrestling club has been working toward getting wrestling back at the high school for several years,” Bigfork wrestling club manager Kelly Rieke said. “We started a Little Guy program with the idea that if we got a successful feeder program going, we could go to the school board and try to get wrestling back at the high school.”

Rieke said the Little Guy program quickly became popular with Bigfork boys, with enrollment reaching 48 in 2010 and hovering around 50 the past few years.

“We were able to show the school board that we have a lot of interest,” she said.

Bigfork senior Gunnar Boose also made a pitch for wrestling, telling the school board it was important to offer a winter sport besides basketball.

“We had at least 20 kids that showed up to both of the board meetings when it was discussed,” Boose said. “And the first meeting was three hours in before wrestling was brought up. It just shows that the kids that are interested are determined.”

Boose wrestled in middle school when he lived in Dillon, and said he’s excited to pick the sport back up.

“I’m going to be using it after high school,” he said. “I’m not going to be doing competitive wrestling, but I’m planning to go to West Point and I think that experience will help me a lot there. It’s a really good activity for high-schoolers in the winter when there isn’t a lot else to do.”

Senior Noe Gomez is also eager to get his first taste of high school wrestling. Gomez hasn’t wrestled since sixth grade when he lived in southern California. He moved to Bigfork after his freshman year of high school.

“I loved wrestling when I was younger,” he said. “My dad was a wrestler back when he was in high school. I’m really excited to see what I can do compared to him, and I know that he’s going to help out with wrestling so it will be a good thing for us to do together.”

Between the success of the Little Guy program and the number of students who showed interest, Bigfork principal Matt Porrovecchio said there was more than enough evidence to bring wrestling back.

“The biggest thing for us is, in the process of looking at adding a sport, it really came down to having interest in it,” he said. “We had a significant number of students interested in wrestling. In the fall we have a large number of students participating in sports and in the wintertime when wrestling is offered there’s very few opportunities for kids to participate in extrcurriculars besides basketball.”

Rieke said 20 prospective wrestlers have already signed up for the high school team, and that doesn’t include incoming freshmen.

Josh Feller, a math teacher at Bigfork High School and a 2002 graduate of Glasgow High School, will coach the team.

“It’s incredible to see how passionate these kids are even when they haven’t wrestled the past five or six years,” Feller said, noting it will be a challenge working with such an inexperienced team. “We have a good number of kids, but its been awhile since a lot of them have wrestled.”

The program will be self-funded and is asking for donations. Checks can be made out to “Bigfork Wrestling Club - BHS” and sent to Rieke at 655 Lee Road, Bigfork, MT.

Girls swimming was added to comply with Title IX, which requires the school to offer an equal number of sports for boys and girls. Charlie Ball, a Bigfork High School English teacher, was approved as coach at the July 17 school board meeting.

“We’re just really excited to have (wrestling and girls swimming) at Bigfork,” Porrovecchio said. “The more extracurricular activities we can provide at our school the better.”