STATE WRESTLING: Eureka in second after Day 1 in Billings

BILLINGS — A pair of top-seeds for Eureka went down in the second round, but the Lions still find themselves in position for a top-three team finish after day one of action at the All-Class state wrestling tournament at MetraPark on Friday.

Entering today’s final rounds, the Lions have 69.5 points, well clear of third-place Shepherd at 54 in Class B/C. Eureka is unlikely to claim its first state title, however, because Colstrip is lapping the field with a dominating 99.5 points.

Even if the Lions’ state title aspirations have vanished, Friday was still an overall good day for the two-time defending divisional champions. Eureka advanced four wrestlers to the semifinals and has another four still alive in the consolation bracket.

Jonathan Schmidt is one of the Lions’ semifinalists, and the sophomore is already guaranteed to at least match his fourth-place state finish from a year ago. Wrestling at 126 pounds, Schmidt earned a pin in his opening match and won by technical fall in the quarterfinals to advance cleanly to today’s championship rounds. With the two wins, Schmidt bumped his season record to 46-4.

Joe Fehr, the other top-seeded Eureka grappler to advance, won by fall in the opening round and advanced on a major decision in the quarters. The Lions’ two other top-seeded wrestlers, Garrett Graves (170) and Kahden Bakkila (120) dropped decisions in the second round, although each is still alive in the consolation bracket.

Cannan Smith (145) and Kaelan Yanak (285) will join Schmidt and Fehr in the semis. Smith won both of his matches comfortably, while Yanak was even more impressive with a pair of pins.

Eureka’s Josh Schmidt (138) and Austin Sherwood (182) are the team’s two other consolation semifinalists.

Libby also has a wrestler with a chance at a state title, as Buddy Doolin won twice at 103 pounds. The fifth-ranked wrestler in the state entering the tournament, Doolin upended Glasgow’s Gabe Hallock with a technical fall in the second round.

Doolin’s teammate, Laine Young, at 138 pounds, went 2-1 on Friday and will wrestle in the consolation semifinals today.

Matt Farrier will be the only Bigfork wrestler in action when the tournament resumes. He won a pair of tight decisions Friday, surrounding a loss by pin the quarterfinals.

Colstrip has a remarkable eight wrestlers in the semifinals.

Action resumes today at 9:30 a.m. at Rimrock Auto Arena at MetraPark. State championship matches are tentatively set for 3:15 p.m.