Crosstown wrestling set for Thursday at Flathead
Flathead's Lily McMahon works toward a pin of Glacier's Jessalyn Hewitt at 132 pounds at Glacier High School on Thursday, Jan. 13. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
The Flathead Brave Brawlers and Bravettes plan to “Cowboy up,” for the crosstown wrestling duals Thursday against Glacier, which begin with weigh-ins at 4 p.m. at Flathead High.
Sub-varsity matches begin at 5 p.m., with the girls varsity dual scheduled for 6 and the boys dual right after.
On paper, Flathead is the favorite: The Bravettes finished second and the Pack fourth at last weekend’s Hellgate Invitational; the Flathead boys haven’t lost a dual in three seasons.
All the same there will be some solid matches.
Glacier coach Ross Dankers notes that his 152-pounder, Kaleb Shine, will face Flathead standout Cade Troupe for the first time this season. Shine is 18-8 and Troupe is 23-3.
“They have two different styles of wrestling,” Dankers said. “It will be fun to see who can get their style going in that match.”
Tentatively it looks like nine of the 14 boys weight classes will be wrestled.
“Unfortunately we’ve been pretty well decimated by injuries and other circumstances that have come up,” Dankers said. “We’re going to do the best we can with who we have available.”
“We always get excited about Crosstown,” said Flathead coach Jeff Thompson. “Our kids were jacked at practice today, and excited about performing in front of their fans.”
The Brave Brawlers, ranked No. 1 in Class AA, have one more home dual after Thursday, against Butte on Jan. 28.
“Having a good team the last couple years, you want to show it off in front of the home crowd, and put on a show,” Thompson said.
While the Bravettes asserted themselves early in the burgeoning MHSA sport of girls wrestling, winning the first two State AA titles, Glacier has been building. The Pack has some standouts in Jessalyn Hewitt (126) and Madisyn Frazier (152), not to mention Brooke Yeadon and Ariana Conklin at 107 and 114.
Both Yeadon and Conklin were second at last week’s Hellgate tournament.
“They train together and it’s the first year for Conklin, a freshman, in Crosstown, so we’re excited to see how she does,” Dankers said. ““The girls are really becoming steady and consistent in their performances, which is very cool to see. We have some tough girls down low and tough girls up top.”
Bella Downing (120), Lucille Libby (235) and Skye Shelmerdine (114) all finished third in their brackets at Hellgate for the Bravettes. Shelmerdine lost by fall in the first round to the same girl, Great Falls’ Kaylin Taylor, who pinned Glacier’s Conklin in the final.
“With a few of our seasoned wrestlers out, we performed well and placed second to Butte,” Flathead girls coach Amber Downing said at the time. “I am excited to see that they are growing into a family, supporting and pushing each other to be successful on and off the mat.”