Tarr takes third at Rocky, MatCats beginning to heal injuries

Hungry Horse News

The Columbia Falls wrestling team beat Hamilton last Thursday by just 15 points despite getting 36 points from six forfeits.

Coach Wes Knutson wasn't particularly pleased either.

So after that dual and before they faced a tough Corvallis team that night, Knutson said he had a "little visit in the locker room" with his wrestlers.

The verbal inspiration apparently gave the team a boost, as the Wildcats went on to smash Corvallis 54-24 and then have a respectable finish in the middle of the pack at the Rocky Mountain Classic during the weekend in Missoula.

After getting only one pin (Dalvin Averill at 135 pounds) in their 49-34 win against Hamilton, Columbia Falls exploded for eight pins against Corvallis.

"We came out and just took it to them," Knutson said.

Tyler Nelson (112), Aric Tarr (119), Bo Hader (130), Dalvin Averill (135), Bobby Opp (140), Ryan Buck (152), Nik Caron (189) and Tommy Church (275) all had pins against Corvallis.

Columbia Falls then finished 11th in the 21-team classic.

Tarr narrowly lost his semifinal match 1-0 to Cory Fish of University High (Spokane) and went on to finish third in the stacked 119-pounds class.

Tarr was supposed to wrestle Frenchtown's Brandon Stedman in the third place match, but Stedman couldn't wrestle because of an injury. Stedman beat Tarr twice this year by the score of 3-2.

Buck also barely lost in the semifinals. He lost 4-3 in overtime against Flathead's Mikey Kuehne. Buck then lost another match before winning his fifth-place match.

"He was very disappointed to not be in the finals," Knutson said.

Caron also finished fifth for Columbia Falls.

Church lost his final match and took fourth. Cody Kolodejchuk (105) and Nelson both finished sixth.

"As a team we wrestled much better," Knutson said.

The Wildcats have two duals tonight (Jan. 20) at home. They wrestle Ronan at 4:30 p.m. and Flathead at 8 p.m. Columbia Falls also wrestles in Polson at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

After getting some regulars back last week, Knutson hopes to have a few more wrestlers come back from injuries.

He said Michael Hader, Calvin Williams and possibly Keyvin Walter will wrestle in their next duals.

"We're just starting to get healthy and we're starting to get headed in the right direction," Knutson said.