Little Guy wrestlers place at state

By FAITH MOLDAN Bigfork Eagle

Bigfork's eight Little Guy wrestling state competitors showed their toughness on the mats at the Little Guy Wrestling Western Montana Championships.

The wrestlers — Colton Oster, Andy Russell, Nico Carie, Jake Tudahl, Ron Loudermilk, Chance Batin, Vinny Quirk and Matthew Sefcak — competed in the championships in Missoula last weekend.

"There were kids running moves. It was pretty cool," Bigfork coach Mark Tudahl said of the Little Viking wrestlers. "They wrestled tough."

Two of them — Tudahl and Loudermilk — placed, taking first and second in the junior high division. Tudahl defeated Libby's Thomas Osborn in the 130-pound weight class for first place. Tudahl finished the championships with three pins in under a minute-and-a-half.

"He wrestled like an animal," his coach and father said.

Loudermilk placed second to Angel Courture of Polson in the 145 lb. weight class. Loudermilk also placed at state last year, which was his first year wrestling.

"He wasn't lucky," Tudahl said of Loudermilk and his skills at state. "He wrestled tough."

Oster placed at last year's championships as well. He won a few matches this year, according to Tudahl, and was beat out in the late rounds.

"A few kids wrestled really well," Tudahl said. All of the junior wrestlers — Tudahl, Loudermilk, Sefcak and Carie — automatically qualified for state while the younger kids had to wrestle their way in.

Carie found himself against tough completion right off the bat. The first-year wrestler was within one or two points in each match.

"He has a serious future in wrestling," Tudahl said.

Tudahl credited Russell with a "pretty darn tough tourney," and added that he and Quirk are good kids who did well their first year, as well as Sefcak and Batin.

"All they need is experience and a few more moves," he said.