Five firsts for MatCats at tourney

A couple of weeks ago, Columbia Falls wrestling coach Jessie Schaeffer approached senior Shawn Whitman about his decision to not wrestle this year.

He told the Whitman that there was still time to get his 10 practices in and give the Western A divisional tourney a shot if he wanted to — the team had an open spot at 140 pounds.

Whitman showed up to practice the next day.

The rest, as they say, is history.

He not only placed for state Saturday, he won the divisional crown, beating Polson's Mike Devlin handily, 10-6. Whitman nearly pinned Devlin, but ran out of time.

Schaeffer was extremely pleased.

"We were hoping to sneak him in at third or fourth," Schaeffer said.

Whitman joined four other MatCats with divisional victories. Seth McCall, 105, Sal Baccaro, 112, brother Justin Whitman 110, and Kelly Houle, 215, all took divisional titles. As a team, the Cats took fourth, primarily because they didn't have as many wrestlers place overall. Polson won the tournament.

"We had more divisional champs than any other team," Schaeffer said. "We had an outstanding weekend.

"You can't take anything away from the kids. They've been putting in the time."

Houle, at 215, still has a shot at the fall record for the school.

He pinned all his opponents at the divisional tourney and if he gets three more at state, he will have bested the school record.

But his main goal is a state title, Schaeffer noted. School records are secondary. All told, the Cats will send 10 wrestlers to state, including Adam Richardson, Cody Hader, Kohl Thompson, Billy Gross and Joe Gross.

Schaeffer said fan support at the tourney was a big plus.

"I was very proud to be a coach," he said. "We had a great fan base. It was nice."

The state tournament begins Friday in Billings.