Bulldogs compete at CMR Classic in Great Falls
The Bulldogs wrestling team got after it at the tough CMR Classic Tournament in Great Falls last week.
Whitefish finished 26th overall in the highly competitive meet, with Dean Kellogg placing the highest for the team.
Kellogg took eighth at 120.
Dakota Flannery worked through the consolation rounds as well but narrowly missed placing at 138.
Head coach Ryan Boyle said he knew the tournament would be a challenge for his wrestlers.
“It’s a super tough tournament. You’ve got Class AA, A, B, C, 50-some teams,” he said. “We saw a lot of good wrestling from the team overall, we didn’t have the placers but it was that much tougher of a tournament. We were losing matches by one or two points to state-placing kids. We’re just behind them, we’ve got to do some work to catch them still.”
Boyle said he’s proud of how Kellogg fought back through the consolation bracket after a quarterfinals loss.
After the team’s second-place finish in Superior earlier in the month, Boyle said he and the other coaches approached this tournament with a different mindset.
“It’s one of those where we told them, ‘Hey, it sounds funny but we’re here to get beat. You guys did really well at the Superior tournament. It’s a much smaller tournament, but we’re here to push ourselves, to go out against the best and see where you stack up,’” he said. “We have a long ways to go. We’re not there yet. It’s a process and it’s going to take a little bit to get there.”
Whitefish has a full plate this week.
On Tuesday they wrestled against Ronan and Hamilton at Ronan, then on Thursday they’ll host a quad dual with Frenchtown, Libby and Hamilton.
That will start at 5 p.m. at Whitefish High School.
They’ll wrap up the week with the Buzz Lucey Invite in Eureka on Saturday, which begins at 9 a.m.
“It’s a big week,” Boyle said. “So basically what we’re trying to do is just try to get a little better at what we’re doing. We don’t have a ton of time in practice because we’re going to be wrestling so much.”
Boyle said while his team is still gaining experience, they’re giving their all right now on the mat.
“We’re putting forth a lot of effort,” Boyle said. “It’s not the wins and losses right now, it’s just, ‘Are you putting forth as much as you can? Are you putting your best foot forward, working as hard as you can,’ and they’re doing that. At the beginning it was a little slow but now they’re into it and they understand what they need to do.”
C.M. Russell Holiday Wrestling Classic
Great Falls
Team Scores
Bozeman 241, Billings West 187.5, Butte 171, Missoula Big Sky 162.5, Helena Capital 162, Billings Senior 160.5, Great Falls High 137.5, Colstrip 134, Billings Skyview 126, Glasgow 122, C.M. Russell 121.5, Helena High 94.5, Townsend 93, Belgrade 91, Glacier 91, Circle 89.5, Poplar 89, Whitehall 79, Columbia Falls 75, Hamilton 75, Ronan 74.5, Browning 73, Florence-Carlton 70, Dillon 68, Cut Bank 61, Whitefish 57.5.
120
Seventh place: Gentry Lamb, Billings Skyview, pinned Dean Kellogg, Whitefish, 2:59.