Trojan wrestlers shine at home

The Whitehall High School wrestling team produced two great days of wrestling including a victory over rival Jefferson on their way to a third-place finish out of 16 teams at the annual Whitehall Duals event.

The Trojans went 5-2 over the two-day event. Whitehall was also able to pick up a 51-6 victory over Butte at Thursday's Whitehall Quad.

"I was very proud of how the boys wrestled. These long weekend tournaments are taxing both physically and mentally. They had up to 11 matches in 3 days. They learned how to use their technique and how to stay mentally focused over three days of competition," said assistant coach Steve Sacry.

On Friday, the Trojans picked up wins over Great Falls Central (60-18), and Helena Capital (51-18). The Whitehall squad dropped a tough 42-36 match to Columbus.

Sacry said the team finished second in their pool and this put them in the championship bracket against Columbus, Butte High JV, Bozeman JV, North Fremont (ID), Townsend, Anaconda and Boulder.

The Trojans dropped their first dual Saturday 48-24 to Townsend, but came back strong with a 42-36 win over Jefferson (Boulder). The team avenged their early loss to Columbus, with a 42-36 victory. The Trojans finished third after a 43-21 win over the Butte JV team.

North Fremont finished in first, and Townsend was second.

Whitehall had two undefeated wrestlers over the three days of action with Connor Johnson going 10-0, and Kayden Howser finishing with a 5-0 record.

Alleck Holloway went 7-1, Riley Forcella was 4-1, Mike Wilkinson was 3-1 and Dawson Hoerauf had a 6-1 record.

Dawson Powers had a 6-2 record, Gage McMillan went 2-5, Dalten Denny went 4-6, Dallen Hoover and Wyatt Powers were 4-3, Gaten Wassberg finished 5-4, Garris Robertson was 4-7 and Brody Becker finished the three days with a 5-4 record.

Sacry lauded the excellent efforts by his wrestlers, as well as those who attended and helped out at the event.

"We also had huge parent and community support in putting on this tournament.

It takes quite the volunteer effort. By the feedback received from other teams, the Whitehall Tournament is well received and everyone's efforts greatly appreciated," he said.

This week the team will travel to Great Falls for the annual CMR Holiday Classic.

Sacry said they will be competing against most of the Class AA and A teams in Montana.