Whitehall finishes third

The Whitehall High School wrestling had a strong performance last week finishing third out of 16 teams at last week's Class B/C Duals.

Assistant Coach Steve Sacry said the dual format puts the focus on the team's performance over the individual, and there many instances where wrestlers stepped up for the good of the team.

In pool action Friday, Sacry said the Trojans won both the matches, the first a solid 53-9 victory over Shepherd and a strong 58-0 win over Red Lodge.

On Saturday, Whitehall opened strong with a 31-27 win over Fairfield before falling 48-14 in the semifinals to Huntley Project.

The Trojans next faced off in a battle for third place against county rival Boulder. Sacry said the dual format allows some unique strategies and flexibility with regard to who wrestles at which weight and Whitehall was able to take advantage of that for a 40-33 win.

"It has been an interesting battle between Whitehall, Townsend, and Boulder all year. The good competition has inspired all of us," Sacry said.

Looking back at the two days of action, Sacry said the highlights were some of the younger wrestlers who stepped into varsity spots to wrestle against more experienced wrestlers for the benefit of the team.

He said Karson Klapan wrestled at 138 pounds against bigger competition and picked up 12 team points, Tommy Emerson earned 12 points at 126, Kyle Denny wrestled up at 152 and earned 18 team points along with the highest scoring individual match at 20 pints. Sacry added Jesse Rios ended the weekend with a 2-0 record, with one victory by pin, the other a 6-0 shutout.

The team will wrap up the regular season Friday at the Maroon Activity Center in Butte. Wrestling at the Butte Central Mixer is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.

"It may be a good opportunity for local folk to see us wrestle," Sacry said.