The Boulder Junior High wrestling team has joined forces with the Berserker wrestling club, which practices at Clancy Elementary School and includes athletes from Clancy and Montana City.
On Mar. 2 the combined squad traveled to Dillon for the Dillon Jaycee Wrestling Tournament — and it cleaned up, winning in five weight classes and finishing as champions in the small-team category.
Competing for Boulder/Berserker were Bella Hays at 89-98 pounds, Landon Dean at 94-97, Spencer Abbott at 96-104, Emma Jurkovac at 99-106, Bella Mikesell at 105-110, Russell Douglas and Korbin Rintamaki at 114-117, Owen Mikesell at 120-123, Ada Johnson at 123-135, Steven Agge at 127-130, Blake Nordlinder at 137-141 pounds, and Daniel Ahkivgak at 144-160.
The Boulder/Berserker wrestlers were on fire, with five wrestlers making the finals and 10 of the 12 finding spots on the awards podium. In the finals, all five won to take tourney championships: Abbott, Bella Mikesell, Douglas, Johnson and Agge. Rintamaki and Nordlinger placed third in the consolation finals, and Hays, Owen Mikesell and Ahkivgak earning fourth-place medals.
As a team, Boulder/Berserker finished well ahead of second-place Salmon, Idaho in the small-team division. Boulder/Berserker, like many other squads, has a number of 8th graders who also competed at the high school level with the Jefferson Panthers. This experience proved invaluable during the junior high season.
The Dillon tournament marked the end of the middle school season. Among the Boulder wrestlers, Abbott finished the season at 14-1, Douglas went 14-2, Johnson was 13-2, Agge was 8-3 and Dean was 9-5.
Several wrestlers will continue on as part of the Berserker club; they will join some Jefferson High wrestlers at the AAU State Folkstyle Tournament in Billings on Mar. 16-17 and the Montana Open in Billings on Mar. 22-24.
