The Boulder Junior High wrestlers launched into their month-long season with a spate of mixers and tournaments, turning in some strong performances — including a surprising 13th-place finish out of 33 teams at the all-division Mining City Middle School Tournament.
The Panthers’ first action came February 12 at the Butte East Middle School Mixer. In the first round, the Boulder squad dominated as Conor Phillips, Kyler Rintakami, Keaton Poulsen, Jeyden Sullivan and Hunter Steele all won their matches by pin while Max Solomon won by a 7-5 overtime decision. The second round wasn’t quite as successful: only Cole Jeske, Rintakami and Ryan Brown won, all by pin.
Then came the Mining City tournament, also in Butte. In the first round, competing in 16-man brackets, Rintamaki (104 pounds), Dayton Brown (107), and Poulsen (120) all won by pin. In the second round, Dylan Alexander (168) won by a 7-6 decision. In the consolation side of the bracket, Sullivan (142) and Steele won to advance them.
In the semifinals, both Alexander and Kalen Adams (240) won their matches, while Steele and Poulsen advanced on the consolation side. In the next consolation round, Steele managed to pin his opponent to earn a medal. And in the final round Alexander won a close 4-2 overtime decision to finish as champion. Adams lost his match to finish second while Steele (158) finished fourth.
The Panthers 13th-place finish was the big surprise of the day. At the junior high level, schools are not separated into AA, A and BC divisions, so the strong showing against much bigger schools was a great accomplishment.
The following week, Boulder traveled to the Belgrade Middle School Mixer. The Panthers enjoyed a successful evening, with five out of seven wrestlers winning by pin in the first round: Rintamaki, Dayton Brown, Jeremiah Travis (125), Sullivan and Alexander. In the second round, Rintamaki, Dayton Brown, Poulsen and Sullivan won by pin.
On February 23, the junior high wrestlers returned to Belgrade for a dual team tournament. Boulder was able to pick up ten wrestlers – seven from Belgrade, two from Bozeman and one from Anaconda — to help fill empty weight classes.
In the first dual of the day, the Panthers lost to Three Forks, 57-42. Boulder got pins from Dayton Brown, Steele, Alexander and Adams. In the second dual, they were overwhelmed by an all-star Eastern Montana team, with Brown scoring his team’s only win for the team. In the third dual, Boulder was matched up against Bozeman. Once again, the Panthers succumbed to a larger school: Only Brown, Alexander and Adams won by pin, with Sullivan registering a close 8-6 overtime victory.
This loss put Boulder into the consolation bracket where they squared off against the Belgrade #2 team. Boulder finally picked up some momentum, and all its wrestlers won in route to a 60-38 team victory. They stayed in the zone for a 51-38 victory over Dillon, as Poulsen, Travis, Sullivan, Steele, Alexander and Adams all scored wins.
Dayton Brown, Dylan Alexander and Kaleb Adams each mounted 4-1 records for the days, while Jeyden Sullivan and Hunter Steel finished with 3-2 records.
The Belgrade Tournament presented the toughest competition so far. And the next week will be busy. After a mixer in Townsend on February 26, the Panthers travel to Butte again on February 28 to compete in the Butte Central Mixer at the MAC. They’ll compete in a tournament in Dillon on March 2, then wrap up their season in the Anaconda Mixer on March 5.
