The Montana State Wrestling Tournament is extreme. It brings the best wrestlers in Montana from all classes into one loud and packed arena — the Metra in Billings — for three days of intense competition. Forty-three schools vie for the Class B/C boy title; the girls compete in a single classification with 77 teams.
This year, the Panthers didn’t bring home any championships, and no one made all-state. But our very young team made some big strides.
Twelve Jefferson wrestlers had qualified for the event. The boys included Daxton Terry at 110 pounds, Russell Douglas at 118, Korbin Rintamaki at 132, Mike Richard at 144, Cooper Mikesell at 150, Tellen Simanton at 157, Blake Nordlinder at 165 and Andrew Rodriquez at 215. Four girls made the grade: Emma Jurkovac at 100, Maysa LaFromboise at 110, Isabella Mikesell at 115 and Madison Neely at 190.
The girls made a strong start: All four won their first-round matches by pins. In the second round, only Neely advanced, moving into the quarterfinals. On the boys’ side, meanwhile, Terry was the only winner, with an upset victory over the much higher seeded Garrison Riggin of Chester-Joplin-Inverness. That ended the first day’s action.
In Friday morning’s first consolation round, Cooper Mikesell and Andrew Rodriquez won to advance, but all the other Panther boys were eliminated. On the girls’ side, Jurkovac, LaFromboise and Isabella Mikesell all won to keep their hopes alive.
In the quarterfinals, both Terry and Neely were unsuccessful, moving into the consolation bracket. In the second consolation round, all the Panther boys were eliminated, but LaFromboise, Isabella Mikesell and Neely advanced.
As they moved into the final consolation round of the day, the Lady Panthers needed just one more win to earn a place on the awards podium and make it to Saturday’s action. Unfortunately, all three girls lost in hard fought matches. Jefferson’s tournament was done.
That was a tough outcome, but the future looks bright for Panther wrestling. Earlier in the season, it seemed we might not have any girls qualify for state. The fact that three Lady Panthers finished just one match short of placing represented a huge improvement. As a team, the girls set a school record for most points at State, and placed 34th out of 77 schools. I am convinced that we will have a Lady Panther on the awards podium in the near future.
