Inexperienced team ready to learn and fight

Vinny Quirk was the only Bigfork wrestler to place at Bigfork High’s opening meet in Polson Saturday.

Quirk, wrestling at 205 pounds, came in fourth, losing his final match to Polson’s Mike Corrigan in a 9-1 decision. Quirk beat Corrigan earlier in the day, pinning him in 4:59.

This is the second year Bigfork has had a wrestling team since the program was cut in 2002. Head coach Josh Feller has six returning wrestlers, with 13 on the team. Only eight competed last week in Polson.

While none of the other wrestlers placed, two won matches. Keaton O’Connor, at 132 pounds, pinned Kaleb Ververis in 40 seconds. 145 pound Cody Cislo pined Ryan Cahalin in 1:56.

“It was a great meet,” Feller said. “We learned a lot and we learned what we need to work on.”

The team is still very raw and very inexperienced, Feller said, but he is working at building up the team skill. Four of the new wrestlers are freshmen and Feller said if they stick with it, it will pay off. Montana high school wrestling has also made some major changes this season, completely re-vamping weight classes to fit more with national wrestling standards. Weight classes are now 103, 113, 120, 126,132, 138,145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 205 and 285.

The Vikings travelled to Eureka on Tuesday for their first dual meet and will wrestle in Arlee on Thursday.

Polson Invitational

113 RHS Seth Cheff dec. BF Castor Conley, 12-5

113 CFHS Winfield West pin, BF Castor Conley, 1:47

132 MCHS Jamie Mullins pin, BF Keaton O’Connor 0:31

132 BF Keaton O’Connor pin, SPHS Kaleb Ververis 0:40

132 GHS Sam Barber, pin BF Keaton O’Connor 1:27

132 CFHS Kaleb Gravelin pin, BF Shade Youso, 1:03

132 PHS Jaben Wenzel pin, BF Shade Youso, 1:15

145 HHS Robert Few pin, BF Tate Chenard 0:31

145 TFHS Jake Gascon pin, BF Tate Chenard 1:23

145 GHS Cody Decker pin, BF Cody Cislo, 0:47

145 BF Cody Cislo pin SPHS Ryan Cahalin, 1:56

145 HHS Robert Few pin, BF Cody Cislo 5:23

160 CFHS Tristin Steinwand pin BF Noah Van Queckelberg 2:15

160 RHS Jess Herrera pin BF Noah Van Queckelberg 4:25

170 TFHS Kyle Milner pin BF Dalton Western 2:31

170 RHS Graydon Irish pin BF Dalton Western 3:24

205 BF Vinny Quirk pin PHS Mike Corrigan 4:59

205 SHS Colin Hammock pin BF Vinny Quirk 0:45

205 BF Vinny Quirk dec. HHS Whitney Philip 12-4

205 PHS Mike Corrigan dec. Vinny Quirk 9-1