This is the inaugural year for girls’ wrestling in Montana. Although there have been a few girls wrestling over the last few years, this is the first time they will be able to compete in their own tournament. There are about 170 female wrestlers across the state. They will compete at their state tournament on February 19-20 at Lockwood High School in Billings. Girls will be able to compete in this tournament, or, if they choose, they can compete against the guys. However they can only compete in one state tournament. The boys’ state tournaments will be the second weekend in March. Class A will be at Miles City and Class B/C will be at Shelby.
Hannah Hurst is ranked No 1 in the state at 113 pounds. She is undefeated against girls and is 10-5 against male wrestlers. Hurst is a junior at Hamilton. She began wrestling in the fifth grade and wrestles in honor of her late brother, Isaac. She also has done mixed marshal arts and jujitsu.
“She’s had a great season so far,” said Chad Williams, Hamilton’s wrestling coach. “We have four girls out and I have to say I really like coaching them.”
He went on to say that with boys, they are always trying to prove they are better than one another and don’t always listen to coaching ideas.
“But the girls, once you have their trust, they are really eager to learn new techniques. And they are tough!” The girls train with the boys and work hard to learn the techniques. Williams said they do not get discouraged.
In addition to Hurst, Hamilton has three other female wrestlers. Hanna Hicks also wrestles at 113 pounds. Denali Lucas is a sophomore at 120 pounds. She was the team’s manager last year. Rounding out the team is junior Maddy Ward at 132 pounds.
Williams feels that COVID really has impacted his team. Not only did the sport of wrestling get a late start but also he had about eight wrestlers from last year that didn’t turn out this year. “It’s been a challenge to keep everything going with such a young team,” he concluded.
Stevensville was the setting for a couple of dual meets on Thursday. Frenchtown and Hamilton were in town for the duals. Stevensville and Hamilton both have young teams. Frenchtown, on the other hand, is loaded and is currently ranked No. 6 in the state with several ranked highly wrestlers.
Stevensville notched one win in their match against Frenchtown. Sahkaia Wehr pinned Nathan Hansen at 1:34 for the win. Wehr also had a win against Hamilton’s Trevor Lewis. That was a major decision of 19-6. The ‘Jackets loss to Hamilton was because they did not have enough wrestlers to fill all the weight classes and had to forfeit those classes.
Hamilton 36,Stevensville 28
Stevensville/Victor vs. Hamilton
113: Hannah Hicks (Ham) over (S) (For.) 120: Jesse Anson (Ham) over Gunnar Larson (S) (Fall 4:20) 126: William Chiaverini (S) over Logan Bratsch (Ham) (Fall 5:22) 132: Maddy Ward (Ham) (For.) 138: Malachi Jackson (Ham) over Ty Thompson (S) (Fall 3:26) 145: Dylan Janes (S) over Jesse Riddle (Ham) (Fall 0:45) 152: Jeffrey Berryman (S) over Carter Morgan (Ham) (Fall 1:05) 160: Aaron Springer (S) over (Ham) (For.) 182: Sahkaia Wehr (S) over Trevor Lewis (Ham) (MD 19-6) 205: Derrick Saltzman (Ham) (For.) 285: Cadigan Wheat (Ham) over Zachary Sannar (S) (Fall 0:48)
Frenchtown 66, Stevensville 6
103: Isaac Stewart (F) over (S) (For.) 113: Corbin Long (F) over (S) (For.) 120: GavinBauman (F) over Gunnar Larson (S) (Fall 1:08) 126: Gabe Mobley (F) over William ] Chiaverini (S) (Fall 3:30) 132: Bradyn Rate (F) over (S) (For.) 138: John Warner (F) over Ty Thompson (S) (Fall 1:39) 145: Brad McLean (F) over Dylan Janes (S) (Fall 2:00)152: Dillon Warner (F) over Jeffrey Berryman (S) (Fall 2:58) 160: Gavin McLean (F) over Aaron Springer (S) (Fall 1:41) 170: Noah Rausch (F) over (S) (For.) 182: Sahkaia Wehr (S) over Nathan Hansen (FREN) (Fall 1:34) 205: 285: Taylor Martin (FREN) over Zachary Sannar(STVI) (Fall 1:32).
No results were given for the Hamilton/Frenchtown dual.