Sentinel High School competed in the AA duals tournament in Great Falls on January 20th, 2024. In the tournament, Sentinel finished 3-1, with wins over Hellgate, Capital, and Gallatin. Sentinel performed very well in this tournament and only lost to Belgrade. The AA Duals tournament in Great Falls was a tournament where Sentinel could show off the growth they’ve had in the season so far. Sentinel was able to overcome opponents that had beaten them in the past, as well as dominate against Hellgate. But how has the team improved to be able to do this?

For one, Sentinel had two wrestlers drop down a weight class. This gives Sentinel a competitive advantage, as the two wrestlers (Kade Wallace and Jayce Kolendich) are used to wrestling heavier opponents. Dropping down to the lower weight class most likely contributed to their success, and it certainly paid off for the two competitors. The two wrestlers finished the tournament with 7 wins and only 1 loss combined. Kade Wallace was undefeated in this tournament, and Jayce was 3-1.

The team was also mentally prepared better than in previous tournaments. John Hire (who was 2-1 in the tournament) said that “the team became more conditioned and mentally prepared” for the tournament. The wrestlers’ work paid off in this tournament, and the progress was measurable and palpable. 

Also according to John Hire (11), Bryton Lenz (2-1) and Luke Widman (4-0) had great individual performances. Bryton was able to overcome a tough opponent who was undefeated up until the match against Bryton. Luke Widman simply won all of his matches. The individual performances were great, but the Sentinel team as a whole has improved and done very well.

Another measure of the wrestlers’ growth is the fact that they were able to beat Gallatin High School, which had beaten them earlier in the season. Sentinel also made the matches against Belgrade extremely close, and Belgrade only won by what is equivalent to 1 match. The final score of that matchup was 36-30. Sentinel was able to overcome a tough team and was only barely defeated by an even tougher one. 

In their first matchup, they won against Bozeman 76-0. Not 1 of the matches was won by Bozeman, and Flathead started off the tournament strong. In the past few years, Flathead has had one of the most successful wrestling programs in Montana High School Association history. Both the boys’ and girls’ teams have won the last 2 state championships, and they are eyeing a third this year. They will most likely get it, too. Flathead easily won the duals tournament, moving past all their opponents, and winning by an average of 35.75 points. If you don’t follow wrestling or do not know what this means, it means that Flathead won by a lot. Like, A LOT.

So what’s the code to success for Flathead? According to John Hire, “They have excellent programs for little kids, so many of the high schoolers have been wrestling for a long time”. This may not be the only factor, though. The school takes up more than 10,000,000 dollars of the district market value for schools in Kalispell. They also have more than 3,700,000 dollars in total reserves, and 33,000,000 dollars in total expenditures for 2021. This means they have a lot more money to spend on their sports programs than almost any school in the state. They have multiple gyms that are regularly used for wrestling, and the largest coaching staff for a wrestling program in the state.

All of that to say this; Flathead will probably be good at wrestling for a long time. This does not mean Sentinel does not have a shot at state, because they certainly do. Sentinel has been constantly improving, and the most improved and successful wrestlers will move on to the state tournament if they make the top 8 at the divisional tournament that will have been completed by the time this article is published. 

But back to the AA duals tournament, it wasn’t all good for Sentinel. The trouble didn’t come at the tournament though. On the way back, slick and dangerous road conditions led to the Sentinel bus getting stuck. The bus driver stopped to put chains on the bus, but the Sentinel bus simply got stuck in the snow, and could not gain any traction. Their rather inconvenient location on the highway made it so that cars had to slow down and turn to avoid them, but in the process, these cars would get stuck also. John Hire said that almost 30 cars got stuck that night, and Sentinel could not make it out until midnight. 

The Big Sky bus had it even worse; its windshield cracked, its side mirror got knocked off, and its axle shaft was damaged, all after being side-swiped by a semi-truck. The road conditions were terrible, so the bus was deemed unfit to continue driving with, and all of the Big Sky group had to get a ride back on the Sentinel bus. 

As for Hellgate, they did not even take the chance of traveling, and they stayed the night in a church in Lincoln. The Big Sky and Sentinel bus (now combined) made it back to Missoula safely.

Moving forward, the Sentinel wrestlers are looking forward to the state tournament, where they hope to have more upsets, surprising victories, and overall growth. Sentinel has to be happy with their performance at the AA duals tournament, but now it’s time to prepare for the main event. The state tournament will be a major challenge, especially if Flathead has a performance similar to the one they had at AA duals. They are going to be almost impossible to beat. Averaging a victory by more than 35 points is extremely impressive, and Flathead is showing no signs of slowing down. The only major competition will come from Sentinel, Belgrade, and other teams from the East that didn’t compete at the Western AA duals.