On Friday the 31st of January, Sentinel wrestling team hosted Hellgate and Big Sky for the Garden City Dual meet. This meet is only between the three AA schools in Missoula.
The meet is also senior and teacher appreciation night. Each wrestler on Varsity got to nominate one teacher that means a lot to them. Sentinel won the meet last year which added to their consecutive wins since 2020. They have won 18 times since 1999.
Teams Season so Far
The wrestling season started at the end of November and the team had their first meet on December 7th against Belgrade and Gallatin. From there, the team has been busy every week going to duels where they battle AA schools in Montana one on one as well as multiple day tournaments.
In an interview with head coach Jeremy LaPorte he talked about how the season has been going so far for the team. “The season is going well. Boys and girls have started peaking at the right time [and] we had a really good Rocky Mountain Classic”.
The Rocky Mountain Classic is a huge wrestling tournament that takes place at Sentinel with multiple schools from the region participating in it. This year Junior Kade Wallace was the champion of the 144 lb weight class. Wallace winning his weight class is the first time in a couple of years that Sentinel has had a champion in the Rocky Mountain Classic.
Laporte also talked about a constant high of the season. “It’s a group of kids on boys varsity that have been a part of the program since they were freshmen, and it’s been fun to watch them progressively get better throughout their four years”.
Teacher Appreciation
Multiple teachers were shouted out before the meet started, but a very special shoutout was made to Ron Beck.
Mr. Beck is a history teacher at Sentinel and he also used to be the head coach of the wrestling team. He retired as the head coach last year so this was his first year eligible to be a part of teacher appreciation which made the shoutout even more special because even though he’s not head coach of the team anymore, he is still very important to members on the team.
Highlight of The Meet
The team entered the gym to warm up as they went up against the Big Sky Eagles, and the lights dimmed. The Darth Vader theme song played in the background. The dual started about ten minutes later.
John Hire (132 weight class): At the start of the match, Hire and his opponent. Quickly after that, his opponent took control and got Hire on the ground. For a moment, it seemed like his opponent was the winner of this match, but Hire broke out of the hold and bumped (to fall/be put down on the mat) his opponent. His opponent struggled against the hold but couldn’t break free. Hire won the match.
Darren Fuller (138 weight class): Fuller went into his match with fire. He took control from the start of the match and never gave his opponent a chance. To bump his opponent he picked him up and slammed him to the ground. Fuller won the match.
Kade Wallace (144 weight class): Wallace is a junior and he had a nail-biter match. It was a pretty even fight in the beginning, but it wasn’t long before his opponent bumped him. Wallace struggled to get out of his opponent’s hold and it seemed like he was about to lose for a minute. Right before the match was called, Wallace had a comeback and flipped his opponent over. From there Wallace dominated his opponent and won the match.
Luke Widman (157 weight class): Widman’s match started rocky. He got bumped fast after it started and he stayed down for a little bit. He got back up and tried to take out his opponent but didn’t succeed. They go back and forth between taking each other down, and Widman almost lost again. He got back up a final time and successfully took down his opponent. Widman wins the match.
Blake Dunning (165 weight class): The match starts evenly but took a turn fast. Dunnings opponent took him down and almost won but got called for choking Dunning. They restarted the match with Dunning’s opponent in down position. Dunning got put in a hold again and his opponent choked him again and this time his head gear blocked his vision. They went back and forth for a while but in the end Dunning loses.
Sean Polk (190 weight class): Polk took control of the match right from the start. He never gave his opponent a chance to get out of his hold. The match ended fast after that and Polk wins.
Nicole Martens (120 weight class): Martens went down at the start of the match, but she didn’t stay down for long. Right after she got back up, Martens took down her opponent and didn’t let her get out of her hold. After that, the match ended quickly, and Martens won the match.
Sentinel dominated the Garden City duel and won 39-16 over Hellgate and 50-28 over Big Sky. This win makes it their fifth consecutive time winning the duel. This was also their 19th win overall since 1999.
All varsity wrestlers (even if they lost) showed good promise for the upcoming two weeks of the season.
The team is losing ten strong wrestlers after this year because they are seniors, but they have good underclassmen wrestlers like Kade Wallace and sophomore Jayce Kolendich to help keep the team secure like they are now.
