The Pioneers had another successful weekend of wrestling. With a warmup on Thursday night at Fort Benton, the girls’ and boy’s teams made a strong showing at the CMR Holiday Classic. The Holiday Classic is an all-class AA to C across Montana. All weight classes wrestled in 64-man brackets. The Big Sandy girls team placed 15th out of 57 teams overall. Out of Class C girls, Big Sandy girls were 2nd to Poplar by only 2 points. All done by 8th graders and a freshman. Sophomore Leah LePennit wrestled strong and showed continued improvement over last week at Glasgow.

The Big Sandy boys team had strong individual accomplishments in a field of 60 teams. Garrett LeFurgey and Quinn Rodewald are wrestling in two of the three toughest weight classes in the state at 132 and 120, respectively. Garrett LeFurgey met a tough spot in the varsity tournament with no seeding criteria as an 8th grader but returned and placed 2nd in the JV tournament on the second day. Quinn Rodewald battled to an 8th place finish, being the only Class C wrestler in his weight class to place. Quinn’s tournament highlight was gaining a 12-5 major decision of last year’s Class A state champion from Dillon.

The weekend highlight for the Big Sandy Boys was the wrestling of senior Samuel Cox. Sam was only one match away from a guaranteed place in the varsity tournament at 205. After going 4-2 in the varsity tournament, Sam returned on Saturday in the JV tournament and went 4-0 to place 1st in his weight class, all wins by pins.

Ahead will be the Chester Mixer and the Cut Bank Invitation after the first of the year. The following two weeks will embrace the process, goals, mindset, and purpose. It’s time for the one-month spirit to the finish line.

Final results for the girls: Randi Hardman 107 placed 8th, Harley Labuda 120 placed 3rd, and Diaijalin Sunchld 185 Placed 7th

Final results for the boys: Quinn Rodewald 120 placed 8th, Garrett Lefurgey 132 2nd in the JV Tournament, and Samuel Cox 205 was one match away from a guaranteed place in the Varsity Tournament, Placed 1st in the JV Tournament.