Sanders County Ledger - Your Best Source For Sanders County News

by John Hamilton

Trae Thilmony is not just another good wrestler, he is now a lot more than that, a Montana Open champion in fact.

The Thompson Falls freshman added to his growing list of impressive wrestling accomplishments last weekend by sweeping to the title of the 15 and Under, 116 pound class in the prestigious Montana Open at the Metra in Billings. Thilmony conquered the 36-man field of wrestlers in his bracket by going 5-0 over Saturday and Sunday in Billings, outpointing Houston Crimmins of Dickinson, North Dakota by 10-4 decision in the championship final.

Already the winner of a third place medal from the 2019 State B-C tournament and the Western B-C divisional champ at 113 pounds, Thilmony had suffered a back injury at the State B-C tourney and had not wrestled much since the high school season before heading to Billings last week.

If he had been healthy earlier, Thilmony may have ended up joining fellow local wrestling maniacs Roman Sparks and Elijah Ratliff in going to Des Moines, Iowa for the AAU National Duals, after qualifying for that event at the Montana AAU tourney a few weeks ago, like Sparks and Ratliff did.

As it is, Thilmony instead joined the Blocks – youth grapplers Neala, Hartleigh and Weston – to wrestle in the Montana Open while Sparks and Ratliff went to Iowa. Thompson Falls High School coach Ian Taylor accompanied and helped coach the Billings group of wrestlers.

Wrestling for the Montana White middle school team, Ratliff, an eighth grader in Thompson Falls, won four matches and lost four in the eight duals his team wrestled in Iowa. Grappling for the Montana Griz high school team, Sparks, a sophomore at Thompson Falls who won second place at 120 pounds in the State B-C meet, went 3-5 in his eight matches at 126 pounds in Des Moines.

"We've been taking some kids to Iowa for the last four or five years," local wrestling club coach Mike Thilmony (who is also Trae's father) said, "and think it is of great benefit to the kids that get the chance to go."

Making the duals teams for the Iowa event is based on each wrestler's performance at the annual Montana AAU tournament, which was held in Great Falls several weeks ago. The National Duals are run concurrently with one of the headline amateur wrestling tournaments in the country in Cedar Falls, Iowa, which runs on the same days and attracts many of the best prep grapplers from around the U.S.

Coach Thilmony said it has been a goal of his, and of Trae's, to one day attend that meet, which also attracts numerous college coaches scouting for new grapplers for their programs.

Although Trae Thilmony's run to the title in the Montana Open class was the highlight for the Thompson Falls contingent in Billing last week, the wrestling Block family also made their presence felt in the Metra, particularly Hartleigh, the middle child of the three.

Competing in the 6 and Under Girls 40 pound class, Hartleigh won third place in that division and then very nearly also placed in the 6-U Boys 40 pound class. "She lost in the 'blood round,' the match to get in for a placing position," coach Thilmony said, "or she would have won another medal."

Hartleigh went a combined 7-4 in her 11 matches in the two weight classes in Billings.

Hartleigh's little sister Neala and big brother Weston also competed in the Montana Open although neither managed to place in their divisions. Neala also wrestled both in a girls and a boys class.

Trae Thilmony's run through the 36-wrestler field to the 116-pound title was only his latest big win in this wrestling game he loves so much. Trae won every regular season high school tournament he entered – excepting the ultra-tough CMR Christmas Classic (where he was the only Falls grappler to place, winning fourth) – during the high school season, then cooled his grappling heels for a while after hurting his back at the State B-C.

Trae started his Montana Open title run with a 16-1 technical fall win over Gustavo Carranza, continued it with a pin win over Colton Spencer of Bozeman in only 29 seconds, scored a tense 3-2 win over Frenchtown's Elijah Warner (a State A place-winner) in the quarterfinals and gained the finals with a 10-0 major decision win over Danyk Jacobsen in the semifinals. Trae then won his championship match with Crimmins, who went on to lose to Jacobsen in a challenge match for second place.

"This was a very good win for Trae," his dad Mike said. "He was wanting to go to Iowa again, maybe to Cedar Falls this time, but things worked out pretty good for us this way." Mike, who also is an assistant coach for the Thompson Falls high school team, said it is off-season wrestling like the competition in Iowa and Billings that makes athletes better in talent-rich but lower populated states like Montana.

Courtesy photo

PICTURE TIME! Happy in third place, Hartleigh Bock of Thompson Falls on the victory stand with the other photogenic competitors in her weight class in Billings last weekend. Hartleigh also narrowly missed out on placing in her weight class in the boys division.

"The Montana Open is one of the tougher tournaments in the state because it draws kids from all the different high school classifications," coach Thilmony said, "and from other states. You will often see State champions get beat in this tournament, the competition is just very, very good."

Thilmony said the meet drew in over 2,100 wrestlers this time, a record for the event. He credits the rising number of girls participating in the sport for at least part of that attendance bump. Neala and Hartleigh Block are apparently part of that trend upward for girls wrestling.

"The MHSA (Montana High School Association) has been studying it, looking at implementing girls wrestling as an official sport in the coming years," he said and then pointed out the marked increase in participation. "There were only 40 girls entered three years ago, but there were 235 last weekend, it is obviously growing. It would be nice to see it become even more established."

Thilmony has no qualms about coaching girls. "As a coach, I am for girls wrestling," he said, "and it would be nice to see the numbers get to the point for MHSA to make it a new high school sport in Montana."