Trae triumphant!

Thilmony wins 120-pound championship to lead Hawks at State B-C meet

 

February 20, 2020

Doree Thilmony

AN UP AND DOWN MOMENT - Trae Thilmony wrestles Tanner Cook in the State B-C championship match.

Don't play wrestling games with Trae Thilmony.

If you do try it, you run the risk of Thilmony beating you at your own game.

Doing just that, Thilmony avenged three earlier losses to rival Tanner Cook of Columbus-Absarokee-Park City in the 120-pound State B-C championship at First Interstate Arena in Billings Saturday, turning and pinning Cook in the closing seconds to win the title.

Becoming Thompson Falls' 16th individual champ and finalizing his season record at 36-3, Thilmony got back at Cook for two earlier losses this season – in the finals of the CMR Christmas Classic and in the finals at the Choteau tourney – and for one big one last year – in the State B-C 113-pound semifinals – when it counted most, in the State B-C championship match.

Although Thilmony's hard-earned title was the highlight, the entire Thompson Falls Blue Hawk squad wrestled well in Billings, coach and proud father Mike Thilmony said.

"It was an exciting weekend, a pretty special one for Trae that's for sure," he said, "but all five kids we had over there did well. I am pleased with how every one of them performed."

In addition to champion Trae, a sophomore, freshman Elijah Ratliff (132 pounds), sophomore Shane Reishus (138), junior Dane Chojnacky (170) and junior heavyweight Will McPherson all competed in the State B-C meet with each winning at least one match. In fact, all five Hawks impressively won their opening round matches, and Ratliff wound up only one match win away from earning a coveted State B-C medal at 132.

"We thought we had a good chance of going 5-0 in the first round and then we went out and did it, got off to a great start," coach Thilmony said. "Then we had a pretty rough round in the quarters but that's the way state tournaments seem to go, they can be real emotional roller coasters."

Trae Thilmony's ride to his first State B-C title as a sophomore (he won third place at 113 as a freshman) was by far the biggest story for the Blue Hawks, however.

"Trae put together a great tournament but it (the championship) is more of a reflection of all the work he has put in in getting to this point," coach Thilmony said. "He worked really hard for it and then, when it was time he went out and earned it. I am very proud of him, he never takes any shortcuts and he always does things right."

He did everything right in Billings, that's for sure. Thilomy's stirring title run began with Tyler Borge of Colstrip in the first round Friday. Thilmony won that match by pin in just 1:22.

In the quarterfinals Friday afternoon, Thilmony struggled finding his mojo but eventually pinned Dawson Powers of Whitehall in 5:37. Thilmony was reportedly leading only 10-8 before finally turning and pinning Powers late.

"That was not my best match," Trae said. "I had a little trouble getting going but finally did in the third period."

Next up for the Hawk 120-pounder was Tugg Taylor of Circle in the championship semifinals. The two also happen to be good friends, a result of their wrestling-coach fathers who are also friends, no doubt, and their shared love for the sport. Thilmony knew to expect a tough match, as he had lost to his friendly rival in the past, although only once in an official high school match.

"I knew I had to raise my level to wrestle him," Trae said. "A takedown and a two-point turn in the second period was probably the difference in the match." Thilmony won by 8-5 decision.

With Taylor out of the way, Cook was now the only man standing between Thilmony and his first State B-C championship. Cook had managed to defeat Thilmony in earlier encounters by playing the takedown game – getting takedowns for two points and letting go for one-point escapes, and repeating that process.

"I knew I had to beat him on his feet, he is just really good at shooting and scoring," Trae offered. "And I managed to hold my own pretty well."

"We didn't want to get into that takedown game with him," coach Thilmony said. "Cook was able to get in with single-leg takedowns before but Trae worked hard to avoid getting into that with him this time. Our strategy was that we felt like that if it was a close match going into the third, even if we were behind, we felt our conditioning would win out in the end."

True to his coach and father's word, Trae's conditioning won out in the end. With about a minute left in the match and leading 8-5, Thilmony turned, three-point near-falled and then pinned Cook, officially registering the win in 5:20 to claim Thompson Falls High School's 17th individual wrestling title ever, and only the third since 2000.

Sixteen Thompson Falls grapplers have won State B-C titles over the history of the program, with Rod Bybee (in 1974 and 1975) being the only two-time individual Blue Hawk State champ to date, although Trae Thilmony will be looking to change that over the course of the next two years.

The sweet victory in the State B-C title match helped erase the sting of those previous losses to Cook in Great Falls and Choteau earlier this season, and put Thilmony's name on the list of Blue Hawk wrestling immortals (see View from the Sidelines for more).

Also hoping to medal, Ratliff had his hopes dashed in the consolation semifinals when Western B-C rival Adyn Meinzen of Florence scored a late near-fall to win 4-2.

Ratliff had opened the meet with a pin win over Jacob Hjartarson of Cut Bank in 1:34 of the first round but ran into eventual champion Colten Fast of Glasgow in the quarterfinals, where Fast won by pin in 3:04.

The promising Hawk freshman scored a 5-4 decision win over Devon Nesbitt of Baker in the wrestlebacks before being eliminated by Meinzen. "It was a little ironic that we ended up meeting Meinzen again," coach Thilmony said, "but that's how things often work out in wrestling. These are two of the best young wrestlers in our division and it will be interesting to see where each of them go from here."

Reishus started his tournament run by winning a 10-1 major decision from Valier's Joe Ramos in the first round. After losing by pin to Manhattan's Forrest Fairbanks in 2:59, Reishus was then pinned and eliminated by Easton Held of Townsend in the consolation quarterfinals.

Doree Thilmony

LOOKING FOR LEVERAGE - Hawk heavyweight Will McPherson goes for a takedown in Billings last week.

Chojnacky began his State B-C run by winning a 4-1 decision from Cylar Taylor of White Sulphur Springs, but then fell to Cameron Brusven of Shelby by 10-2 decision in the championship quarterfinals. Whitehall's Gaten Wassberg eliminated Chojnacky in the consolation round.

McPherson also won his first match in Billings by pinning Tucker Smith of Deer Lodge in 2:08 before falling to Ruebin Swenson of Chester-Joplin-Iverness by fall in 3:54. McPherson was eliminated by Chinook's Wyatt Dunbar by fall in the consolations.

"There are a lot of highs and lows in tournaments like this, and we experienced the whole range as always," coach Thilmony said. "But all of our kids wrestled really well and I expect all of them will take the lessons learned and work to get better from this point on.

"Hopefully, we can bring all five back to State, plus a few more, next year," he concluded.

 

Reader Comments(0)

 
 

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 02/21/2024 03:22