Powder River Examiner -

Six Broadus wrestlers made the trip to Hettinger, North Dakota last Friday for the Hettinger Classic, which featured teams from Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota, and South Dakota.

The tournament featured a round robin match on Friday, with wrestlers needing two wins to ensure placement into the tournament on Saturday. Three of the six wrestlers – Kail Irish, Seth McDowell, and Dakota Holbrook made the Saturday tournament, while Raiden Aurand, Archer Edwards, and Riggin Schaffer lost out prior to Saturday.

Broadus Head Coach Frankie Schoonover spoke of Aurand, Edwards, and Schaffer: “Raiden is learning fast. He went up against a State Champ at Hettinger, and didn’t end up with a win over the weekend but he’s improving all the time. Archer has come a long way; his lack of experience and technique caught up to him up there, but he’s also improving. Riggin is a tough wrestler. I had coaches coming up to me talking about his intensity, and he has some great potential.”

Freshman Kail Irish would go on to win 7th in the 126 lb weight class, beating Matthew Reske of Glendive. Senior Seth McDowell placed for the first time in his wrestling career, placing 8th in the 138 lb division, while beating an old nemesis along the way – Donnie Steen of Baker. Steen had beaten McDowell in a number of tournaments over the years, and Schoonover was proud to see Seth turn the tables. Finally, Senior Dakota Holbrook placed 4th, narrowly losing 6-5 over Emmitt Maher of Lemmon, SD.

Schoonover told us that prior to the trip, the team had been training exceptionally hard over the Christmas break. Since the MHSA doesn’t allow teams to compete between Christmas and New Years, Schoonover made up for the lack of a tournament or dual with intense practices meant to condition the wrestler’s bodies and minds for the rigors that lay ahead.

“We focused on recalibrating and prioritizing where we needed to be on the mats,” Schoonover said. That training included one instance of a 60 minute intense wrestling session, followed by a condition session.

The practices set the Hawk wrestlers up for the coming weeks, which feature a number of tournaments including the upcoming “Cowboy” in Miles City, a dual in Sidney next week, and a home dual against Baker and Colstrip next Thursday on the 20th, which begins at 6 pm; the public is invited to watch and cheer on their hometown wrestlers.