Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Serving Proudly As The Voice Of Valley County Since 1913
Senior manager Ali Kuka films a match at the 2023 State Wrestling Tournament.
Jack Cornwell grapples with Gabe Hungerford of Three Forks in Cornwell's first match at the 2023 All-Class State Wrestling Tournament at the Metra in Billings held Feb. 10 and 11.
Mo Fast looks to take a shot against Arie McLaughlin of the Florence-Carlton Falcons in the Consolation Round Three match-up Feb. 11 at the All-Class State Wrestling Tournament at the Metra in Billings.
Mason Donaldson holds down McBanner of Fairfield in the fifth-place match at 170 lbs. during the All-Class State Wrestling Tournament Feb. 11 at the Metra in Billings.
It wasn't the end to the season they had hoped for, but Glasgow's boys wrestling team put three grapplers on the podium at the end of the State Tournament held this past weekend in Billings. The team placed 11th in the boys B/C competition, 10th in Class B schools. The girls team placed 26th in the all-class competition. The boys scored 62 team points while the girls put up 20 team points.
Head coach Jory Casterline said the Monday after the tournament he felt "like I've been gutted. Not good." He noted the team's offense was not at its best during the most important meet of the season and the team took more stalling calls over the two days than he thought they had the rest of the season combined. Even with the reflections on what went wrong for the Scotties, Casterline said the teams had a number of highs.
Cody Kuka, Khye Gamas and Mason Donaldson all earned a place on the boys podium.
Kuka took sixth at 103 lbs., becoming the first Scottie eighth-grader to place at the State Tournament and the first Glasgow eighth-grader to earn All-State in any sport. Kuka lost a tight 2-0 decision to Forsyth's Trey Starcher in the fifth place match. The eighth-grader finished the season with a 19-12 record. Kuka scored 8 team points for Glasgow.
"Kudos to him," Casterline enthused. "That's huge for him going forward." The head coach is looking for Kuka to keep his momentum moving forward through his high school career, noting the grappler should be a seeded wrestler in the future.
Gamas took third place at 138 lbs. while breaking a Glasgow school record for most season wins. The freshman had 47 wins, with 11 losses, in the 2022-23 season, breaking the record of 46 wins set by both Leo Pattison in 2007 and Luke Zeiger in 2010. Gamas won an 8-2 decision over Hayden Ramaeker of Huntley Project in the third place match, scoring 17 team points for the Scotties.
Casterline said that while Gamas fell short of his goal of a state championship, he is proud of the freshman for bouncing back after a loss to place. "He came back and got third," Casterline said, pointing out that Gamas' performance showed a lot of grit and determination, particularly after taking a shot to his left shoulder in his final match. The head coach said Gamas still has aims on a state championship and he believes the freshman will get there. Casterline noted a couple of past Scottie wrestlers who took third their freshman years and went to win the top spot the next three years.
Donaldson earned sixth place at 170 lbs after posting a 2-3 record at the tournament. He was pinned by McCoy Banner of Fairfield in 2:45. Donaldson finished his senior season with a 28-14 record and put up 9 team points in Billings.
Casterline pointed out that Donaldson ended his high school career with a place on the podium, going out as a senior with a place at state in a "fairly decent bracket."
Blake Ozark made Scottie history as well, becoming the first girls wrestler to post a win at the State Tournament. She pinned Katie Coomes of Billings West in her first match of the weekend on Friday. Ozark won two matches at 132 lbs., both by pin, at the State Tournament, doubling her wins on the year in one day. She pinned Coomes and Anne Kvam, also of Billings West, later that day and scored 7 team points for Glasgow.
Riley Clampitt became the first Scottie girls wrestler to advance to day two of the State Tournament. She advanced to the "Blood Round" in the girls 152 lbs. category on Saturday by pinning Bridget Smith of Flathead in 2:36 on Friday. Clampitt lost an overtime thriller to Hailey Sutton of Florence-Carlton on Saturday by a score of 3-2. Clampitt scored 7 team points for the Glasgow girls.
Madison Lamb put up the other 6 points for the girls team wrestling the 145 lbs. competition, going 3-2 on the weekend. Kaylly Turner was 0-2 in her state debut at 107 lbs., receiving a bye in the Consolation Round 1.
Casterline was particularly enthused about his girls team, noting that prior to the Divisional Tournament, he was not sure how many members of the team would make State due to new seeding procedures. Ozark's two pins at the tournament impressed the coach as did Lamb's and Clampitt's overtime matches against top-seeded wrestlers. "For three freshmen and an eighth-grader, that's a great first step for us," said Casterline of the ever-growing girls wrestling program in Glasgow. He added that the girls learned a lot from their experience in Billings.
On the boys side, Jaydeen Hanshew and Mo Fast also advanced to the "Blood Round" Saturday morning as well. Both were eliminated in the Consolation Round Three, finishing with 2-2 records at the Metra. Hanshew, at 182 lbs., lost his final match by fall in 2:12 to Tegan Jones of Conrad while Fast fell by a 5-0 decision to Arie McLaughlin of Florence-Carlton in the 285 lbs. category. Hanshew scored 7 team points and Fast put up 5 for the Scottie boys.
Makiya Plummer, Cash Richardson, Ted See, William Kirkland, Jack Cornwell and Michael King were eliminated during Friday's tournament action.
Plummer went 1-2 in Billings, scoring 3 team points at 103 lbs., while Richards, wrestling at 120 lbs., was knocked out of competition in two matches. Plummer and Richards made their debut state appearances as eighth-graders for Glasgow. "Plummer and Richards have four more cracks at a State Tournament," Casterline said. "They're driven."
See scored 2 team points with a 1-2 showing at 120 lbs. Kirkland, at 145 lbs., scored 4 team points with a 1-2 record while Cornwell scored 3 points in the same weight class, also with a 1-2 record. King went 1-2 in Billings at 160 lbs, scoring 3 team points.
Casterline for now is reflecting on what went wrong for his team this year, saying he felt good going into the tournament and expected to finish much higher than they did. "That lands on me. I'm the head guy. I gotta figure out what went wrong and I gotta fix that."
Wrestling is far from over though for a number of the Scotties. They will continue to grapple in AAU and are looking at Montana Wrestling in Iowa later this year. "We gotta get as many matches in as we can between now and next November as we work on fixing what went wrong," Casterline said.
"We had a bad weekend and we can't hide from that fact," he added. "How do we bounce back? Are we resilient? Do we use it to bounce back in the off season and get better? And I think we can. I hope it burns for a bit longer and motivates us. Lots of sting. We need to feel that and we gotta move forward from it."
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