Chinook wrestling finished out the Glasgow Invite on Saturday by having the girls’ team place seventh and the boys’ team finish 12th overall. New Media Broadcasters got an assessment from head coach Ben Stroh regarding his team’s efforts on the mat over the weekend.
“Glasgow had a record number of 30 teams there for the boys’ and 27 for the girls’,” Stroh said. “So there were a lot of those brackets that were 32-man brackets, so to keep everybody in (and) place top-8, obviously that helps.”
“But, as far as our teams and where we’ve been at since I (took) over, it’s been kind of a ride already this year,” Stroh continued. “It’s just a good change, finally.”
Stroh and the Sugarbeeter wrestlers will next be in Fort Benton for a mixer, followed by a state-wide meet at CMR High School in Great Falls. Stroh said how wrestling in a crowded field at the Scottie Invite will help mentally prepare his teams to do well in the next big test.
“It’s huge for these kids,” Stroh said. “The biggest thing is going down there and wrestling the (Montana High School Association Class) ‘AA’ schools.”
“Everyone is the same as (our) kids,” Stroh continued. “We’re not doing anything different in practice that these other teams really are. We all wake up the same way. We all have to get on a bus and travel to the same gym.”
“The CMR Classic does a wonderful job of giving us that opportunity to talk to those kids about that before we get into the big tournaments at the end of the year that really matter,” Stroh said.
The CMR Holiday Classic runs from Friday to Saturday in Great Falls with a multi-class showing for Montana high school wrestling programs.
