Bulldogs perform well at Mountain Classic

By JASON BLASCO

Lake County Leader

The Mission-Charlo co-op wrestling team had an unexpected surprise when they hosted their Mission Mountain Classic Tournament.

The tournament, which normally includes 10 teams, only included five teams because of inclement weather. In spite of the setback, Mission-Charlo co-op Coach Lyle Cronk said he was “pleased” with the turnout.

“What we ran was a mixer tournament and basically a round robin tournament,” Cronk said. “We put in their weight classes and everyone was able to wrestle. Most everyone wrestled at least three matches. Every team got a lot of good matches and we did pretty well as a team. We didn’t keep a team score and it was just basically every kid getting in matches.”

Cronk said he felt his team “matched up” well against the competition.

“It was good and we matched up pretty well with everybody,” Cronk said. “Sometimes it is really hard to maintain focus headed into the holiday. Going into that week, we had to have focus and our tournament allowed us to stay focused.”

Cronk said Robert Dempsey and Walker Murphy were “impressive” in the 103-pound weight class.

“They were both able to get pins and they are both looking very good,” Cronk said. Bailey Weibel finished 2-0 with two pins on the day. Troy Mitchell, at 145-pounds, was 1-2. Miles Anderson, at 152, was 2-1. Trent Dennison, at 160, got three pins. Chris Anderson, at 285-pounds, split his day with a 1-1 record.

“We got some really good kids some good experience and we were able to get a lot of wrestling in,” Cronk said. “Lots of teams had kids out and it was nice for everyone to get some competition,” Cronk said.

Mission-Charlo co-op was missing three key components to its wrestling team including Cole Gillard, Gus Bosley and Isaac DuMontier.

“I think this was good for us to get that competition right before the break, give us some focus and get some good wrestling in,” Cronk said. “This week, we will have a full week of practice and get ready for the Ronan Duels. That will be our next one and it will be an exciting tournament for us coming up after the break.”

During the winter break, Cronk said he is going to focus on some team bonding.

“We are going to get some practices in over the break, do some team bonding and work on some of the things that we haven’t gotten to work on yet,” Cronk said. “We may go sledding as a team or bowling or some non-wrestling related thing and enjoy the group together. I think those type of activities pay off together down the road.”

Cronk said he felt wrestling in the second half of the season is going to get “more intense.”

“Wrestling in January is tough,” Cronk said. “There is some tough competition all the way through January. That is where things start to separate and it’s going to get tough. It’s always good to have some team-building during this time of year, and get to back to school and wrestle every weekend.”