Athlete of the Week
On a Valentine's Day or the day after, you gotta Love the accomplishments of local Wrestlers at last weekend's All-Class State Tournament. In the boy's competition we had 6 State Champions from the immediate local area and anytime you are the best in the State in anything, it's a remarkable accomplishment! But the Athlete of the Week is just that and we felt we needed to find a distinctive accomplishment to choose the honoree and hopefully we did that. Our Male Athlete of the Week is Jr. Chris Graham of Conrad. Recording a pin in the Championship match at 170 lbs., Graham finished his season with a 48-1 record. His only loss came to a AA wrestler at the CMR Holiday Tournament, a wrestler that went on to win a AA championship. Conrad Head Coach Luke Schlosser says Graham has traveled all over and really put in a lot of time to get better and "he had a heckuva year and State Tournament." Coach Schlosser noted that as Graham was down 4-points heading into the final period, he turned it around and got the win, which Conrad had to have to finish 3rd in the B/C ranks and take home a trophy. Certainly, a huge congratulations to all of the local State Champions including Richard Schmidt - Cut Bank 103lbs., Asher Clayton - Choteau 126lbs., Kanon Branch - Cut Bank 145lbs., McCoy Banner - Fairfield 182-lbs., and Tahj Wells - Browning, 145 lbs, Class A.
The area also had numerous girls who had great season and performed well at the State Tournament, but none better than Sr. Lilian Schubarth and Fr. Hayley Petersen both from Simms. They're our female Co-Athletes of the Week. Schubarth wins her 2nd straight State Championship at 132 lbs.and ended her season with a 33-1 record. Simms Coach Robert Hazenberg says all 4 matches at the State Tournament but Lilian with a strong belief in self and coaches and teammates was mostly dominant. Our Co-Athlete, Hayley Petersen, just a freshman, finished the year at 38-1 at 107 lbs. and beat a Jr. who was a two-time State Champion. Coach Hazenberg says both wrestlers defeated the only opponent they had lost to in the Championship matches. Only 3 Class C girls placed in the State Tournament and two were Champions from Simms who ended up finishing 3rd in the B/C Standings.
Congratulations to our KSEN/K96- Bozeman Trophy Athletes of the Week, Jr. Chris Graham of Conrad and Jr. Lilian Schubarth and Fr. Hayley Petersen both from Simms. The Athlete of the Week is sponsored locally by McDonald's in Cut Bank. McDonald's honors our Athlete's with two free value meals each. KSEN encourages all parents, fans & Coaches to nominate Athletes of the Week when you believe they have had an outstanding performance. E-mail: markdaniels@townsquaremedia.com