Quirk closes out season at state wrestling meet

The 205-pound weight class at the state wrestling meet proved tough for Bigfork senior Vinny Quirk.

Quirk, who was divisional champion, was the only Bigfork wrestler to qualify for the state meet.

While he won his first match against Cut Bank’s Jaiden Little Dog with a 45-second pin, his next opponents were equally as strong as Quirk.

Quirk lost his next match to Whitehall’s Dillon Hoerauf 6-4 in overtime. The match was close until the very end when Hoerauf countered and scored a takedown with five seconds left in the overtime period.

“It was a very good match,” head coach Josh Feller said.

The loss didn’t take Quirk out, but meant he had to win his next match to move on. Unfortunately, Quirk’s opponent, Choteau’s Walter Snyder, pinned Quirk late in the match, ending Quirk’s high school wrestling career.

“It was a tough day. We were all kind of hoping for better,” Feller said.

“Both of those losses, they could have gone either way. It was tough for every body, but it was very evenly matched. There was no clearcut favorite and there wasn’t really an underdog.”

While it was a tough end to his high school wrestling career, Quirk still went out strong.

“I couldn’t have been more proud of him,” Feller said. “Those last two matches were some of the best matches I’ve seen all year. He left it all out there and that’s all we can ask a kid to do.”

Being a second-year coach in Bigfork’s young program, Feller is looking to returning wrestlers to take Bigfork back to the state tournament next year.

“The kids that are coming back, I think we’re going to see a big improvement,” Feller said. “While we may not have the numbers to compete for a divisional title we should take a good chunk of our kids to state next year.”

While high school wrestling is over, Little Guy wrestling is just beginning. Feller encourages anyone who is interested to check out the program, which is open to first through eighth graders.

They will practice Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at Swan River School and kids can still sign up at practice.

BF Vinny Quirk pin CB Jaiden Little Dog 0:45

WH Dillon Hoerauf dec BF Quirk 6-4 OT

CHO Walter Snyder pin BF Quirk 4:58