Vikings take 7th at Bob Owen Invitational to open wrestling season

The Vikings’ wrestling season got underway over the weekend as Bigfork was in action at the Owen Invitational in Polson.

Bigfork compiled 112 points at the two-day meet to earn seventh out of 17 teams as the squad went 18-16 overall. The Vikings earned two second-place finishes along with one fourth and a fifth-place.

Connor Melton (103) and Angus Anderson (132) both took home second-place finishes for the Vikings as Melton won by fall over Florence-Carlton’s Thomas Dillard and Jaxson Sterling of Columbia Falls before falling to Sterling in the championship match.

Anderson won by fall in both of his first two matches before falling to Blake Hoerner of Columbia Falls in the championship.

Lyrik Fainter (103) dropped his first match of the tournament but bounced back to pin his next three opponents before falling to Riley Osborn of Libby in the third-place match to earn fourth.

Dale Relyea (182) won his first two matches with a 3-2 decision in the opening round and a 4-3 win in the second before falling in the semifinal. Relyea won his final two matches, including a 3-2 decision over Chase Woodson of Superior in the fifth-place match.

Json Merringer (126) went 2-2 at the meet, Dane Carlson (145) went 1-2, Ryder Zambergs (152) was also 1-2, Wyatt Elwell (160) went 1-2 and Felix Zambergs (205) was 2-2.

The Vikings will be in action at the Bob Kinney Classic in Superior Saturday and at the Thompson Falls Mixer Tuesday.