Vikes wrestlers take 11th at Class A duals

Diego Rodriguez went undefeated for the weekend, grabbing six wins, as Bigfork’s wrestlers battled their way to an 11th place finish at the Class A duals in Butte.

Rodriguez needed 8 minutes and 44 seconds to pin five of his six oppenents, earning an 8-2 decision over the other, while Lyrik Fainter, Jerin Coles and Evan Tidwell each earned five wins during the tournament.

Rodriguez, Fainter and Felix Zambergs each earned wins in Bigfork’s opening dual of the tournament, but the Vikings fell to Havre 48-24.

It was Rodriguez, Fainter and Tidwell getting wins in the second round of pool action, but Bigfork again fell, this time to Sidney/Fairview, 50-18.

The Vikings bounced back with a 40-32 win over Corvallis as Rodriguez, Fainter, Coles, Wyatt Elwell, Tidwell, Zambergs and Holland Jantzen all won their matchups.

Bigfork got a 48-15 win over host Butte Central in the next round as the home team foreited all but one weight class.

The Vikings came up short against Columbia Falls in the opening round of tournament action, 52-21, as Rodriguez, Coles and Zambergs recorded Bigfork’s only wins in the dual.

Bigfork survived a close dual with East Helena in the next round, winning six matches to pull out a 39-36 win.

The Vikings ran into some bad luck in the second round of the consolation bracket, falling to Hardin via tie breaker, 36-36. Bigfork forfeited two matches to Hardin’s one for the tiebreaker.

The Vikes found themsevlves in antother close match as they took on Billings Central to decide 11th place.

Zambergs was able to take down Sam Cooper in 1:19 to open the dual and Jantzen followed by pinning Kirkallen Hoskins in 2:19.

Rodriguez needed just 41 seconds to pin Owen Wagner, but Billings Central countered with wins against Fainter and Hunter Nelson.

Michael McCarty pinned Kellen McClintock in 1:08 to get Bigfork’s next win and Coles followed by taking down Trey Bazaldua in 3:49.

Elwell went down in his match and the Vikings needed a win from Tidwell to secure the victory.

Tidwell came through for the Vikes, taking down Daniel Mattingly in 2:10 to earn the Vikes a 36-35 victory and 11th place.

In girls action, Ava Larsen was a third-place finisher in the 100-pound division while Angela Farrier took third in the 145-pound weight class after pinning Ronan’s Lola Schock in 1:20.

Ella Tidwell went 1-3 to take fourth in the 138-pound division and Ashlyn Bothwell was fourth in the 120-pound weight class.