By Danny Waldo
The Bozeman Hawk wrestlers put the finishing touch on the 2016-17 season by taking home 2nd place at the Montana All-Class State Wrestling Tournament in Billings at the Rimrock Auto Arena recently.
Head coach Nate Laslovich and crew took 20 wrestlers to the state tournament and racked up 189.5 points to finish a distant second to Kalispell-Flathead who took home the championship trophy after tallying 251 points.
Bozeman was able to place seven wrestlers in the semi-final round, but only three were able to earn their way into the championship round. Brothers Leif and Bjorn Schroeder and Brandon Cooper all made it into the Saturday main event, and while Cooper would fall 9-0 to two-time state champion Hayden Schrull of Helena High, the Schroeder boys made it a family affair by both securing state titles for the Hawks.
“They are great people,” the coach added. “Bjorn is a warrior and he’s going to be hard to replace leadership-wise. He’s just been as hard of a worker and as good of a leader as you can ask for. Obviously, with Leif, it will be nice having him for the next three years. We will have an X-factor.”
Several other Hawks secured points in helping take home the runner-up trophy. Sterling Quinn, Chance McLane and Finn VaughnKraska all fell in their semifinal matches, but bounced back to win their third-place matches, and Keegan Mulhill battled back to earn a fifth place finish.
It was a very successful season for the Hawk wrestling team. Bozeman took home the title in both the AA Duals and their own Tom LeProwse tournament, in addition to their second place showing at state, and many of their point scorers will return next season, meaning 2017-18 could see even more hardware making its way into Bozeman’s trophy case.
Danny Waldo is a local freelance writer covering Bozeman Hawk and Montana State Bobcat athletics.