Organized chaos at the Kootenai Klassic

Almost immediately after the red and green Velcro ankle wraps were peeled off the competitors at the Kootenai Klassic wrestling tournament the next wrestlers would step onto the mat, strap on, shake hands and action would resume.

“I probably had over 100 matches today, it was a long day,” volunteer referee Zach Crace said as he made his way to the upper floor of the gym to grab a slice of pizza after the tournament finished. Along with Crace, Greenchain wrestlers Michael Miller, Dylan Parrish, Alex Yeadon, Reed Christensen and Mason Sams offered their time to referee at the event.

President of Libby Little Guy Wrestling Vic Crace was grateful for their work. Little Guy wrestlers Dillon Yeadon, Buddy Doolin, Trey Thompson, and Cody Crace wrestled in the tournament and put in about four hours of ref work at the event. “They are the future of Libby wrestling. It was really cool to see them step up and help. We got a lot of compliments from other coaches about their work,” said Vic Crace.

With up to 10 mats filled with the peewee wrestlers down to three mats for the juniors later in the day, the pace of the event was fast and furious. There may have been glitches in the system along the way, but for the casual observer the coordination to pull off the one-day event was noteworthy.

“If you don’t really know much about the sport it looks like a lot of chaos, but it’s all organized. We do a pretty good job of trying to keep everything going and keep kids out on the mat wrestling,” Libby coach Bill Moe said.

A constant steam of volunteers circled the gym picking up results from the scoring tables and either walked them upstairs or clipped them to a clipboard hanging from the handrail on the second floor and hollered for them to be pulled up. They were then transferred to the bracketologists who paired up the winners and paperwork was relayed to the marshalling area in the warm-up room.

Younger wrestlers were then escorted to the waiting chairs lining the far ends of the gym where they waited, feet dangling, side-by-side with their opponent to be taken to the next open mat. The older kids were given a longer leash and managed to get where they were needed on their own.

“It’s amazing how many people in takes to do something like this, but we have great support from the community and people involved in the program or have been involved in the past that come out and help,” volunteer coach Kelly Morford said. Like many of the volunteers, Morford played many roles throughout the day from working the microphone to coaching.

Vic Crace said the volunteers did an amazing job. “The amount of work the few of us did was really taxing,” Crace said. “The number of volunteers leaves the future of the Kootenai Klassic in question. It was disappointing to say the least.”

Crace said he doesn’t want to gripe, but wants to motivate community members to take the reigns when he steps aside as president at the end of the year. “We’ll continue to be involved, but it’s going to take a much better team effort,” he said.

Fourteen wrestling clubs were invited to the Kootenai Klassic with about 650 kids competing at the event. Parents with cameras strapped around their necks wearing bold-colored shirts baring team slogans jockeyed for position to capture the children’s’ moment of triumph or defeat.

Family members had a matter of minutes to get a good snapshot of their kids in action with rounds lasting one minute each and older wrestlers having a two-minute first round. Dingy rolled up and taped towels that looked like dog toys were thrown at or near the refs to signal the end of each round when the wrestlers would share a moment of strategizing with their coaches.

The younger the wresters the more tears were shed at the end of the match when their pride or bodies were compromised. With injuries mostly superficial, they were encouraged to shake the hands of the opposing wrestler, who normally offered a hug, and coach before finding the comfort of their parents’ or coaches’ embrace.

The tournament is the last event in the brief Little Guy wrestling season before qualifying tournaments the next couple weekends, one in Eureka followed by another in Libby. “It’s time to get things squared away with our wrestlers for the qualifying tournaments right around the corner,” said Troy Coach Josh Chapel.  

Taking first at the Klassic was Kalispell, Columbia Falls took second, Eureka third and Libby rounded out the top four.

The Libby qualifier is slated for Saturday, March 21. It will be another big tournament and those interested in volunteering can reach Vic Crace at 334-0991. The state tournament is scheduled for March 26 and 27 in Hamilton.