Great Falls High freshman Floerchinger earns state wrestling title
BILLINGS – Cael Floerchinger offered a glimpse into the Great Falls High wrestling future with a connection to its past.
The freshman won the 113-pound Class AA title at the State All-Class Wrestling Tournament on Saturday at a full First Interstate Arena.
Floerchinger was one of 10 Bison to place among the top six to help Great Falls finish fourth in the team standings.
Billings West repeated as state champions with 237.5 points. Kalispell Flathead was second with 221, followed by Billings Senior with 219. Great Falls finished with 205. Great Falls CMR was 12th in with 55 points.
Keyan Hernandez of West became Montana’s 41st four-time champion with the 126-pound title. He has committed to the University of Iowa.
Floerchinger scored a late takedown to slip past familiar foe Nolan Brown of Belgrade 6-5.
The two freshmen were 2-2 against each other this season, with Floerchinger winning the last two matches, including the Eastern AA Divisional title.
“I wrestled pretty well this weekend,” said Floerchinger who had pins of 1:52, 2:53 and a technical fall (20-5) en route to the state title. “He’s a really tough opponent. I’m just happy to have the opportunity to wrestle with the resources we have.”
He is not the first in his family to be atop the podium. His father Trevor was a three-time state champion for Great Falls.
Does the new title give the son an opportunity for a little trash talk?
“Not yet,” Floerchinger replied, still holding the bracket in his hand.
Floerchinger was one of six Bison to wrestle in the finals. Great Falls led the team standings after Saturday morning’s semifinal round.
Others advancing were: Gage Clothier (138), Jace Komac (145), Kale Baumann (152), Dylan Block (160) and Ryder English (170).
“We have three horses,” said Great Falls head coach Luis Carranza of Komac, Baumann and Block after the semifinal round. “We had three other horses join them. It’s horse race.”
The remaining five all lost in their title matches. Baumann and Block came to the state tournament unbeaten.
Kyle Ard of Billings Senior scored a takedown as time expired to defeat Komac 2-1, while Baumann was pinned by Nikola Cotes of Glacier in 4:13. Maverick McEwen of Butte defeated Block 5-4.
Clothier lost to Christopher Acuna of Senior 5-2, while undefeated Logan Cole of Senior pinned English in 3:15.
Other Bison placers were: 132, Samuel Elliott, fourth; 138, Bladen Madel, fifth; 145, Gavin Cotton, fifth; 126, Ross Tolliver, sixth.
Kaylin Taylor placed third at 114 for the Great Falls girls.
Freshman Madalyn Deiter of CMR placed second at 114, losing 11-0 to Kaura Coles of Kalispell Glacier. Coles finished the season unbeaten.
Other Rustlers to place were: 113, Paydon De La Garza, third; 182, Gage Allen, fourth. Allen is a freshman while De La Garza is a sophomore.
The Billings Senior girls easily repeated as Class AA state champions with 236 points. Billings Skyview was second (89) and Flathead third (81).
GIRLS
If this was the final match of Lili Schubarth’s career, it was the perfect way to go out.
The Simms senior won her second state title, handling previously unbeaten Makenzee Neal of Senior, 6-2.
“This means the world,” said Schubarth. “It’s the biggest accomplishment of my high school career. I worked hard for this. I went to camps and traveled to tournaments in Colorado and North Dakota. The motivation was to do this twice.”
Schubarth trailed early before taking control. “I didn’t have a game plan,” she added. “The biggest thing was to stay calm when I was behind.”
Teammate Hayley Petersen pinned two-time state champion Angelina Escarcega in the first period for the 107-pound state title.
“I feel good, happy for the opportunity to wrestle her again,” said the freshman.
Both of Escarcega’s losses were to the freshman. Petersen defeated the Poplar junior 4-1 at the Glasgow Tournament and lost a 7-2 meeting at the CMR Holiday Classic. Petersen finished 38-1.
“I just tried to stay focused and not get too excited,” Petersen said.
The two titlists helped the Tigers earn a third-place trophy in the B-C girls’ standings. Baker won the team title while Cut Bank was second.
The Ronan girls claimed the Class A state championship, followed by Miles City and Lockwood.
Class A
Wyatt Elam of Lewistown capped off a perfect senior year by winning the 182-pound title.
The senior reeled of pins in 1:25, :50 and 3:38 before defeating Rowdy Crump of Ronan for the state championship.
Junior Tahj Wells of Browning earned the 145-pound crown with a 4-3 win over Dylan Delome of Columbia Falls.
Cole Rogers of Three Forks-Ennis made a bit of history with his pin of Laurel’s Elijah Nose in the 120-pound title match.
Rogers becomes the first wrestler from Montana to win three state titles in two classifications with the same school. Three Forks previously competed in Class B-C before co-oping with Ennis this year.
The Laurel Locomotives used a roaring start on Friday to hold off Sidney for its first state championship since 2011.
Kade Wersland at 152 was Laurel’s lone state champion.
Teams from the Eastern A finished 1-2-3-4. Following the Locomotives (192.5), were Sidney (177), Lockwood (156) and Miles City (140). Only in its fifth year of existence, Lockwood earned team trophies for both boys and girls.
Class B-C
While Huntley Project was rolling to its third consecutive Class B state team title, wrestlers from the area enjoyed the view from the top of the podium.
With three state champions, the Red Devils won with 206 points. Eureka was second with 124 and Conrad was third with 103.5.
Forsyth won the Class C team crown, followed by Broadus and Circle.
Cut Bank produced a pair of state champions. Richard Schmidt defeated Ethan Reynolds of Huntley Project 6-1 for the 103 title, while Kanon Branch was a 8-4 winner over Shepherd at 145. Both are seniors.
At 126, Choteau’s Asher Clayton pinned Blaine Van Dyke of Conrad in 1:44, while Chris Graham of Conrad was the 170 champion with a pin over Caden Pecora of Eureka.
Senior McCoy Banner of Fairfield won the 182 title with a 6-3 rematch win over Max Hannum of Thompson Falls. They also met for the Western Divisional championship.
Sophomore Khye Games of Glasgow toughed out a 2-1 win against Grady Schmidt of Huntley Project at 152.
This article originally appeared on Great Falls Tribune: Montana State Wrestling Tournament: Great Falls High's Floerchinger earns title
