Team Idaho wrestling traveled to compete at the Heartland Duals in Council Bluffs, Iowa March 24-25.  The middle school team of Team Idaho was coached by Malad’s own head coach, Devin Morrison, and included two Brothers of Steel wrestlers, incoming freshman Drake Morrison and Oakley Maddox.

The duals began Friday with teams from all over the country wrestling in 4 different pods to determine their place in the bracketed tournament on Saturday. Team Idaho earned their spot in the Diamond bracket, the highest level bracket, by going 4-1 in the Friday duals.  Saturday Team Idaho wrestled tough in the Diamond bracket and won the 4th place team trophy. Drake Morrison went undefeated in the 132 pound weight class throughout the tournament, earning an All-American award. In the 140 pound weight bracket, Oakley Maddox went 5-3 in his matches

In his first match, Morrison won by major decision allowing his Kansas opponent only one point to his ten.  He then went on to pin his next contender, also from Kansas, in just 44 seconds.  On his third trip to the mat, Morrison again won by major decision, beating his Minnesota opponent, 7-2.  Next, Morrison matched up against a Texas wrestler and won by technical fall, 15-0.  Against his Oklahoma opponent, he won 12-0, followed by a forfeit.  In his seventh and eighth matches, Morrison beat his Iowa opponents by pin, in 1:17 and 1:14 respectively.

Maddox had a slow start in his matches, losing by pin to his Oklahoma opponent in the first match.  He turned around and won with a pin in his second match, but fell again in his third match, 0-6.  Maddox went on to win his fourth, fifth and sixth matches against wrestlers from Iowa and Kansas with a pin at 2:39 and by points, going 12-4 and 12-0.  In his seventh match, Maddox fell to his Minnesota opponent by pin but finished his final match with a pin against the Texas wrestler in 2:34.

After the weekend of wrestling, Coach Morrison shared, “Our Idaho boys did a great job this week. There were a lot of very tough teams at the tournament and Idaho wrestled really well against them. It is awesome that our Malad wrestlers are a part of helping Idaho wrestling compete at the next level.”

In addition to the Heartland Duals, the Brothers of Steel had three wrestlers compete at the Idaway tournament in Sugar Salem on Saturday, March 25.  The tournament was the last of the regular Idaway season, with wrestlers competing at the Idaway State tournament next week. Zach Ward wrestled in the 5&6 year old 47lb bracket, Kody Wangsgard competed in both the 7&8 49lb and 7&8 52lb brackets and Dekker Davis wrestled in the 7&8 year old 54lb bracket. 

Accompanying the young wrestlers was Coach Josh Davis who commented, “Our boys kicked some butt in Sugar! I’m super proud of them!!”  Zach Ward won first place, Kody Wangsgard placed third and fourth and Dekker Davis came in second place.