Dragon wrestling had a big week on the mats with both the girls and boys team traveling to duals and tournaments to face off with tough contenders from around southeastern Idaho.  Over their many, many matches, both teams demonstrated their grit, intensity and desire to compete, representing Malad Dragon Wrestling well.

         The Lady Dragon wrestling team competed in the Madison Wrestling Tournament Saturday, January 14.  Competing for Malad was Cambree Howe, Rylee Nielson, Dezirae Haven and Braylee Price.  Haven and Price both wrestle five matches, making it a very tough, long tournament for the girls.  And while it was tough, the girls also showed improvement with each match.  Nielsen had three matches, dominating in two of those matches and just barely losing in the 3rd/4th place match.  Howe had three matches as well, pinning two of her opponents in short time.  In her final match, Howe went up against a wrestler she had previously grappled with.  As the match went on, Howe was leading and then made it small but crucial mistake and found herself pinned.

         The tournament ended with Howe taking home 2nd place, Neilson taking 3rd place, and both Haven and Price earning 5th place.  At the conclusion of the tournament, Coach Kade Price shared, “All the girls showed significant improvement in their wrestling this weekend.  They have been working hard on their technique and adding new moves to their arsenal, all of which showed today.  We saw some things that we need to work on to help them improve for our next tournament in Aberdeen next weekend.”

         The Dragons team began their week competing in a dual meet at Sugar Salem High School Thursday, January 12.  Taking on the strong, 3A wrestling team, the MHS wrestlers worked the mats to pull out a victory, 55-30.  The following day, MHS boys wrestling team traveled to compete in the Wendell Magic Valley Tournament.  The two day tournament began Friday, January 13 where at the end of the first day, the Dragons were leading in team points.

         As the tournament went on, the Malad wrestling team went up against some of Idaho's best wrestlers from twenty four different schools.  At the conclusion of the tournament, the Dragons proudly came in second place.

Brothers of Steel

Idaway kicked off their 2023 wrestling season with the Marsh Valley tournament this Saturday.  The Malad wrestling team, Brothers of Steel, had 12 wrestlers competing in the tournament.  The Malad wrestlers ranged in ages from 5&6 year olds to middle school wrestlers.  All of the kids wrestled well and started off the season looking great.  The Brothers of Steel have started their club practices and are excited for the new wrestlers that have joined the team.   The team will compete in the Idaway wrestling tournaments that are held all over the state.  

Marsh Valley tournament results:

Kyler Blaisdell 7&8 56lbs  Champion

Payson Price 7&8 61lbs Champion

Rustin Montgomery 9&10 95lbs Champion

Zach Ward 5&6 45lbs 2nd place

Lily Blaisdell 5&6 40lbs 2nd place

Carter Jones 7&8  64lbs 2nd place

Wade Clark 13-15 101lbs  3rd place

Parker Price 13-15 112lbs 3rd place

Kody Wangsgard 7&8 49lbs 4th place

Dekker Davis 7&8 52lbs 4th place 

Brecken Price 11&12 66lbs 4th place

Cache Lake 7&8 54lbs 5th place

Malad's Drake Morrison competed in the Beehive Brawl held in Richfield, UT over the weekend.  The Beehive Brawl had over 1000 wrestlers from several states competing on Friday and Saturday.  Morrison made his way to the finals match where he wrestled an extremely tough match against Sanderson wrestler Austin Ellis.  The match went to triple overtime which is a "ride or die" situation.  Morrison got the win in the ultimate tie breaker and won himself the championship belt and singlet.

Magic Valley tournament

The varsity Dragon wrestling team competed in the Magic Valley tournament in Wendell last weekend.  The tournament hosted 24 teams with most 2a teams from the southeastern part of the state in attendance.  The Malad wrestlers fought hard and earned themselves 2nd place as a team.  Of the 15 Dragon wrestlers that wrestled 9 of them placed individually in the tournament.  The Wendell tournament is an important tournament because it gives teams a chance to see how they are going to compete at the state tournament in February.  Coach Morrison "All of our kids wrestled extremely well this weekend.  They are putting in the work and it shows.  We have a great group of kids led by seniors that are really great examples to the rest of the younger kids and that helps a lot to keep a positive, successful team mentality."

Magic Valley Classic Results for Malad:

98

Porter Mills (12-3) placed 4th and scored 19.0 team points.

98

Jack Willie (20-6) placed 5th.

106

Jace Potter (16-11) placed 6th and scored 15.0 team points.

113

Tommy Angell (17-8) placed 5th and scored 20.0 team points.

120

Trevor Mills (17-8) placed 4th and scored 20.0 team points.

126

Zach Mills (14-3) placed 2nd and scored 26.0 team points.

126

Cael Seamons (9-8) place is unknown.

132

Sam Willie (13-9) place is unknown and scored 8.0 team points.

138

Gabe Hooste (12-14) place is unknown and scored 5.5 team points.

145

Kole Willie (16-6) placed 3rd and scored  22.0 team points.

152

Ruxton Tubbs (14-8) placed 4th and scored 20.0 team points.

160

Hunter Wray (15-9) placed 4th and scored 22.0 team points.

170

Rydon Montgomery (8-6) place is unknown and scored 7.0 team points.

182

Blaiz Wright (17-9) place is unknown and scored 7.0 team points.

195

Caleb Mathews (10-13) place is unknown and scored 6.0 team points.