It was an intense three days as the Idaho State Wrestling tournament was held in Nampa, Idaho where the top wrestlers across the state battled it out the mats to claim victory as the best wrestler in their individual weight brackets.  The Malad Dragon wrestling team was in the very thick of the tournament with 15 boys and two girls representing their team.  Over the course of the tournament, the MHS athletes worked their way into the medal standings to bring home the 2A 4th Place Trophy, placing ahead of 12 other teams in the 2A division.  Aside from the team trophy, Malad had eight individual state medalists at the end of the long, challenging tournament.

The week began for Malad’s wrestlers on Wednesday, February 22nd as the Dragon athletes and coaches were sent off with cheers and wishes of good luck from their favorite fans.  The tournament officially began Thursday with the official weigh in.  Wrestling for Malad at the state tournaments were Jack Willie (98 lbs), Porter Mills (98 lbs), Jace Potter (106 lbs), Tommy Angell (113 lbs), Trevor Mills (120 lbs), Zane Komrofske (120 lbs), Zach Mills (126 lbs), Sam Willie (132 lbs), Kole Willie (145 lbs), Ruxton Tubbs (152 lbs), Dylan Moss (160 lbs), Hunter Wray (160 lbs), Lex Driskel (170 lbs), Blaiz Wright (182 lbs) and Caleb Mathews (195 lbs) and for the Malad Lady Dragons, Cale Carter (145 lbs) and Cambree Howe (152 lbs).

Qualifying for the state tournament is the goal of every athlete and it was a great feat for so many Malad wrestlers to represent the Dragons at the state level.  Head Coach Devin Morrison said, “Making it to state is a big deal.  Every wrestler makes this a personal goal and we have so many kids that accomplished that goal this season.  Our district is extremely tough so earning a spot at state is that much harder and that much more impressive.”  

The Dragons took off with a solid start over two rounds of wrestling on day one of the tournament, ending the day’s matches sitting in the 3rd place spot as a team.  Friday’s matches took the wrestlers deeper into their brackets which meant the Malad athletes took on some big wins as well as some tough losses as they battled strong opponents on the mat.  As the state tournament is a double elimination tournament, losing a second match on day two of the tournament would put a wrestler out of the tournament.  Eight Dragonwrestlers remained in the tournament and were headed to the medal rounds on Saturday at the end of a long day of wrestling on Friday.  

Coach Morrison said, “Friday, everything was on the line for these wrestlers.  If you make it through Friday you earn a spot on the state placers podium which is a huge accomplishment.  Friday all of our wrestlers put it all out there.  They gave their all and wrestled some extremely tough matches.  There was some heartbreak but everyone of our wrestlers wrestled tough and made us proud.”

Saturday morning the team was sitting in 4th place and quite a few points behind the 3rd place team. Through the day's matches, the eight Dragons wrestled through the medal rounds, competing with everything they had for their team.  Leaving everything on the mat, they were able to earn enough team points to put Malad back into 3rd place.  

Malad’s coaches couldn’t be anything but proud of how their athletes stepped up, not only for themselves, for their team. “To say we are proud of these kids would be an understatement,” said Coach Morrison.  “We needed them to step up for their team and they did that.  Everyone of them gave us everything they had and fought for their team.  Zach Mills pinned the wrestler that put him in the consolation side in less than 2 minutes. Ruxton Tubbs dominated the 2nd seeded wrestler of his bracket and got the 3rd place win. Trevor Mills beat the wrestler from Raft River that he had lost to twice earlier in the season.  These are just a few examples of the top level wrestling our kids did on Saturday.”

After Malad had finished their matches, they could only sit back and see how the other teams fared in their matches to know where the team would ultimately finish the tournament.  In the finals round Saturday, West Side won the 160lb match which earned them enough team points to inch ahead of Malad and take 3rd Place.  

At the close of the tournament and the 2022-2023 season, Coach Morrison said, “We are proud of this team and the way they ended the season.  They accomplished a lot this season and showed that Malad Wrestling is one of the top teams in the state.”       

For the first time in Dragon Wrestling history, Malad had their first Lady Dragons competing at the state tournament with Cambree Howe and Cale Carter representing Malad wrestling in the girls brackets. The girls brackets were combined so that all divisions were competing against each other.  Both Lady Dragons, Cambree Howe and Cale Carter are first year wrestlers that made it to the state tournament.  Each of the girls went 2-1 in the tournament and did some very impressive wrestling.  GIrls wrestling head coach, Coach Clark, commented on the tournament saying, “Lady Dragon wrestling is growing and having these amazing young ladies compete at the state level is an exciting accomplishment for our team.  We are very proud of these girls as well as the other girls that have joined the team.  We are young and we are excited to grow women’s wrestling in Malad.”

The Dragon wrestling team wants to again thank their families and fans for all the support this season, something every wrestler and coach has seen.  They also extend a thank you to the Malad High School administration which has “been amazing and we appreciate everything they do to help this team be a success”. 

Individual state medals were

98lbs Porter Mills 4th place

98lbs Jack Willie 5th place 

106lbs Jace Potter 5th place

113lbs Tommy Angell 3rd place

126lbs Zach Mills 5th place

145lbs Kole Wille 4th place

152lbs Ruxton Tubbs 3rd place 

182lbs Blaiz Wright 4th place