BILLINGS — Blaise Cronk produced a viral moment at this past weekend’s state wrestling tournament.
The Columbia Falls senior won his 165-pound title match, then got down on one knee to propose to his girlfriend.
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A video on FloWrestling's Instagram profile had racked up nearly 40,000 likes as of Monday afternoon.
“(I’d been planning this) for quite a while, actually," Cronk said. "We've been dating for two years now and it's been just a long time coming. It was absolutely magical. Just a dream moment."
This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment deal, as this was the plan for Cronk all along. He went to bed late Friday night knowing that Saturday would be the biggest moment of his life — win or lose.
“Just a lot of excitement and a lot of preparing and visualizing, trying to gain as much confidence as I can to get through that tough match," Cronk said. "It would have been really hard (if I lost), because I'd been striving for this goal for a long time, but the outcome at the end would have been the same."
Cronk had the blessing of his now-fiancée’s father, who also happens to be his wrestling coach. Safe to say it’s a good thing Cronk came out on top in his match.
“He ended up in a lucky situation, because if he hadn't got that done I think I would have grabbed him by the wrist and said, 'No, not happening,'" Columbia Falls head coach Jesse Schaeffer said. "Obviously, it showed in his match. The pressure this sport creates — this atmosphere is wearing. Only having one match the whole day and obviously he's been thinking about a lot. ... I just wish them the best of luck and happiness and I hope things move in a great direction for them."
“That was actually not any of the conversation. It was all focused on wrestling, focused on winning good positions and taking it one position at a time," Cronk said. "Making sure that you don't give up anything that can bite you in the butt later. Just stay solid and wrestle your heart out."
Cronk intends to enter the United States Air Force Academy after a gap year, but it’ll be hard for him to top a moment like this.
