MISSOULA – They dominated the competition in town. Now they’re ready to take on the state. This week’s KPAX Youth Sports Spotlight shines on the Missoula Big Sky Eagles, as they wrestle for more titles.
Big Sky has been building throughout the season. The Eagles haven’t ranked highly in the Class AA coaches polls, but they recently took sixth in the prestigious Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic, the third-best AA school in the field. They took sixth in the Class AA duals, and five Eagles rank in the top five of their weight class in AA.
Last week in the Garden City Duals, Big Sky blew out rivals Hellgate and Sentinel, returning the city title to the Eagles after the Spartans stole it last year.
“We worked hard as a team. We knew we had this moment coming, and it just feels great that it’s finally here,” said junior 152-pounder Dougie Swanson. “We’re pretty solid as a team. We just motivate each other in the room, and we’re just going to keep grinding.”
“It feels good. It was well-deserved. We’ve been grinding all year,” added 132-pound junior Trevin Welzien. “We just need to keep the same mentality going, keep that consistency, and keep rolling through everybody that we have to wrestle.”
Now the pressure rises a notch on the mats. Big Sky will host the Western AA divisional tournament this Saturday that will determine who moves on to the state tournament in Billings next week. The Eagles finished ninth at the State AA tournament last year.
