Dec. 15—Austin senior William Mullenbach has been wrestling since he was three years old and he hasn't lost his passion for the sport.

If anything, Mullenbach's love for the sport has grown over the years. Mullenbach is off to a 5-1 overall start this season at 160-pounds for the Packers and he's grown into a big leadership role in his final year on the mat.

"Nothing really changed too much, but the offseason work helps and it's more about believing in the work that I put in," Mullenbach said. "I don't put pressure on myself to win. I love this sport, I don't love winning. Winning is nice, but I love wrestling itself and my goal is just to go out there and have some fun. I've come a long way since I started and no matter what, that's something to be proud of."

Mullenbach started wrestling for the Packers in middle school and he'll be the first to say that he took his lumps when he was wrestling at 114-pounds as a youngster.

Mullenbach is now around 60 wins for his career, and he's hoping his senior year is his best yet.

"Wrestling has always been a constant and it's always on my mind," Mullenbach said. "There is some soreness that comes with it, but the team camaraderie is like a family and I grew up with my wrestling team being my family."

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Austin head coach Jacob Nelson said that Mullenbach's presence will be missed next season. In his six years with Nelson in the Packer program, Nelson has seen Mullenbach grow in confidence and ability.

"Will has been ready to be a leader and even last year, he took on that role," Nelson said. "He's doing a phenomenal job. He's been to all of our preseason open mats and he's taken other kids under his wing. He's helped those new kids learn. He's an invaluable part of our team. He practices what he preaches. He works his tail off in the room and everyone sees that. He never takes a rep off and he's never not focused. He's always doing the right thing and other kids are starting to see that."

Mullenbach points to Austin grads Tony Garcia and Brennan Winkels as his biggest role models. He now credits his wrestling partner Lukas Jorgenson for pushing him every day in practice, and his younger brother and teammate Jaxon Learn, a freshman, for keeping him motivated.

Mullenbach wants the next generation of Packers to focus on working hard, and having fun.

"I try to inspire the younger guys as much as I can. One of my goals this year is to leave an impact on the program so the younger guys love this sport as much as I do," Mullenbach said. "I want to trust in the stuff I have, do my moves, and the outcome will come. Obviously I'd love to see the state meet, but I can only control the controllables, and that's putting in the work and having fun."

Austin's next home meet is a triangular on Jan. 15 at 5 pm..

Dec. 14—With three bracket champions and 10 varsity placers, Flathead placed a close second at its own Flathead Invitational girls wrestling meet that concluded Saturday.

Behind champs Bella Downing (120 pounds), Julia Kay (130) and Kiera Lackey (135), the Bravettes piled up 271.5 points, while defending state champion Billings Senior won with 281.5.

Billings West edged Class A Ronan for third place, 185.5 to 184.5. Butte was fifth at 170, and Polson was sixth at 142.

Glacier was 15th at 67.5 points for the tournament, which brought 330 wrestlers to the Gene Boyle Gym for two days of competition.

"I thought our girls really came together," Flathead coach Amber Downing said. "Julia Kay was named outstanding wrestler, based on the difficulty and size of her bracket."

"And it was cool to see the Hard Luck mat, where a lot of the young girls were getting their first action, all the support they got from the team."

Counting those consolation bracket points Flathead had 337.5 while Senior had 290.5.

State champions that won their weight classes on Saturday included Taylor Lay of Helena Capital (125) and Meadow Mahlmeister of Senior (145). Kay fell to Lay in last year's 130-pound final at state.

Bella Downing had three pins and a technical fall; Kay had four pins after her first opponent defaulted with an injury; Lackey had five pins.

Not to be outdone, Sam Bennetts had went 6-2 and had five pints on the way to a fourth-place finish at 126.

Ronan's River Cote won the 105 title, and the Maidens had six place in the top six besides her.

Glacier's Keria Oftedahl was third at 100, which Polson's Ciri Nice won. The Wolfpack also saw Katelyn Spuhler take sixth at 105.

"It seems like our all visiting teams were happy with how we ran things," Amber Downing said, noting the tournament finished ahead of schedule Friday and on time Saturday.

"It was the first oportnty to ever complete for some, and they rose up to the challenge. I'm excited to see them grow throughout the season."

Flathead Invitational

Friday and Saturday

Flathead High School

Team scores — 1, Billings Senior 281.5; 2, Flathead 271.5; 3, Billings West 185.5; 4, Ronan 184.5; 5, Butte 170; 6, Polson 142; 7, Helena Capital 149; 8, Missoula Big Sky 137.5; 9, Billings Skyview 147; 10, Belgrade 143; 11, Browning 111; 12, Simms 92; 13, Gallatin 80; 14, Hardin 77; 15, Glacier 67.5; 16, Columbia Falls 59; 17, Mission 58; 18, Havre 57.5; 19, Eureka 52; 20, Corvallis 50; 21, Frenchtown 49; 22, Choteau 47.5; 23, Helena 40; 24, Whitefish 35; 25, Missoula Sentinel 28; 26, Plains-Hot Springs 17; 27, Bigfork 10; 28, Florence 7; 29, Missoula Hellgate 4.

Individual results

100 — Ciri Nice, Pol, md. Josie Hillman, Cor, 25-13, first; 3, Keira Offedahl, Glacier; 4, Alexus Thompson, Flathead; 5, Jadyn Rowe, Flathead; 6, Mykell Hoyt, Brw.

105 — River Cote, Ron, p. Delilah Bahm, BW, 1:30t; 3, Seria Catt, BSr.; 4, Quinn Lindsley, Bel; 5, Victory Tenney, Sky; 6, Katelyn Spuhler, Glacier.

110 — Payten Van Pelt, West, p. Danyka Doll, Skyview, 0:37, first; 3, Hayley Petersen, Simms; 4, Idania Ocampo, Boz; 5, Brooke Jamieson, MBS; 6, Marie Cheff, Ronan.

115 — Hannah Leonard, Skyview, p. Ashlyn Sausedo, Har, 1:17; 3, Piper Gershmel, BSr; 4, Cadence Crookston, Simms; 5, Sydney Drake, Cap; 6, Avery Faler, Ronan.

120 — Bella Downing, Flathead, p. Alexandria Johnston, Senior, 3:04, first; 3, Ava Dewitt, Senior; 4, Mariska Harrisk, Cap; 5, Violet Turnquist-Linn, Bel; 6, Breiah Davis, Havre.

125 — Taylor Lay, Cap, p. Araeya Nelson, West, 5:38; 3, Adalie Hazlett, Butte; 4, Sam Bennetts, Flathead; 5, Kyra McMahon, Flathead; 6, Lily Fisher, Eureka.

130 — Julia Kay, Flathead, p. Taylor Dorvall, Whitefish, 2:21; 3, Charliee Lund, Bel; 4, Rebel Montanez, Ftn; 5, Leila McKay, Cap; 6, Sierra McGreevey, Ronan.

135 — Kiera Lackey, Flathead, p. Kaiah Dumont, Polson, 3:52; 3, Skadi Smith, Big Sky; 4, Elisa Bernabe, Flathead; 5, Laila Neiss, Ronan; 6, Korah Yerian, C-Falls.

140 — Elizabeth Sherman, Senior, dec. Lindsay Yoder, Simms, 14-7; 3, Addison Clixby, Big Sky; 4, Loretta Matteson, Butte; 5, Ariana Banner, Simms; 6, Haley Wilson, Flathead.

145 — Meadow Mahlmeister, Senior, p. Vanessa Wheeler, Polson, 5:25; 3, Tita Fandrich, Senior; 4, Elizabeth James, West; 5, Alisha Cook, Flathead; 6, Sage Queer, Butte.

155 — Mattie Stepan, Butte, p. Olivia Carnell, Mission, 2:41; 3, Leona Dodson Howe, Ronan; 4, Luisa Rivera-Rosas, Senior; 5, Meadow Ragen, Mission; 6, Kinsley Birdrattler, Browning.

170 — Soraya Shirley, Senior, md. Ashtyn Dziekonski, Capital, 10-0; 3, Hannah Gohde, Gallatin; 4, Hadassah Rea, Ronan 5, Keara Wieczorek, Eureka; 6, Eva Rodriguez, West.

190 — Lauren Krebs, Hardin, p. IsaBela Rangel, Belgrade, 4:27; 3, Brooklen Larsen, West; 4, Malia Glassing, Senior; 5, Keyenaa DeRoche, Browning; 6, Aspen Martinez, West.

235 — 1, Rylee Murgel, Helena, p. Elizabeth Henkins, Big Sky, :10; 3, Chyanne Robinson, Butte; 4, Allie Ballensky, Butte; 5, Manina Left Hand, West; 6, Rylie Massa, West.

Dec. 14—BUTTE — The Flathead Brave Brawlers' run of Jim Street Mining City Duals championships ended at four but they certainly gave it a shot.

Two-time defending AA champion Billings West beat the Brawlers 50-22 in the final dual Saturday at the Butte Civic Center; Flathead went 5-1 at the tournament.

"So proud of this team," coach Jeff Thompson sid. "West is just so sold up and down their lineup but we gave them our best."

The Brawlers beat Billings Senior 52-24 and Butte High 40-28 to advance in Saturday's championship bracket. On Friday they handled Frenchtown 59-18, Helena Capital 58-23 and Three Forks 66-17 in pool competition. Frenchtown, which went 2-1 in Flathead's pool, joined the Brawlers in the championship bracket.

Kellen Downing (138 pounds) and Caleb Poe-Hatten (118) scored pins against West, and Hunter Arriaga (144), Brett Chivers (157) and Colton Conover (175) won their matches. Arriaga went 4-0 in Butte and the rest were 5-0; Arriaga, Downing and Poe-Hatten were named outstanding wrestlers for the Duals.

The Golden Bears came up with six falls and two technical falls in the final.

"The Mining City Duals are always an early-season blueprint of what's out there for competition," Thompson said. "The Braves most definitely are in the mix for a team trophy come February. We have already seen tremendous growth from last week.

"Conor and Liam LeDuc, and Kohen Rilley, only had one loss this weekend. Conor is just really good at 190. Caleb Poe-Hatten beat two state championships this weekend. Aiden Lake won a match against Senior that put 37 points on the board."

Glacier's young squad went 1-4 in Butte, beating Missoula Hellgate 59-24 on Friday before dropping duals with Butte (59-20) and Billings Skyview (53-30). In Saturday's consolation action the Wolfpack lost narrowly to Polson (41-39) and fell to Three Forks (57-21).

"Our lineup at this point doesn't bode well for team scores, but we some some great experience gains for the team," Glacier coach Mark Fischer said. "Matt Ahner, Zander Fuehr and Noah Horn continued their win streaks and remain undefeated.

"Before this weekend we had six kids in the lineup that had never won a match in their life or high school. Four of them got their first wins this weekend."

Columbia Falls went 0-2 on Saturday in the championship bracket. In Friday's pool action the MatCats beat South Fremont (Idaho) 41-36 and Ronan 47-36, and also lost 73-5 to Billings West.

On Saturday they fell to Spokane's Gonzaga Prep 50-28, and then to Frenchtown 46-30.

Blaise Cronk at 165 had an outstanding tournament, scoring three pins plus a technical fall against West for Columbia Falls' only points in that dual. Kolbe Cronk went 4-1 at 138 as well.