The National Wrestling Hall of Fame named Brooke Cicierski of Billings West and Leif Schroeder of Bozeman the Montana winners of the Tricia Saunders High School Excellence Award (TSHSEA) and Dave Schultz High School Excellence Award (DSHSEA), respectively, this week.
The TSHSEA was announced on Tuesday, while the DSHSEA was announced on Thursday. Both awards recognize excellence in wrestling, scholastic achievement, citizenship, and community service.
First presented in 2014, the TSHSEA is named for Tricia Saunders, a four-time World Champion and women’s wrestling pioneer. Saunders was the first woman to be inducted as a Distinguished Member of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2006 and was inducted into the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2011.
The DSHSEA was established in 1996 to honor Olympic and World champion Dave Schultz, whose career was cut short when he was murdered in January 1996. He was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame as a Distinguished Member in 1997 and as a member of the United World Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2016.
Cicierski wrestled for the Golden Bears for three years and has signed a national letter of intent to continue her career at the University of Providence.
Glory Konecny, a Billings West alum now wrestling at Southern Oregon, won the Montana TSHSEA in 2018.
Schroeder became a four-time Montana high school state champion in February by defeating Kalispell Flathead senior Brendan Barnes in the 138-pound championship. Schroeder won his previous titles at the 113-, 126- and 132-pound weights. Schroeder will continue his career at the University of Iowa.
Previous Montana winners of the DSHSEA include Michael Weber of Forsyth (2019), Charlie Klepps of Billings Senior (2018), Parker Filius of Havre (2017), Luke Weber of Forsyth (2016) and Luke Entzel of Missoula Big Sky (2015).
