GREAT FALLS — Whether it be over the past two seasons or past two matches, Great Falls High junior wrestler, Brendan Lockart, keeps improving. In his freshman year, he placed third at state at the 160 weight class. in his sophomore year, he placed second at 170. Now, at 205, with a couple tournament wins under his belt, Lockart is looking for state title.
"It’s always something I’ve wanted to achieve in my life ever since I was a younger kid in the wrestling room, i’ve wanted to be a state champ.”
“We’re going to focus one year at a time, one tournament at a time," Great Falls High head coach Luis Carranza said. "The end goal is to obviously win a state title and to get him off to college at a wrestling program but right now the focus is to get better every day.”
As an undersized 205-pounder, Lockart has never wavered in his hunger to improve and it’s showed with his success this season getting a win in early January at the Tom LeProwse Invitational in Bozeman.
“We figured it was going to be a bit tougher being a light 205-pounder but he’s putting the work in; the right work," Carranza explained. "He’s hungry. When you have a hungry dog, he’s going to hunt.”
Lockart’s trust in not only himself but his coach has been one of the big reasons, he has flourished on the mat.
"I’ve known Carranza for a really long time. I’d go in the room and wrestle with him every once in awhile when he was my size when I was younger but he’s a super good coach. I can always ask him something and he’ll show me something.”
Although Lockart has his sights set on a state title, the dream he’s held onto since he started wrestling at six years old was to wrestle at the next level and with his confidence, the dream can become reality.
“I’ve always wanted to go D-1 every since i was a kid. If i can get there that’d be awesome. You know what? Who says i can’t be a national champ in college? That’s my next goal.”
