GREAT FALLS — Last winter with a younger core, the Great Falls CMR Rustler wrestling teams saw 12th- and 10th-place finishes among other Class AA teams at the boys and girls state finals.
Moving into this new campaign — and with a good amount of experience gained — the Rustlers are seeking positive strides to get back on the map.
"Last year, a lot of youth, a lot of freshmen and sophomores," said Gage Allen, who placed fourth in the boys' 182-pound bracket last year as a freshman. "This year, we just matured a lot. You know, a lot more work even in the offseason, when during football we're all coming in, getting our work in."
"A lot of our girls are first and second years," said Madalyn Deiter, the girls' reigning runner-up at 114. "They're putting in a lot more effort than I saw last year, which is really nice to see. So I'm just hoping to see improvement."
Allen and Deiter fell short of individual titles last year, and both said the results push them to work even harder.
"There's a lot of motivation there," Allen said. "I had a lot of the kids that placed ahead of me this year, they're in the same weight this year. So it's just a lot more competition, a lot more motivation each week."
"It was really disappointing getting there and falling where I did," Deiter said. "It's been a really big motivator, so in practice it's always finding ways to get something out of every little drill."
Allen said his inexperience last year led to a lack of confidence.
"I wasn't that confident last year," Allen said. "This year I feel a lot more confidence ... a lot more attacks going to come this year, a lot more points."
Last Saturday, both the boys and girls competed in duals against Flathead and Glacier in Kalispell, and Deiter said the girls team won its first-ever dual in program history.
"Everyone was really good about sitting at the mat side and being super supportive," Deiter said. "I saw some hard work in matches, they don't give up."
CMR is back in action Friday and Saturday, as the boys head to Butte for the Mining City Duals and the girls compete in the Whitehall Tournament.
