I visited with Tucker Taylor at Big Sandy High School because this is a big deal-he is the Montana State Girls Wrestling Coach of the Year! He shared with me exactly what I thought he would tell me!
Tucker said, "Obviously, it's a nice award to have, but first and foremost, it's just a reflection of the team's success. Also, Kyle Rodewald, we have a co-head coach position, and it's only on paper that he's the guy's coach and I'm the girls, but we're both coaching. It is an award to share not only with the team but also with coach Rodewald. You can't do it without the little guy wrestling program commitment, where they're building up into high school wrestling.
A few of these young ladies like Markel just started, and it shows you the team aspect of it going into the season. Just for Markel to get to State was a big deal. It was a big deal. And then she won some matches for us at State, which got points, ultimately allowing us to get into that position for second place. And then obviously, Harley LaBuda being that big point-getter, placing six, that means she got a lot of points for us. Randy Hartman, with a win, Jolisa Ortega was really close to getting us a win. Daijalin Sunchild again, getting us multiple wins. We're a very young team.
I think we could definitely improve on our position this year. It's going to take hard work and dedication. We're going to get a few more girls into the program next year. I feel like we'll have seven or eight girls, and they're good and have a good work ethic.
It's just fun to see how fast girls' wrestling has grown, not only in the State but in the country. It's pretty cool. I think the future is bright, and we had a really good finish this year, taking third at divisionals and then second at State as a team for girls in class C. Yeah, it'll be cool to see where we finish. We have a good chance of getting a gold trophy.
It's a community effort; it just requires another level of dedication that those other sports don't have. You have to make weight. At times, the wrestling season is very much a grind.
We've had some good, supportive parents. It's really cool to see just how fast the interest is in girls' wrestling because this wouldn't have been possible four years ago. We've got ourselves a good little program, and it's grown. With any successful program, it shows girls that there's another sport, another opportunity they can try out.
I asked him, "Big Sandy didn't take first; they took second, so why do you think Big Sandy got coach of the year when usually the team that takes first gets that award"?
"I think part of it reflects on the number of girls we had that provided points for us, but it's an MCA (Montana Coaches Association)award. Wass that first-place team coach a member of the MCA? He probably wasn't. If they were, I probably wouldn't have got this award. I've participated in the Summer MCA clinics and plan to be there this year."
"It's true with any sport: the more work you put into it, the more you're out there tuning your skills. It will benefit you and give you more confidence, which is huge."
"Kyle's been good about getting a camp going here in the community, where we get people from around the High Line that come to our camps, and those girls also go, and the boys will go to additional wrestling camps in the summer. It helps. Their participation in other sports is also beneficial."
