A strong and successful sports program doesn’t just happen overnight or even in a season.  More important than time, a successful program takes coaches and athletes dedicated to a sport they love, teammates that support through the highs and lows, with parents and fans that encourage and cheer on through every competition.  

The Malad wrestling program is one that over the years has proven its success.  The most recent week was another clear demonstration as to why the MHS wrestling continues to make great achievements on the mats.  Friday and Saturday alone, the Dragon wrestlers competed in three tournaments, with 50 wrestlers, led by 13 coaches, taking home countless trophies and medals.

The Malad wrestlers hosted their annual Cal Willie Memorial Duels as they competed against the Preston Indians on Thursday, January 30.  As is done every year to honor the life of Calvin Willie and the great example he left, Jeff Richins read a poem written by Matt Wray, “A Real Cowboy.”  

Cal died in an unfortunate accident in the summer of 2019.  His wrestling head coach, Devin Morrison, wanted to help his family keep Cal’s legacy alive by dedicating the final night of wrestling to him.  Cal’s two younger brothers, Jack and Sam wrestle on the MHS Dragon team.

Tom Willie, Cal’s father, shared that Cal enjoyed wrestling but wasn’t necessarily anything special.  He said with a grin, “Cal was famous for being unstoppable the first day matches and then just tanked the second.  He had a few runs at the state tournament but never placed at the top.  It wasn’t until later that he made an impact with his wrestling.”

While serving his mission in the Arkansas, Bentonville Mission, Cal had an opportunity few missionaries ever have.  His mission president had encouraged the missionaries to find ways to use their talents to serve the people around them.  Humbly, Cal struggled to think of a talent he could use to help others, until he came across the MacDonald High School wrestling team.  Somehow, Cal was granted permission to help coach the team, even getting down on the mats with wrestlers and traveling to some of the meets and matches.  

Over the weeks that Cal worked with MacDonald wrestling team, he never once preached the gospel in so many words, but every day he showed those kids how important they were.  Tom said, “Those kids loved him and you know that he made a big impact in their lives.  He might not have taught them religion, but he prepared the way.” 

Against Preston, Malad wrestled tough to take the win, 69-15. 

Friday and Saturday, January 31 and February 1, the Dragons competed at the Battle for the Buckle tournament held in Sugar Salem. Across the two day tournament, Malad had some exceptional wrestling to bring home the team champions belt with 15 placers. In an impressive way, the Dragons won the tournament 88 points ahead of 2nd place.  

Champions

150lbs Drake Morrison 

157lbs Oakley Maddox

215lbs Cam Bingham 

285lbs Orrin Miller  

Runner Ups

98lbs Jaxon Mills  

106lbs Jack Willie 

113lbs Ayden Potter 

120lbs Wade Clark  

126lbs Dutch Potter 

3rd place

175lbs Gabe Hooste 

4th place

138lbs Cael Seamons

5th place

132lbs Porter Mills 

138lbs Cruz Carter

6th place 

132lbs Parker Price

165lbs Trevor Allen

Before the Dragons jumped into their duels against Preston, the Lady Dragon wrestlers first hit the mats as they hosted a number of wrestlers from Mountain Crest and West Side.  As the Thursday night matchup was the last home wrestling match, the coaches, team, and fans honored the graduating senior Lady Dragon wrestlers- Rylee Neilson and Dezirae Haven, the first 4 year Lady Dragon wrestler.

In the 6 matches against the Mountain Crest wrestlers, the Lady Dragons went 6-0 as Braylee Price, Bentley Oglesbee, Karsen Thornock, Rylee Neilson, Dezirae Haven, Jenetta Jacaway, Cale Carter, Bella Smith all wrestled and won their matches. Final Score 46 - 0 Malad.   

Braylee Price and Aubree Shulz wrestled West Side. Both were beaten, with a score of 0-12 Westside.

Over the weekend, the Lady Dragons competed at Burley in the 4th Annual Big Mountain Invitational tournament.  At the tournament, the MHS wrestlers competed amongst 40 different teams, with over 250 female wrestlers, making this the largest tournament the Lady Dragons had attended this year.  

The tournament allowed the lady wrestlers to compete against teams and athletes they hadn’t seen before, in addition to some of their usual competition.  The team placed 2nd with 142 points behind a very solid, #1 ranked team, Rocky Mountain, which scored 172 points.  

Wrestling results

Bella Smith 2nd at 235 lbs.  

Aubrey Shulz 3rd at 138 lbs.  

Bella McCullough 4th at 120 lbs.  

Rylee Neilson 5th at 126 lbs.  

Cale Carter 5th at 185 lbs.  

Braylee Price 6th at 107 lbs.  

Also wrestling but not placing were Stella Merja, 107 went 3-2; Laney Coatney 114, 0-2; Bentley Oglesbee 114, 2-2; Paysli Chournos 120, 3-2;  Dezirae Haven 132, 3-2;  Jenetta Jacaway 165, 3-2.

The Lady Dragon wrestling coaches are “very pleased with how the ladies wrestled and feel that the ladies are starting to peak at the right time to be ready for the regional tournament in Thunder Ridge on Feb 21-22.”

  The Lady Dragons will be preparing this week for another tough tournament in Pocatello, the 1st annual Koral Sugiyama Invitational at Irving Middle school on February 7-8.