Hopstad, Shumway win at All-Star event

Two Glasgow wrestlers put a cap on the wrestling season by winning their weight classes at the 2nd Annual Tournament of Champions sponsored by the law firm of Hoyt and Blewett PLLC in Great Falls.

Tyrel Shumway and Chaz Hopstad each won their weight class at the event, beating the top competitors from Class AA, A and B-C.

Shumway, who last week won the Class B-C heavyweight title, beat Class A champion Mitch Schnittgen for the third time this season, winning a 7-1 decision.

Hopstad, who finished third in his pursuit for the title last week, earned a 15-13 decision over Class A Libby's Kody Berget.

The Scotties had the most competitors of any school at the event, fielding six wrestlers in Great Falls. Parker Miller, the Class B-C 215-pound champion, lost in the finals 13-2 to Columbia Falls' Kelly Houle. Luke Zeiger, the Class B-C 130-pound champion, lost 6-0 in the finals to Great Falls High's Dylan Mendenhall.

Braden Hallock and Tucker Holstein were both pinned in the semifinals.
“That's the highest caliber of wrestling I've ever witnessed at the high school level,” said tournament sponsor and Great Falls attorney Zander Blewett in a press release, "the state champs went out and put on a real spectacle for the crowd … We tip our hats to every wrestler who showed up because they not only put their state title's on the line, they left their hearts on the mat."

The one-day, single elimination all-star wrestling tournament featured the top wrestlers in the state and took place in Great Falls, Saturday February 2th in front of a boisterous crowd of approximately 700.  The field of 52, wrestling from classes AA, A, and B-C, included 28 state champions from last week's all-class wrestling tournament in Billings, including a number of repeat champions.  The event was marked by numerous close matches involving state champions from AA, A and B-C.