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The Circle Wildcats seemed happy to be back on the podium at the First Interstate Metrapark Arena in Billings at the 2024 All-Class MHSA State Wrestling Tournament held on February 9-10th over the weekend, where they earned a 3rd place team trophy, finishing behind the Forsyth Dogies who won the team title and the Broadus Hawks who finished 2nd in Class C competition. They missed making the podium last year after coming off a run of five state championships in a row from 2018-22, so standing up there again was a familiar place to be for this young Wildcat team.

"We had a lot of eighth graders come up this year," said head coach Ty Taylor. The Wildcat roster was comprised of nine boys and two girls this year, with five of those boys competing as eighth graders. "It's so good for them to get that extra year in high school," said Taylor, who is happy about the recent decision by MHSA to allow eighth graders to compete in high school. "It helps us to fill weight classes on our roster. We're always short in Class C."

And one of those eighth-graders, Paden Nelson, made the podium in the 103-pound weight class. Nelson made it to the semifinal round before losing a close match to Ethan Reynolds (Huntley Project) by decision 7-5. He continued competing in the consolation side of the bracket, finishing the tournament in 4th place. "He handled the pressure well. He got a lot of really valuable experience here this weekend," said Coach Taylor.

The Wildcats had another wrestler finish on the podium at the tournament: sophomore Bryce Becker, who competed at 145 pounds. This was Becker's first time qualifying for the state competition, after falling short in the Eastern B/C Divisional tournament last year. He redeemed himself this year by not only making it to the state tournament, but also earning a 6th place medal which is quite an accomplishment, according to Coach Taylor. "Placing at state is a big deal...nothing to take for granted," said Taylor.

Competing at state can be overwhelming since the tournament includes all four class divisions (AA, A, B and C) for boys competing together in one event. And the recent addition of girls' wrestling in Montana has enlarged the event even further. With over 6,300 spectators attending the tournament, the crowd was intense and loud, especially during the final round on Saturday afternoon when Keyan Hernanadez, of Billings West, joined the prestigious 41-man group of 4-time state champions after defeating Belgrade's two-time state champion Mason Gutenberger by decision 4-1 at 126 pounds. Hernandez, whose father Jeremy is the head coach for the Golden Bears, had a perfect season of 43-0 and helped his team capture the Class AA team title as well.