fbpx

The Brave Ones

Flathead’s wrestling team is mostly young and inexperienced in the varsity ranks, but that’s not stopping the Braves from pursuing greatness

By Dillon Tabish

One day it’s spinning class. Another day it’s dodgeball.

Rich Vasquez likes to keep his wrestlers guessing. In his second year as head coach of Flathead High School’s grapplers, Vasquez has developed a fun yet challenging regime in the black-padded room tucked in the quiet corner behind the gym.

“It keeps their minds sharp. They never know what’s going to happen during practice,” he says.

“They have fun doing it and they’re excited about coming back in the room. That’s really the focus.”

Indeed, the overall atmosphere is more enjoyable than most tough-nosed wrestling practices, which relish in sweat and pass the time with tackles and armbars.

But don’t be mistaken about this young team.

The Braves are fiercely motivated. After finishing near the bottom of the standings at the state meet the past three years, Flathead’s wrestlers are eager to regain their reputation as one of Montana’s premier programs.

Reminders of the great Flathead tradition surround the team during practice, providing both pride and inspiration. The walls feature the names of over 300 all-state grapplers dating back to 1956 along with references to the six Class AA state championships between 2004-2010 and the ninth-ranked team in the nation, the 2008 Braves, which scored a state-record 410 points at the Class AA championship tournament.

“My young team looks up there and they see the ninth-ranked Flathead team in the nation, and in their minds they want to be a higher-ranked team than that,” Vasquez says.

“They want greatness.”

Vasquez is leading the exciting resurgence with only a handful of seniors and almost 20 freshmen. On paper, the roster doesn’t scream title contender. But already this season, opponents who have overlooked the Braves have learned a painful lesson.

Flathead advanced to the championship pool at the Mining City Duals in Butte last month and defeated both Great Falls C.M. Russell and Billings West. They narrowly lost to Havre, arguably the best all-around team in the state. At the Holiday Classic in Great Falls, Flathead finished tied for seventh out of 44 teams. In a dual with Missoula Big Sky, which was the fourth-place team a year ago, Flathead lost by only one match after an uncommon hiccup by one of the Brave’s top wrestlers.

“We’re right there battling with the top teams in the state,” Vasquez says. “We’ve shown some great things.”

Vasquez has a strong group to build on, starting with his son, freshman Trae Vasquez. Not only is Trae the state’s top wrestler at 113 pounds, he’s also one of the rising stars in the nation. This past summer he placed second in the World Team Trials in Ohio and third at the Fargo Junior Cadet Nationals competition.

This winter at the Holiday Classic, Trae won the championship match, defeating Nathan Weber of Forsyth 10-4. At the Mining City Duals, he went undefeated in six matches en route to a championship.

Vasquez’s other freshman son, Eric Reyna, is also a highly skilled grappler helping lead Flathead, along with freshmen Bryce Schaffer and Payton Hume.

“We’re excited to see what we can do at state. We’re doing pretty well right now,” Trae Vasquez says. “Keeping up this hard work is very important and I like where we’re going. We’re going to get there, we just need to take little steps.”

While watching a program rise, Rich Vasquez has also enjoyed watching his kids grow up.

Most often when Rich arrives at practice with his two freshmen sons, he also brings his eighth-grade daughter, Tilynne, and fifth-grade son, Teegan.

The two younger ones aren’t there just to play around, either.

As an eighth grader, Tilynne is already one of the top-ranked girls in the nation for any weight class, according to USA Wrestling. Next year she’ll be eligible to compete for national and world teams.

“She’s lights-out tough,” her father Rich says. “She’s definitely the best at her weight.”

Tilynne appears frequently at Flathead practices, rolling around the mats and practicing moves on Teegan, who himself is already earning a national reputation in the junior ranks. By next year she’ll be competing against boys across Montana.

Wrestling and family are inexplicably tied together in the Vasquez house. Born in Whitefish and raised in Columbia Falls, Rich was a state champion grappler who went on to become a two-time NAIA All-American at the University of Montana-Western. In 1994 he won the NAIA National Championship at 142 pounds.

Back in the Flathead Valley, Vasquez took over the Kalispell club over 10 years ago, training wrestlers from 4 years old to high school. Naturally, his kids have picked up the sport, loving it as much as their dad and following in his successful footsteps.

“The passion they have for wrestling is great but that transfers over to everything. They’re just good kids. They’re good teammates. They’re good in the classroom. They’re respectful from all the life lessons they learn in wrestling,” Vasquez says.

“That’s what we’re trying to do here at Flathead. Hopefully we’re raising good kids who will benefit society and benefit the community. And if we’re great wrestlers along the way, I like that too.”