The ‘St. Thomas More New Year’s Challenge’ wrestling tournament attracted 23 high school teams to the David S. Palmer Arena in Danville on Thursday and Friday. Tournament Director Ben Montez says it was a dual team tournament where winners advanced to the next round…
(Tournament Director Ben Montez.)
{Audio: ‘’Really the whole idea is to get these teams here and just wrestle. Get as much wrestling as you can. There are teams that are going to go for first, second, and third place but a lot of teams just want to give their wrestlers experience on the mat. And we do everything we can here to do that. That’s our real goal.’’}
Montez says the teams came from a wide area….
{AUDIO: ‘’We’ve got teams from Wisconsin, Indiana, (and) Illinois. We’ve had teams come from Michigan and Missouri in the past. And in the past it’s been a larger tournament, and then it got small – you know, partially because of COVID. And now it’s getting bigger again.’’}
Montez is the head wrestling coach at St. Thomas More High School. He notes the six mats of continuous competition makes Danville’s Palmer Area the perfect place to host it….
{AUDIO: ‘’Let’s say if we had another five or six teams – we have space for two more mats. So we couldn’t ask for more than that. And you know, the staff here has just been outstanding! They are just the nicest group of people and helpful. Every time I run into one of them they ask ‘Is there anything you need? What can we do for you?’ – You know, how does it get better than that?’’}
Although the focus is on wrestling, Montez hopes the high school competitors get something else out of it…
{AUDIO: ‘’What I want kids to come out of it – I hope they come out of it is, they realize once they get through this they can do anything else. That they have it within them to succeed if they just don’t give up and keep on going.’’}
More than 400 wrestlers participated in the two-day event. And when you add their fans and coaches, Montez estimates the tournament brought about one-thousand visitors to Danville. And he adds he is already looking forward to next year’s event.
