With 10 inches of fresh snow on the ground outside, more than 70 youngsters were trying to put each other on the ground inside as the Mighty Mustangs Wrestling Club hosted the Inaugural Mighty Mustangs Battle in the Blizzard Wrestling Tournament Saturday at Falls High School.
"Despite the weather that we encountered, the gym was packed," event organizer Pete Benedix said.
The Mighty Mustangs Wrestling Club is in its first season and included kids from kindergarten to fourth grade. The club practiced twice a week at the Falls Elementary gym and closed the season with an in-house tournament.
"This sport hasn’t been around for 15 years and it’s very important for us to try to get as much exposure as we can in the beginning," Benedix said. "These kids have worked so hard."
The event started with an opening ceremony that included a color guard from the local Veteran of Foreign War Post 2948, Dan Sheppard playing bagpipes and Margarete Kostiuk singing the National Anthem.
The wrestlers lined the mat and were all dressed in their T-shirts.
"It was a great thing, very impressive," event organizer Willi Kostiuk said. "We had so many positive comments from school officials and parents."
The event was staffed with volunteers that performed all sorts of duties from reffing matches, weighing-in wrestlers, keeping track of the brackets and staffing the kitchen.
"If it wasn’t for the volunteers, the tournament would have never happened," Benedix said.
Tat Romero. two-time State Champion and NCAA All-American and personal friend of Benedix, drove through the snow storm from Virginia to help referee the tournament and then drove back to Virginia Saturday night.
"That’s how important this tournament was for him," Benedix said. "With all of the people that showed up, it was incredible."
The wrestlers were put into categories of age and weight so that they were wrestling someone very similar to themselves. Some categories had as many as eight wrestlers in it and provided good experience for the youngsters, according to organizers.
"Going to the practices and seeing what they go through in these tournaments, they are really putting it out there," Kostiuk said. "It takes so much for them to get out there. One-on-one, there is no team behind them, they are head-to-head. It takes a lot for a small kid to get in front of that size crowd and put themselves on the line and take the chance of getting pinned and beat. They all went out as warriors."
"The sportsmanship that we saw was unbelievable," Benedix said. "The kids shook hands before they wrestled and helped each other off the mat. I explained that they are all winners, but the reality is that there is always a winner and loser — there has to be. But, they all showed unbelievable sportsmanship."
Each wrestler received a medal with the top three in each category receiving trophies.
"My father made a podium for first, second and third place," Benedix said. "When they got up on that podium, the smiles and the emotion on their faces was well worth it."
Kindergartner Matthew Kennedy was voted most valuable wrestler for the tournament by the coaches for his efforts in the tournament.
The club is already looking forward to next year when it will expand to include fifth-graders, allowing this year’s fourth-graders to compete. The ultimate goal is to expand into the high school when the kids get older.
"We want the kids to get to continue," Kostiuk said.
"We are going to take it one tournament at a time, one year at a time," Benedix said.
The club plans to be active this summer by putting on a two-day wrestling clinic with coaches from out of town to help out.

Meet Results

Champion Runner-up Third Place
Tanner Cann Chandler Lallak
Graham Anderson Nick Wepruk Nicholas Clark
Jesse Schultz Tyler Cann
Kane Kostiuk Jake Klow Darius Vohler
Alex Kucera Ricky Kennedy Alex Pearson
Peter Griffith Isaac Johnson Dakota Stevenson
Joey Griffith Levi Cottrell Jordan Johnson
Trevor Becvar Dominic Sprecco Joshua Cann
Christopher Kostiuk Blake McBride Cole Mann
Steven Christie Tanner Wood Chad Broadt
Malachi Mayfield Evan Johnson Callahan Grossjean
Matthew Kennedy Quinn Kostiuk Alex Bissonnette