George Ferguson Column: There's nothing like Friday morning in the Metra

For the likes of Havre High's Mick Chagnon and Chinook's Rebecca Stroh, Friday morning inside the Rimrock Auto Arena in Billings is going to be a morning unlike any they've ever had.

Sure, both have probably been to the All-Class State Tournament many times. Stroh has certainly seen some glorious times from the stands, cheering on her highly-successful older brothers, and Chagnon has seen plenty of past Blue Pony glory, growing up idolizing Havre greats like Evan Hinebauch and Parker Filius to name a few.

This Friday, though, they'll see this spectacle from a whole different view.

The morning will start out relatively benign. Breakfast, weigh-ins and warmups out on the Metra floor. But then things will begin to change rapidly.

First, they'll line up outside the notorious livestock gates that guard the Metra floor from the outside world. In alphabetical order, every team, from Class AA to Class C will get into formation. That will take some time, and the nerves will creep in.

Then, at just after 9:30 a.m., outside the entrance to the floor, they'll here the beat of drums. It gets louder, but the harmony and beat stay the same. It's time to go. You're about to enter the Metra floor, with as many as 6 or 7 thousand fans above you. You're about to enter sacred ground, where only the best wrestlers in the state get to venture.

Again, it's time. The Parade of Athletes has begun, and for freshmen, like Chagnon and Stroh, this entrance is going to be one you'll never forget. A team captain has your team's sign, and as it's time for your team to enter, as the smallest member of your squad, you'll be hoisted onto the shoulders of some of your biggest and baddest teammates. It's a time-honored state tourney tradition. Once up on their shoulders, in you go. You've just started your first march in the parade that kicks off the biggest high school sporting event in Montana, and one of the most exciting prep wrestling tournaments in all of the Northwest.

Yes, Friday morning, grapplers like Stroh and Chagnon will have a memory they'll never forget, and it will happen before they've even wrestled a match in the state tournament.

That feeling, though, that's how we all get on the opening morning of the state tournament.

I know seniors who will have those same nerves and butterflies that Chagnon and Stroh will have, even though many of them are now old hands at the grand entrance. Coaches, they feel the same way. Scott Filius has been to so many state tournaments, he'd probably have to take a minute to count them all up. Yet, there's no doubt Friday morning he'll feel it. He'll feel the rush, the excitement and the anticipation for what's still to come.

Fans, whether they're parents of the wrestlers, or just spectators, they'll feel it, too. It might be below zero outside, and it's a long walk from the parking lot to the Metra's entrances on that always-chilly Friday morning, yet, everyone going inside feels that excitement, and it's on a completely different level than the all the tournaments fans, friends and supporters of high school wrestling have felt for the last two months traveling to regular season tournaments and duals all across the Treasure State.

We as journalists, trust me, we feel it, too.

I'll never forget my first Friday morning at the state tournament. I was excited, and from the floor I got goose bumps and chills that morning when the Parade of Athletes began, followed by an always stirring rendition of the Star Spangled Banner. And that first state tournament I ever covered, way back in 2002, it was a weekend in which the goose bumps never went away.

That may seem over-dramatic to some but it's the absolute truth. I cover sports year-around. I see great events and cover great stories of all kinds, all the time, but there's nothing like the state wrestling tournament, and that's why the goose bumps don't leave.

Simply put, whether you're Mick Chagnon, Martin Wilkie, Scott Filius, or you're a parent or just a fan, the All-Class State Tournament is special. It's a moment that no one forgets. It's unique and intense and exciting.

And, because it's Friday morning and because it's the state tournament, because it's the famed Metra, it's also only the beginning.