Sports

Bickford thriving in Belcourt

By Tyler Ohmann

02/05/2013

For one Bottineau High School athlete his after school routine is a bit different than the rest of his classmates.

Tanner Bickford, a junior at BHS, jumps into his vehicle as soon as he gets out of school and heads east. That’s because Bickford, who came to Bottineau from Lamoure, N.D. after his father became the principal at Bottineau High School this past summer, drives to wrestling practice at Turtle Mountain Community High School (TMCHS) every day.

“It’s been a bit of a mental grind, knowing that you have to travel over from Bottineau to Belcourt for a tough practice,” Bickford said. “It has been worth it, because I’ve been having a fun year so far.”

Bickford struggled early on in the season, as he wrestled unfamiliar competition, an unusual weight class and made the jump from Class B to Class A.

“Right away I kind of had my challenges,” Bickford said. “I had to wrestle up a couple weight classes at 145 (pounds), so I took my lumps, but I think that helped me.”

Since the rough start, Bickford has moved down to a more comfortable 126-pound weight class. He has gone 6-6 since the change, which he thought was encouraging.

“I feel like I can make more progress and hopefully make a push (at regionals) to seed high at state,” Bickford said.

Bickford said that wrestling in Class A is quite a bit different than Class B.

“It has been a bit of an adjustment going from Class B to Class A,” Bickford said. “There is a lot more depth in Class A.”

“The top guys in Class B, they are really good, and could compete in Class A, but the thing about Class A, it seems like every dual match it seems like I’m going to be facing someone tough,” Bickford added. “There are really never any slouches in Class A.”

He is impressed with the dedication that the wrestlers in Class A have, especially with his teammates at TMCHS.

“Belcourt has a rich wrestling tradition, and they don’t take many days off,” Bickford said. “They practice on the weekend and work out, and there are just a lot of dedicated wrestlers there and in Class A.”

As far as being the only person on the team traveling from anywhere else, Bickford said that there haven’t been any problems.

“It’s gone a lot better than I thought it would be,” Bickford said. “I haven’t had any complications at all.”

“I kind of felt that coming in, being the commuter, being the outsider, that maybe people wouldn’t respect me as much,” Bickford added. “But they’ve treated me like one of the guys, and I like it a lot.”

Another big positive that Bickford said he has experienced is the knowledge of his coaches.

“Being coached by one of the best coaches in the state, it’s really fun, it’s really neat and it seems like they never really run out of answers. They always have tips for you no matter how you do,” Bickford said.

Bickford is currently preparing for the West Region Tournament, which begins on Saturday in Minot. His approach is to go hard and be aggressive, and he’ll have to as he said that four of the top six wrestlers in the state in the 126-pound class are from the west.

“I really have nothing to lose, because I’ve never gone to the state tournament,” Bickford said. “I don’t think there is really anyone expecting a lot out of me, so it’s kind of nice to not have that pressure, so I just have to be aggressive.”

No matter the outcome, he’ll have a shorter drive home than his teammates.