The list goes on.

For Montgomery, Raiden Felix could have walked away early in his career after not having the best seasons. But the Red Raider stuck with it and never gave up.

He went 2-8 as a freshman and 8-13 as a sophomore. Last year, he finished 19-22 after reaching districts.

Now, as a senior, he’s 20-13, has himself a winning record and is wrestling great. That hard work is paying off, and people notice.

FRANK DIMON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Montoursville's Mason Murray battles Williamson's Riley Ball on Saturday. The Warriors have been banged up late this season, but younger wrestlers are stepping up where needed.

“Huge. Look at where he started and where he is now. He’s a prime example of why every kid needs to wrestle whether you start from the beginning,” Montgomery coach Denny Harer said. “He had every reason to not keep competing and look where he’s at now. Winning a big dual for us. It was awesome to watch.”

In the District 4 Class AA Duals final, Felix was a key piece of Montgomery’s win against state-ranked Mifflinburg to win the program’s first duals title.

At 189 pounds, Felix held a 3-1 lead and controlled Lucas Miller well and prevented him from accumulating points aside from one via escape. In the second period, Miller had two takedown attempts on Felix, but the Red Raider never allowed him to score a point and kept a 3-1 lead through four minutes.

In the third period, Miller managed an escape to make it a 3-2 deficit with 1:40 to wrestle. Felix never let it shift momentum though and held him off.

“Love it. It’s awesome to watch. It’s neat to watch,” Harer said. “We preach family and we wrestled like a family today.”

FRANK DIMON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Warrior Run's Noah Johnson wrestles Mifflinburg's Landon Tucker on Saturday.

FIGHTING THROUGH

Take a glance at just about any roster in wrestling and you’ll see plenty of wrestlers hurt and out of the lineup. Wrestling’s a grueling sport that takes its toll on you.

Montoursville is no different, either.

“In my opinion wrestling is hands down the toughest sport physically and mentally to battle through a season. At this point in the season, being healthy is the biggest and most important factor and we’re not healthy,” Montoursville coach Matt Yonkin said. “We’re beat up, we’re banged up, we got some kids out of the lineup and that makes it frustrating and difficult. I’ll just say with public schools, we don’t have as much depth as some of those other schools and when one of our hammers goes down, it’s hard to have more waiting in the wings.”

But despite missing some key kids, Montoursville used the next-man-up mentality with wrestlers coming into the lineup and getting points where they had to.

FRANK DIMON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Warrior Run's Chase Wirnsberger tries to escape Mifflinburg's Jack Gramly on Saturday.

“We have to rely on some younger kids, some less experienced kids, to step up and hold it together for the team,” Yonkin said. “That’s what we’ve been the last three or four weeks.”

You could see that on Saturday. Wrestlers like Haze Mullens (139 pounds), Maxton Williamson (152) and Brady Evans (160) wrestled to help Montoursville in the lineup.

“We had to rely on them. It’s such a grueling season, it’s so valuable to be able to stay healthy,” Yonkin said.

Montoursville is into the state tournament, however, and the Warriors are glad to be there.

“We’re looking forward to that,” Yonkin said.

FRANK DIMON/Sun-Gazette Correspondent Warrior Run's Blake Dion controls Southern's Talon Piatt during Saturday's District 4 Class AA Duals.

ONE OUTSTANDING RUN

Warrior Run’s boys wrestling team started the season with just ten wrestlers in the lineup. At the Coal Cracker Tournament, Tyler Ulrich hurt his knee and couldn’t wrestle at the District 4 Class AA Duals, meaning the Defenders had to compete with one less in the lineup.

Far from ideal, but the Defenders’ wrestlers competed for one another and saw themselves wrestling well at the District 4 Class AA Duals on Saturday at Milton, despite giving up 18 points right off the bat.

“Getting here was an accomplishment in itself. I think we’re the only team here giving up free points. To have a team makeup like that with guys winning matches, winning dual meets it make it here to the top eight?” Warrior Run coach Jeremy Betz said. “I told them at practice this week this ranks right up there with what I feel are my proudest coaching moments, even with the teams that made it to team states.”

The Defenders had a narrow 39-36 win in the first round to advance to Saturday’s quarterfinals. There, Warrior Run ran into state-ranked Mifflinburg and lost, 42-26. In the consolations, the Defenders came up shy against Southern Columbia, 46-29.

“This took all of our guys, from our studs to our guys who are less experienced, going out and winning matches. So for us to get here is a huge accomplishment. Once we qualified for district duals we said the worst thing that can happen is we go .500,” Betz said. “We can either lose Wednesday and we’re .500 or we win Wednesday, lose two today, we’re still .500. We go .500 with the schedule we set for them? It’s impressive.”

Betz was happy to see his team compete at the level they did, even with three forfeits given up each time.

“We wrestled Mifflinburg, going in we had scored the most points against them coming into today and presented ourselves well against them. We had some matches go our way, felt better this time,” Betz said. “Noah (Johnson) gets pinned, we come out and fight, we find a way and put ourselves in a position to win that match, lose by a take down. Our 114 pounder (Tyler Walburn) got pinned right away. He puts up a ton of points, ends up getting pinned. These are things we ask from the kids and they presented themselves very well.”

UNFORTUNATE INJURY

At the Coal Cracker Tournament, Warrior Run standout Tyler Ulrich tweaked his knee and wasn’t able to weigh in and wrestle at Saturday’s District 4 Class AA Duals tournament.

As noted already, Warrior Run is already at a disadvantage with low roster numbers, but losing a talented wrestler like Ulrich is even harder to replace.

The senior, who will wrestle at Seton Hill University next year, was 25-10 prior to his injury this year and is five wins shy of 150 for his career.

“We’d love nothing more than to see him finish the season the right way. It’s heartbreaking. He’s a great kid, he’s a 4.0 student, he’s on National Honor Society, he’s president of the student council. He’s one of those guys where you’re like this is who you want to model yourself after with how he lives his life and everything,” Betz said. “He spends time with our elementary school. It’s just heartbreaking.”

Betz wasn’t sure if Ulrich would be able to compete the rest of this year with the individual postseason around the corner. The sectional tournaments are scheduled in two weeks.

“We try to put it into perspective of everything happens for. a reason. You got to big picture it,” Betz said. “If it doesn’t work out for him this season he’s got more to look forward to, he’s got a college career to look forward to, to make himself better and to try to be an All-American.”

Whether or not Ulrich is able to wrap up his senior year with one last run in the postseason, he left his mark on the program already.