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The 17th annual Apodaca Showdown Duals return to Powell on Friday and Saturday, as five teams will compete at Cabre Gym.
Northwest College founded the duals in 1999, one year following the tragic death of former Trapper wrestling walk-on and Riverton native Christopher Apodaca.
Apodaca wrestled three seasons under NWC head coach Jim Zeigler, earning a scholarship, a starting spot in the Trapper lineup and captain status before dying in a one-vehicle accident shortly after the NJCAA National Wrestling Championships in the spring of 1998.
Zeigler said the duals were created in Apodaca’s memory as a way to honor the talented athlete. Traditionally, the duals draw some of the nation’s toughest wrestlers.
“Typically, some of the best teams in the nation are here for the duals, that’s been the norm year after year,” Zeigler said, “And that’s going to be the case again this year.”
No. 11 Northwest will welcome No. 2 North Idaho, No. 12 Western Wyoming, No. 15 Neosho County and the University of Great Falls in what Zeigler described as NWC’s “signature event.”
Neosho faces off against Great Falls to open the duals at 5 p.m. Friday before a team introductions and an awards ceremony at 7 p.m. One Trapper will also be presented with the Apodaca Award, chosen by Zeigler, who said the award is given to the NWC wrestler who best emulates the type of human being and athlete Apodaca was.
“Christopher was a good kid, just a great overall person,” Zeigler said. “So the Apodaca Award goes to an NWC wrestler who best represents the type of person Christopher was — as an athlete, educationally and civically.”
Following the ceremonies, Northwest will battle Neosho while North Idaho takes on Wyoming.
The action will resume Saturday with 11 a.m. duals between North Idaho and Neosho, and Great Falls and Western Wyoming.
At 12:30 p.m., Northwest and Great Falls will collide while North Idaho and Western Wyoming do battle.
Great Falls was added to the competition after canceling matches with Western and Northwest earlier this season.
Zeigler said that the duals tend to draw wrestling fans, young and old, to Cabre Gym, and he hopes that will be the case again this year. Zeigler also expects to see a few familiar faces.
“If people only go to one wrestling match all season, this will be the one,” he said. “You’ll see guys that wrestled here five, 10, 20 years ago in the stands, coming out to honor Christopher and to see where this NWC program is now.”
Complete team and wrestler rankings can be found at www.NCJAA.org.