Savage Horsemen win Buzz Lucey title

What you don't know can help you.

The Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen were not thinking about winning the Buzz Lucey tournament in Eureka Saturday until somebody looked up the team scores on the Track wrestling website right before the championship round.

"We were surprised to learn we were in first place," P-HS coach Jeff Kujala said. "We knew we had had a pretty good day but we weren't really thinking about a team trophy. Then somebody looked up the team scores; it ended up working out real good for us."

Plains-Hot Springs wound up winning the Lucey with 117 points, Class A Whitefish was a close second with 116.5 and defending State B-C team champs and tournament hosts Eureka were third with 112 in the 12-team meet.

Proving that good things come to those who work hardest in the sport of grappling, senior Daniel Uli led Plains to the team title by winning the championship at 126 pounds, winning by technical fall after building a 15-0 lead in 3:30 of the finals against Trysten Lockridge of St. Maries, Idaho.

"Daniel has been looking extremely good this year and he deserves it," Kujala said. "He has put in the time and the work, coming to school early every day to lift weights, and it is paying off for him now."

Although Uli's effort, which landed him on the short list for nomination as this week's western Montana athlete of the week, was the highlight for P-HS, several other Savage Horsemen also enjoyed fine days in Lincoln County. "We received good efforts from all of our kids," Kujala offered, "they all wrestled very well."

Conrad Vanderwall dropped down to 120 pounds for the first time this season and went on to gain the finals before losing a 6-0 decision to Eureka's Nathan Schmidt. Conrad's older brother Josiah Vanderwall also advanced to the championship at 132 before falling to Libby's Trey Thompson by fall.

Luke Lile battled his way into the title match at 160 before dropping a 13-8 decision to Jonathan Schmidt of Eureka for P-HS's other top-two finish.

Freshman Peter Carey (113) and senior Austin Stafford (138) rounded out the placing efforts for P-HS by each winning third in their bracket. Carey pinned Dean Kellogg of Whitefish in 2:48 of the 113 consolation final and Stafford won an 8-6 decision from Western B-C rival Castor Conley of Bigfork in the 138 conso final.

Although she did not quite earn a placing spot, Kujala said Kenzie Angle (at 126) also enjoyed one of her best days as a P-HS wrestler in Eureka.

P-HS assistant coach Jake Lile was impressed with how Conrad Vanderwall, who he has coached since he was in eighth grade, rose to the occasion in Eureka. The younger Vanderwall made some great strides, in Lile's estimation, last week.

"Conrad has had to face the uphill battle of having little mat experience before high school," Lile said. "But he has made incredible strides in catching up and surpassing kids who have been wrestling since they were six years old.

Lile said Conrad's moment of truth came in the semifinals when trailing his opponent by two points with time running out. Vanderwall scored a takedown for two points and then turned his foe for two more near-fall points to pull out the last-second win. The second place medal he ended up winning was his first medal ever in a high school wrestling tournament.

Kujala said that Eureka is considering an expansion of the Lucey tourney in the upcoming years. "They are talking about making it a two-day tournament and getting more teams in," Kujala said. "It's nice from our perspective to see some different competition."

P-HS wrestlers will complete the 2017 portion of the schedule this week, participating in a Florence quadrangular (along with Thompson Falls and Arlee) Thursday, and wrestling in the Mission Mountain Classic in St. Ignatius Saturday