Uli, Vanderwall claim titles

Outside of the Montana All-Class tournament, it's the biggest thing in wrestling in the Big Sky Country, and the Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen were there grappling with the best.

Proving to belong among the best, coaches Jeff Kujala and Jake Lile guided five of Plains-Hot Springs' finest athletes into the Montana Open at Metra Park in Billings last weekend, and the off-season Savage Horsemen ended up crowning two individual champions and placing two others on their way to a very respectable 28th place team finish among the 148 teams entered.

Kujala said that the tournament reached a new high-water mark with a total of 1,890 competitors this year, up from the old record of 1,640 set last year. And the Plains kids still managed to shine on one of the sport's biggest stages

"I thought that was pretty good, placing that high in the team scoring when we had only five kids and everyone that finished ahead of us had at least 12," Kujala said. "To take only a few over there and finish like we did really says a lot about our wrestlers."

Plains-Hot Springs ended up with two champions of their weight classes in Billings as Daniel Uli and Josiah Vanderwall swept to the titles at 132 and 138 pounds, conquering their 16-man brackets in the 18 and Under division.

Grappling at 130 and competing in a 32-man bracket in the 15-U division, Conrad Vanderwall wrestled gamely, compiling a winning record but did not place.

In the brand new girls divisions, which were created for the Montana Open for the first time this year, Plains' wrestling sisters Kenzie and Taylor Angle also enjoyed fine tournaments.

Kenzie, wrestling in the 132-138 class in the 18-U division, won second place, while little sister Taylor, competing in two 15-U classes, took second at 95-102 and then took a step up in weight class to also win third at 109 pounds.

Lile thought it was great for the girls to have exclusive weight classes for a change.

"It's really nice to have the girls divisions," he said. "They put in a lot of work into competing, just like the guys, and it's cool to see them get rewarded like this."

Kujala said the level of competition in Billings was almost off the charts.

"It was a super good weekend for everyone," he said. "The competition was great and our kids really performed well; just a good, all around experience. This will only make us better when wrestling season rolls around again next winter."

Uli, a senior in Plains, adds the Montana Open championship to the State B-C title he won in February. The Vanderwalls, both underclassmen, won sixth place medals in the State B-C meet.

Kenzie Angle is a junior at Plains High School and Taylor is in eighth grade.

Kujala and Lile also coach the P-HS high school team.