Plains wrestling hosts first mixer

Though there was no team standing or winner in the Plains Mixer last week, it looks as though the Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen came out on top with 18 individual victories.

Plains hosted the mixer Thursday evening, along with the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks, Eureka Lions, Mission/Charlo Bulldogs, and the Arlee Warriors. There was no team winner of the meet, but there were individual victories, said Jesse Jermyn, head coach for the Plains-Hot Springs team. It was also important for individual post season seeding, said Mike Thilmony, head coach for Thompson Falls.

The Blue Hawks had only a dozen wrestlers at the meet, but still walked away with 10 wins during the three-hour competition, including a 1:04 pin by Eli Ratliff in the 160-pound weight class against Savage Horseman Brady Schrenk in the second round. Ratliff also had a 1:22 pin in his first competition against Drew Knoll of Arlee.

Plains junior Gabe Rasmussen had the fastest pin of the night when he defeated Arlee's Isidor Mitchell in the 205-pound class in 25 seconds in his sole match of the meet. In the third face off of the night, Plains junior John Thurston, wrestling in the 113-pound weight class, pinned Eureka Lion Brian Alexander in 29 seconds. Thompson Falls Blue Hawk Austin Carlson gave Thurston a bit more trouble in round two, but a minute and 34 seconds later he pinned Carlson. "John Thurston did a great job, considering he's been out of practice for a few years," said Jermyn. 

It was the first match of the season for the Plains-Hot Springs team and for first time coach Jermyn, who has 16 boys and one girl on the team. Two of his team are Hot Springs wrestlers - John Waterbury and David Chapman, both juniors, though Chapman didn't compete due to a recent injury. Waterbury, wrestling in the 132-pound class, won with a 1:26 pin against Bulldog Dillon Dwelle and defeated Blue Hawk Brock Ryan 18-8 in round two.

Ryan is a Plains resident, but goes to school at Thompson Falls. In his first match, he pinned Lion Joe Sieler in 1:26. Ryan's brother, Spurr Ryan, wrestling in the 182-pound class for the Savage Horsemen, took down Bulldog Donovan Daniels with a 1:10 pin.

"The team wrestled great. We look strong and were excited to wrestle," said Jermyn, who wrestled all four years at Plains High School, graduating in 2001. Assistant coach Rocky Wagoner also wrestled at Plains High School, graduating in 2000. Jermyn said there are small things to work on, but he said their main focus now is to stay motivated. He said that Wagoner is good at keeping the team's energy high during practice and at competition.

This was Thompson Falls' second match of the season. Thilmony felt his team did well at Polson a week earlier, finishing in 13th place. Ratliff was the champ in his class at Polson. Brock Ryan finished in sixth place and Diego Long, wrestling in the 126 class, finished fourth. Long picked up three pins Thursday at Plains, a 1:34 against Brody Smith and a 1:42 against Anthony Mourann, both of Arlee. He also pinned Jacob Schultz of Plains, though the time was unrecorded.

"Polson is always a tough tournament out of the gate and I thought our team competed hard and we saw a lot of things that we need to work on, so it was a great tournament for us," said Thilmony, head coach at Thompson Falls for four years and a member of the coaching staff for 12. He said Ratliff had a solid night. The senior is a two-time state place winner and was a runner up last year. "Eli has big goals for this season and is working very hard in the room," said Thilmony.

Jermyn said he was impressed with senior Mason Elliott, who had a 1:21 pin against Koale Medicine Bull of Eureka in the 145-pound weight class in his first match, followed by a 1:27 pin against Arlee Warrior Gaddy O'Conner in his second bout. "We knew there was some rust to knock off and he looked great throughout," said Jermyn.

Wrestling in the 132-pound class, Drew Carey of Plains had a 50-second pin in his first face off with Arlee's Jeremy Martin. He showed his meddle in pinning Hawk Westin Brown in 1:09. Also in the middle weights, junior Jacob Schultze pinned Warrior Anthony Mourann in a minute and 18 seconds. He also defeated Warrior Brody Smith 9-2.

Senior Lillian MacDonald, Plains' only girl on the team and competing in the 145-pound class, had only one match, but she showed her stuff by defeating Eureka's Ryan Lewis with a 1:02 pin. MacDonald is a two time state finalist, placing second both times, but Jermyn hopes for a championship from her this year.

Wrestling in the 170-pound class, Plains junior Brendon Vanderwall had a 59-second pin against Bryson Miller of Eureka in the first round, followed by a 30-second pin against Jeryn Belcourt of Arlee. "Levi Blood came out aggressive and impressed us all," the coach said. The senior captured a 34-second pin against Belcourt. 

Beau Crabb, the only freshman on the Plains-Hot Springs team, and competing in the 145-pound class, pinned Levi Conover of Arlee in 1:38. Wrestling in the 113-pound class, sophomore Gavin Schrenk pinned Blue Hawk Austin Carlson in 1:45. 

For Thompson Falls, Tate Bosker, in the 138-pound weight class, pinned Crabb in 46 seconds. Westin Brown had a 1:13 pin against Jeremy Martin of Arlee in the 132-pound weight class in the last match of the night.

"Everybody performed well. We had a group of kids that didn't wrestle last year and we were waiting to see how much they recalled in a live match. They exceeded our expectations," said Thilmony, who is assisted by Ian Taylor, Kaleb Frank and Trae Thilmony. Coach Thilmony added that he has a young team in a rebuilding mode this year. "We have returning state place winners Eli Ratliff and Max Hannum. Diego Long and Westin Brown have experience in the program, but do not have state tournament experience," he said. "The rest of the team is very young and learning how to compete at the high school level. I like the mix of this team and I believe this team has great potential. This team has been working very hard in the room and I am excited to watch this team develop throughout the season."

The Blue Hawks have three girls on the team - all sisters -  Jaden Bewick, a freshman, and Desani Bewick, a sophomore, both competing in the 100-pound weight class, and senior Veronica Bewick, who normally wrestles in the 185 class, but didn't compete last week due to injury. The other two were defeated at Plains. "All three girls are new to the sport. They are focused on learning the sport and what it takes to be successful," said Thilmony. He said they are a great group and focused on getting better and learning the sport. Thursday's meet also had a blast from the past with former Blue Hawk wrestler Joe Sol, now a Missoula resident, as one of two referees of the meet.

Thilmony said he was pleased with the team's performance at Plains. "I think our young guys are still making mistakes, which is expected. I thought we had some good wins from our upper classman and overall I like the way our team is competing right now," he said. On Thursday, (Dec. 15) the Hawks were scheduled to participate in the Great Falls CMR Holiday Classic, a tournament of more than 50 teams from throughout Montana and with all divisions. "This tournament represents the best of the best from Montana and we look forward to this event each season. It gives us a true look at how our team stacks up against some of the best competition in Montana, said Thilmony. 

The Plains-Hot Springs wrestlers were to be competing in the Eureka Mixer on Friday. Jermyn said that his team members who hadn't missed a year looked polished at the competition last week. Jermyn said that Michael Chenoweth, a volunteer coach with Plains, took notes on where they need to improve, but that most of the problems were small things or moves they hadn't covered yet in practice.