MacDonald, Waterbury first in Choteau

The Plains/Hot Springs team made the trek east last Friday and Saturday for the biggest wrestling tournament of the season, The Choteau Classic. Coach Jesse Jermyn said that the team did really well and it was the first time seeing a lot of the wrestlers.

Lillian MacDonald took home first place. She wrestled in the combined 145-pound and 138- pound class and “did well wrestling girls in a higher weight-class,” said Jermyn. In the semifinal match she won over Morgan Olson of Florence-Carlton in 45 seconds and in the first place match she won over Joli Beston of Wolf Point.

In the 113-pound weight class Gavin Schrenk won fourth place. Schrenk lost against Blaine VanDyke of Conrad, who is ranked third for state, in the Quarterfinal round. Jermyn said that it was a close match and he wrestled well.

Jacob Schulze placed fifth in the 126-pound class, beating out Dayton Brown of Jefferson. “Jacob has been working on the bottom position and is improving,” said Jermyn.

John Waterbury and Drew Carey both wrestled in the 132-pound weight class. They wrestled each other in their final match for first place. “They started wrestling a gentleman's match, then wrestled hard,” said Jermyn. Waterbury placed first and Carey took home second.

Beau Crabb gave up weight to wrestle in a higher weight bracket of 138. Jermyn said that they do this to spread out their wrestlers and that giving up weight is definitely a challenge. Donny Nelson also bumped up a weight class to wrestle at 152.

Brady Schrenk made a comeback to beat Joseph Ramos of Valier for fifth place in the 160-pound bracket. Ramos had beaten Schrenk in Thursday's competition.

Jermyn added that, ”Mangers Macey Malmend, Kalli Tuma and Kaylynn Boes work really hard to help make the competition a success.”

On Thursday it’s senior night for the Plains/Hot Springs wrestling team and they will be hosting the Plains-Mixer starting at 5:00 p.m.