Wrestlers take to the mats

Plains and Thompson Falls grapplers had their first competition last weekend at the Owen Invitational in Polson.

More than 370 wrestlers, including nearly 100 girls, from 18 teams took to the mats Friday and Saturday at the Linderman School gymnasium, including eight from the Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen team and 13 from the Thompson Falls Blue Hawks. The Savage Horsemen tied with Polson for ninth place with 81 points. Superior and Eureka were the two Class B teams that beat Plains-Hot Springs. The Blue Hawks finished in 14th place with 59.5 points.

Ronan High School, with 28 Chiefs and 13 Maidens, nabbed first place with 266 points, followed by Frenchtown's 16 boys and three girls and totaling 226.5 points. Third place went to the 14 boys and 12 girls of the Eureka Lions, which accumulated 160 points. The seven boys of the Superior Bobcats finished in eighth with 87 points. Teams from throughout Montana, and one from Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, participated in the two-day meet.

The Blue Hawks, which had nine boys and four girls, collected a dozen wins for the boys and three for the girls, said Mike Thilmony, head coach for the last five years. Blue Hawk Max Hannum went defeated with four wins to grab the title in the 182-pound weight class. "I thought Max Hannum got out to a great start and looked solid in every match," said Thilmony. "I was also very happy with how Weston Block responded on Saturday with three straight wins to get third place," the coach said. "Weston is only an eighth-grader and I thought he showed a lot of heart and mental toughness for a young wrestler," added Thilmony. Block competed in the 100-pound weight class. For the girls, Desani Bewick finished in fourth place in the girls 100-pound weight class, Veronica Vega took fifth in the 100-pound class, and Jaden Bewick took sixth in the 107-pound class.

The Savage Horsemen had 15 wins at the tournament, said Jesse Jermyn, head coach for the second year. Four wrestlers finished in the top four spots. Drew Carey, wrestling in the 145-pound class, finished in second place with three victories and one loss in the championship match. Carey also chalked up a 3:57 pin.

Competing in the 170-pound weight class, David Chapman, one of four Hot Springs wrestlers on the team, had the fastest victory for the Savage Horsemen with a 25-second pin. Teammate Matthew Thurston of Plains had a 31-second pin and finished in fourth place in the 103-pound weight class. John Waterbury, also a Hot Springs grappler, took second place in the 152-pound weight class and chalked up a 7:58-minute pin. Jermyn said he had four wins and one loss.

Gabe Rasmussen, competing in the 182-pound weight class, had a 2:51 pin. Cody West, wrestling at 126 pounds, had a 1:58 pin. Gavin Schrenk, wrestling in the 120-pound class, pinned an opponent in eight minutes and finished in third place.

Plains-Hot Springs has three first time high school wrestlers. Jermyn said that Devin Barnes hasn't wrestled since his eighth grade year. Cody West and Matthew Thurston are both freshmen, but competed with the Plains Little Guy program. Jermyn said that he wants to focus on keeping the kids healthy and motivated. "The rest will come. We still have things like leg riding that we haven't covered yet, but those things are in the practice plan and we'll get there," said Jermyn.

The Plains-Hot Springs team totaled 10 pins over the two days, said Jermyn, who is assisted by Rocky Wagoner, Michael Chenoweth, and first year Hot Springs coach Jesse Uski. "They all wrestled well. This is our first look to see our focus areas," said Jermyn. He added that they have some things to polish, but overall they are in excellent shape. "We're a little rusty on some of the techniques, but that's expected at this point in the year. Now that we've seen the team in action, we'll start building our focus areas for practice. Rocky has done an excellent job setting healthy weight loss goals and timelines for the team," said Jermyn.

Thilmony felt his team made mistakes, but wrestled hard. He said it's a young team and expected to have errors, but it's early in the season. "Our focus will be to get a little better each day and progress throughout the season," said Thilmony, who added that they didn't track pins, but focused on performance. The Blue Hawks have seven first year wrestlers - Weston Block of the 103-pound class, Carson Kenney in the 120-pound weight class, Remy Ryan in the 120-pound class, Chris Schwab in the 145-pound class, and Rowan Ackey in the 170-pound class. The girls first timers include Veronica Vega in the 100-pound weight class, and Alayna Hockhalter in the 145-pound class.

"We need to improve our positioning, mat awareness, and managing stress throughout the match," said Thilmony. The head coach said that overall he's happy with his team's performance. "I thought the girls showed a lot of improvement for the first time out for the season," said Thilmony.

Thompson Falls will host a mixer on Thursday, Dec. 7, at 6 p.m. and will be at the Bob Kinney Classic at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday at Superior. The girls will compete at the Flathead Girls Invite on Saturday, Dec. 9. Plains-Hot Springs will compete at the Superior Mixer on Friday, Dec. 8 and at the Bob Kinney Classic.