Pony matmen extend their reign in Cut Bank

The Havre High wrestling team knows a thing or two about winning the Cut Bank Invitational, and Saturday, they proved it once again by winning their 14th consecutive team title there.

The Blue Ponies racked up 235.5 points over the course of the two-day tournament and ended up beating out Kalispell Flathead for the team title by a healthy margin. Flathead was second with 198 points, while Eureka was third with 196. Chinook also finished seventh with 114 points.

“It was a good weekend,” HHS head coach Scott Filius said. “The kids went down and wrestled really well, so I was pleased with that. We had kids in 10 weights, because we are open in three weights, and we scored points in all 10 weights, so you can’t do better than that.”

Havre’s effort was spurred on by its three individual champions, Logan Pleninger, who won the 132-pound weight class, Parker Filius, who took first at 152 pounds and Travis Adams, who won the heavyweight division.

Filius took home the title with a technical fall over Alex Wickins of Lewistown, while Pleninger won a 5-2 decision over Cole Giles of Fairfield/Simms. Adams won his championship match by pinning Justin Pfeifer of Cut Bank in 3:47.

In addition to three first-place finishers, the Ponies had four other wrestlers that reached the finals and settled for second. Martin Wilkie finished second at 120 pounds after falling to Trae Vasquez by way of a 15-1 decision. At 160 pounds, Dane Flammond lost a 6-0 decision to Taner Stone of Choteau to finish second, while Jase Stokes lost a 3-2 decision to Steeler French of Choteau to also place second at 182 pounds. And at 205 pounds, Tyler Schuab was a runner-up after losing 7-5 to Hunter Mycke of Conrad.

“Jase lost a tough match to French,” Coach Filius said. “He had a call go against him right at the end, but he will get another chance to see him here in a couple weeks.”

When the tournament was all said and done, Havre had a total of 10 wrestlers that managed to place as Ryan Stewart finished third at 113 pounds, while Jazz Schroeder and Jared Sienkowski finished sixth at 145 pound and heavyweight, respectively.

“I was really pleased with all of my young kids,” Filius said. “From my sophomores on down, they all did a great job.”

Chinook also had an impressive performance at the meet as Tate Niederegger won an individual title at 138 pounds. Ken Pruttis also finished third at 170 pounds, while Derek Bell was fourth at 160 pounds, as was Jesse Dannels, who was fourth at 192 pounds. Kevin Young also ended up sixth for the Sugarbeeters at 205 pounds.

The Ponies will be back in action this weekend when they will take part in one of the most highly-anticipated meets of the year in the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula. The tournament will take place Friday and Saturday.

“I think that right now we are hitting on all cylinders,” Filius said. “We have some finals and things coming up for school, so we will need to ease off a little bit, but we feel good about where we are at and we are excited for next weekend.”

Cut Bank Invitational

Team scores – 1. Havre 235.5, 2. Flathead 198.5, 3. Eureka. 196, 4. Choteau 147.5, 5. Glasgow 145, 6. Fairfield-Simms 114, 7. Chinook 114, 8. Fergus 98.5, 9. Cut Bank 91, 10. Whitefish 88

Championship matches

103: Chase DeBoo, Choteau d. Hunter Rush, Flathead, 1-0; 113: Matt Reyling, Glasgow p. Cody DeVall, Flathead, 5:11; 120: Trae Vasquez, Flathead md. Martin Wilkie, Havre, 15-1; 126: Trevor Moore, Choteau d. Trey Simanton, Malta, 13-6; 132: Logan Pleninger, Havre d. Cole Giles, FairfieldSimms, 5-2; 138: Tate Neideregger, Chinook d. Dawson Peterman, Fairfield-Simms, 5-3; 145: Cody King, Glasgow p. Connor DeBruycker, Ft Benton/Big Sandy, 2:51; 152: Parker Filius, Havre tf. Alex Wickins, Fergus, 5:51; 160: Taner Stone, Choteau d. Dane Flammond, Havre, 6-0; 170: Jace Berkram, Cut Bank d. Garrett Graves, Eureka, 11-5; 182: Steeler French, Choteau d. Jase Stokes, Havre, 3-2; 205: Hunter Mycke, Conrad d. Tyer Schaub, Havre, 7-5; 285: Travis Adams, Havre p. Justin Pfeifer, Cut Bank, 3:47

Third place

103 Gage Hallock, Glasgow p. Trisetan Kemp, Wolf Point, 2:01; 113 Ryan Stewart, Havre d. Bryce Shaffer - FLA, Renegade 1, 4-2; 120 Kahdan Bakkila, Eureka, by Dflt over Caleb Birdwell, Fergus; 126 Jonathan Schmidt, Eureka d. Kasey Seyfert, Glasgow, 13-7; 132 Kenyon Fretwell, Flathead d. Chase Farrar, Fergus, 6-4; 138 James Dunn - LIN, Renegade 1 d. Mick Reyling, Glasgow, 4-2; 145 Cannon Smith, Eureka, by inj. dflt. over Brooks Krause, Whitefish; 152 JR Seewald, Cut Bank p. Jarrett Pecora, Eureka, 2:07; 160 Ben Rauscher, Conrad d. Derek Bell, Chinook, 4-3; 170 Ken Pruttis, Chinook p. Konrad Zinke, Whitefish, 1:10; 182 Logan Wilson, Flathead p. Jesse Dannels, Chinook, 2:35; 205 Antonio Lopez, Malta p. Payton Boyce, Flathead, 5:21; 285 Denver Krone, Choteau d. Kaelan Yanak, Eureka, 3-1

Fifth place

103 – Andrew Paradise, CMR JV Dflt Matt Connelly, Valier; 113 – Pete Henderson, Choteau M-Dec Shane Willekes - CHO, Renegade, 8-0; 120 – Quinn Whitmus, Wolf Point p. Tanner VandenBos, Valier, 1:44; 126 – Isaac Ramos, Valier md. Dillon Thorsteinson, Whitefish, 14-0; 132 – Colton Hillyard - FFS, Renegade 5 md. Keaton Anderson, Cut Bank, 14-3; 138 – Josh Schmidt, Eureka, p. James Buckley, Whitefish, 2:44; 145 – Sam Deffinbaugh, CJI p. Jazz Schroeder, Havre, 4:48; 152 – Jacob Anderson, Fairfield-Simms by fft. over Alex Hallock, Glasgow; 160 – Tucker Nadeau, Flathead md. Chad Landers, Fergus, 11-1; 170 – Matt Gash-Gilder, Flathead p. Anthony Wright - FLA, CJI, :39; 182 – James Slaughter, Fairfield-Simms d. Austyn Sherwood, Eureka, 8-2; 205 – Joe Fehr, Eureka, p. Kevin Young, Chinook, 2:10; 285 – Steven Quimby, Whitefish p. Jared Sienkowski - HAV, Renegade 4, 1:36.