Courageous: Beeters win it all for Jesse

BILLINGS — There are times when sports can seem meaningless and insignificant. But this past weekend in Billings was not one of those times.

Of course in the grand scheme of things, there are many things more important than sports. The tragic loss of Jesse Dannels serves as a constant reminder of that. Yet, Friday and Saturday, at the All-Class State wrestling tournament at the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metra in Billings, we got another reminder.

We were reminded how much sports can bring us together; as friends, as family and as a community. The Chinook Sugarbeeter family suffered a truly terrible loss, one for which words can hardly do justice.

In spite of that grief and that sadness, a town, a school and a wrestling team rose above it and somehow, someway, won the Class C state wrestling championship. In impressive fashion, I might add.

The Beeters channeled their feelings. They counted on Jesse’s love for them, their love for Jesse and their love for each other to find strength and go forward, one step at a time.

Some people might think it’s corny to talk about love, but I don’t care because it’s the most powerful force that exists in this world and that power was on full display inside the two-day extravaganza that is state wrestling.

The saying is that love can make you do crazy things, well, when it comes to the Chinook wrestlers, it was more like love helped them do amazing things.

Going into the tournament and before tragedy struck, the Beeters were the heavy favorites to win the state championship. However, after losing Dannels, Chinook was no longer sure of anything.

The only thing that the Beeters knew was that they still wanted to wrestle, they wanted to put that second state championship banner up on the wall for Jesse, and as the tournament wore on we found out just how badly they wanted it.

All five Chinook wrestlers: Tate Niederegger, Derek Bell, Jake Norby, Kenny Pruttis and Kevin Young, said one way or another that they could feel Jesse’s presence with them, both on the mat and off of it. After notching a victory in the 170-pound semifinals Saturday morning, Pruttis said he felt Jesse with him, “every minute of every day.”

Yet, Pruttis and his teammates were not the only ones to feel Jesse’s presence inside the Metra this weekend. And with the posters that showed his smiling face, as well as the T-shirts and armbands that bore his name, Jesse was being honored in many different ways. But most importantly, he was being honored on the mat, by his teammates, who not only wrestled to honor him but did it in a way that paid tribute to everything he stood for.

Leading up to the state tournament and just days after the passing of Dannels, each wrestler on the Chinook team told me how badly they wanted to win the state championship for Jesse and how it was the only thing giving them the fuel to focus and keep wrestling.

And wrestle they did. It wasn’t always easy, many matches were accompanied with tears, both before and after. Sometimes, you could even see the strain that the stress and the grief was having on these young men who were forced to carry a burden they never thought they would have to bear.

In the end, the Beeters achieved what they set out to do. All five wrestlers medaled, each one of them found the podium and two, Pruttis and Niederegger won individual titles. After their victories on finals night, with the entire Metra looking on, both Pruttis and Niederegger pointed up to the sky, acknowledging their fallen comrade.

The way the Beeters handled themselves and the way they competed was not only commendable, it was inspiring. Yet, honestly, knowing these kids as I do and as we all do, none of us should have been surprised by what we saw.

There was always something special about this group of Sugarbeeters. Even before the loss of Jesse, they were known for their toughness, their camaraderie and their unrelenting desire to compete. Now, with this performance, this team will be remembered forever. Chinook has won state championships in wrestling before and there is little doubt that the Beeters will do so again, but none of them will ever be like the one they captured this past weekend.

Of course, winning a state title doesn’t magically wipe away the grief, the pain or the sadness. It won’t bring Jesse back and it won’t fill the void that his passing has left behind. But what it did do, was help the healing process or at least began to.

“We have to come back Monday and we still have to deal with this,” Chinook head coach Perry Miller said. “We are going to have to heal and we are going to have to lean on each other to do it.”

When asked if he thought that state wrestling helped that healing process Miller said. “I think it already has, with Bob and Ruth (Jesse’s parents) coming down here and being with us and being with his team, (Jesse) was here with us. He’s here in our hearts and in our minds. These kids persevered through a very tragic event but only through the love and support of their family, their friends, each other and the wonderful state of Montana that has had an outpouring of love for these kids and the Dannels family. We can’t thank everyone enough.”

Miller’s words, as usual, were right on, with one notable exception. It’s not his team that owes the state of Montana thanks, it’s all of us that owe him and his incredible group of young men a debt of gratitude.

For this past weekend, those five kids taught us lessons of compassion and perseverance. They reminded us about the importance of friendship and family and they proved that when people come together and love each other, without condition or restraint, that anything is possible.

If there was one word that best represented Jesse Dannels, it was love. He loved everyone and everyone loved him and that was never more apparent than it was over two days in Billings that will live on forever in our hearts and in our minds, just as he will.