Passing the Torch: Ponies aren't going away

Billings — Any time the Havre High wrestling team heads to the Rimrock Auto Arena in Billings, great things happen.

This past weekend, the Blue Ponies won their fifth consecutive team championship and crowned five individual champions. Parker Filiius and Jase Stokes each became the first four-time champions in school history and Havre lapped the field, winning by 136.5 points.

It was truly a performance for the ages. Faced with mounting pressure to make history, Filius and Stokes delivered in ways only they can. But in case you missed it, they were far from the only Pony wrestlers to acquit themselves well on the big stage.

Certainly, the focus was on Filius and Stokes, as it should have been. They earned it. They put in the time and the work and forged their own destinies. Being a four-time state champ is one of the hardest things to do in wrestling, and the standing ovations both got Saturday night were well-deserved. But as both put the finishing touches on their legacies, one thought kept creeping in my mind and it was in terms of being a dynasty.

Havre wrestling is far from finished.

And with a number of young, talented wrestlers on the roster, along with one of the winningest coaches in Montana wrestling history, as well as a staff that does as good a job as any at developing talent, the run the Ponies have been on won’t end anytime soon.

“The thing about our program is that we have fun,” Long-time assistant coach and former Havre wrestler Cliff Springer said. “We get to teach these kids accountability, responsibility and how to be good humans. And along the way, they get to learn this great sport of wrestling.”

While Springer’s words may seem like classic coach speak, when it comes to Havre wrestling, his words absolutely ring true. The Ponies don’t just train their wrestlers to be great athletes and competitors, they teach them how to be men.

That’s why, when things get tough, when the pressure is on and when the lights are brightest, they always seem to deliver. It’s also why, year after year, the Ponies’ young wrestlers seem poised beyond their years.

And there was no better example of that than this past weekend. Certainly, Filius, Stokes and Dane Flammond performed on the big stage with the cold-blooded efficiency you’d expect from seniors. They have been there and done that. What you don’t expect is to see freshmen handle that same stage with the composure and mental toughness that Havre’s youngsters did at the Metra.

Whether it was freshmen Quinn Reno and Cameron Pleninger who met in the 103-pound final or other freshmen such as Connor Harris or Mason Dionne, who battled through the wrestle backs to get third, it was still the Blue Pony way.

“I think our coaches do a good job of preparing us,” Harris said. “We have been working with coach Filius for a long time and he works us hard so we are ready for these moments.”

Dionne, who lost in the semifinals Saturday morning, then turned around and won three consecutive matches to take third, pushed through fatigue, in part, because he was trained to.

“Coach Filius, he has us running all the time,” Dionne said. “He makes sure that we are in really good shape and he pushes us hard, but (Saturday) it paid off. It prepared me.”

Yet according to Filius, it’s not just the coaches who mentor the young wrestlers, it’s the upperclassmen and the seniors too.

“I thought our older kids did a great job this year with their leadership,” Filius said. “They are ready to move on, but before they did, they also did a hell of a job working with these younger kids. Now, they are ready to pass the torch to them and move on.”

The big storyline from the weekend was obvious, it was Parker Filius and Stokes making Havre High wrestling history. But if you look a little deeper, the other story was how this freshsmen class, along with the sophomores came of age.

“They really did,” coach Filius said. “The first part of the year, some of those guys got knots on their heads. But the second half of the year, they came around and really did a great job.”

With Stokes, Filius and Flammond all graduating, it was time to pass the torch, time for someone else to carry the program.

Martin Wilkie, a two-time state champion after Saturday and Reno, who won his first the same day, are logical choices as both have chances to be four-timers now. And with others such as Pleninger, Lane Paulson, Dionne and Harris, who all finished in the top three, as well the return of Ryan Stewart and Tyler Schaub, who will be seniors next year, the days of Havre dominating aren’t ending anytime soon.

And if people think Havre’s dynasty is going away, just because two of the best wrestlers to have put on a Blue Pony singlet are now gone, Wilkie had a message for them

“We are just getting started,” he said as a smile crept across his face.

After the past weekend’s performance, it’s hard to argue with him.