Chris Peterson
Havre Daily News
cpeterson@havredailynews.com
The Havre High wrestling team went on the road to face another set of challenges at the Cut Bank Invitational, and the Ponies, as they have all season, put together yet another impressive performance.
Led by five individual champions, the Ponies were able to hold off Conrad to earn the tournament's team championship.
The weekend was highlighted by the performance of freshman Myles Mazurkiewicz, who earned honors for Outstanding Wrestler. He defeated Cameron Overcast of Chinook with a pin in 3:16 to give him the individual title for the 105-pound weight class.
“The kids wrestled pretty well,” HHS head coach Scott Filius said. “Myles has been wrestling well and he went out and beat a defending state champion and some other tough kids. It's nice to see, because most of the time freshmen don't wrestle as well as Myles has so far this year.”
Mike Hipple defeated two-time defending state champion Brandon Stedman with a 7-4 decision to earn the title in the 119-pound weight class, capping off his first tournament after being injured at the Havre Invite.
Beau LaSalle returned to action after sitting out the Cut Bank duals. He defeated Matt Finley of Chinook by a 6-1 decision to earn the 130-pound individual title, keeping him undefeated on the season.
In the 275-pound weight class, Matt Schnittgen of Havre continued his dominance over the competition. He pinned Rei Saito of Cut Bank to add another individual title to his already impressive resume.
At 171 pounds, the Ponies' Evan Hinebauch also remained undefeated, winning the individual title with a 10-7 decision over Tony May of Frenchtown.
“We had some good competition,” Filius said. “Although it is not as good as it has been in past years, the kids that wrestled in the finals were all very good.”
“It was good to see Mike Hipple win in his first tournament back,” Filius added. “And Schnittgen, LaSalle, Hinebauch and Hipple are all undefeated so far this year.”
Even though the Ponies captured the team title, it was not without a stiff challenge from Conrad, as the Ponies earned a 27-point victory. However, when it was all said and done Conrad just did not quite have the depth to be able to knock off the Ponies.
“Conrad provided a good test for us,” Filius said. “They moved some kids around and they really wrestled hard. They are going to be one of the teams to be in Class B-C this year.”
In addition to their five individual champions, the Ponies had eight other wrestlers in the top six of the tournament, led by Loren Mack. He earned a second-place finish after he was defeated by Ryan Leonard of Cascade-Simms by pin in the 112-pound weight class.
Ryan Shelstad took third in the 105-pound weight class by winning an 8-3 decision over Shane Bykamen of Shelby.
Cody Seely pinned Mike Miller of Chinook in 2:57 to earn a third-place finish in the 215-pound weight class.
Nate Harada and Chad Ranes finished fourth in the 130-pound and 119-pound weight class, respectively.
Philip Sutherland finished fifth in the 140-pound weight class. Justin McLeod finished fifth in the 135-pound weight class, and Chris Recio finished sixth at 98 pounds. Overall it was another solid weekend from the Ponies, who are getting good contributions from everyone and developing good depth that will be nice to have going down the stretch.
“There are still some things that we need to do better, such as doing a better job of getting out from the bottom and wrestling better in the final 20 seconds of matches,” Filius said.
“We have a lot of kids who are wrestling well and as a result we are getting to be two and three deep in every weight class. The freshmen are wrestling well. It's kind of hard because you always want to make them better and better. But when I stand back and look at how they are coming along, I am pretty pleased,” he added.
The Ponies are back in action Friday when they travel to the Cowboy Invitational in Miles City.
Cut Bank Invite
TEAM SCORES
Havre 258, Conrad 231, Frenchtown 183, Glasgow 150, Fairfield 135, Malta 128.5, Cascade-Simms 118, Choteau 114, Cut Bank 109, Columbia Falls 106.5, Shelby 100.5, Fort Benton 98, Harlem 93, Chinook 86.5, Mission-Charlo 81.5, Lewistown 74, Eureka 69.5, Boulder 46, Great Falls High JV 36.5, Valier 34, Chester 17, CMR JV 16, Missoula Loyola 12, Highwood (Alberta) 7, Big Sandy 6, Browning 4, Cut Bank JV 4, Noxon 0
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCHES
98-Chad Hansen, Ftw, dec. Scott Schlosser, Con, 5-3; 105-Myles Mazurkiewicz, Hav, pinned Cameron Overcast, Chi, 3:16; 112-Ryan Leonard, Cas-Simms, pinned Lorren Mack, Hav, 1:16; 119-Mike Hipple, Hav, dec. Brandon Stedman, Ftw, 7-4; 125-Beau LaSalle, Hav, dec. Matt Finley, Chi, 6-1; 130-Leo Pattison, Glas, dec. Jacob Schlosser, Con, 4-2; 135-Colby Johnson, Con, by tech fall over Wyatt Shipp, Glas, 5:40; 140-Thad Zempel, Con, pinned Michael Hader, Cfalls, 1:35; 145-Daniel Madel, Cho, dec. Gatlin Paine, Eureka, 11-5; 152-Trent Zempel, Con, dec. Ross Mosher, Chot, 6-3; 160-Michael French, Mal, pinned Jake Bosley, Mis-Charlo, 1:06; 171-Evan Hinebauch, Hav, dec. Tony May, Ffd, 10-7; 189-Tyler French, Mal, dec. Alex Calvi, Ctb, 4-3; 215-Logan Tweet, Ftb, pinned Jun Saito, Ctb, 1:27; Hwt-Matt Schnittgen, Hav, pinned Rei Saito, Ctb, 3:33
THIRD-FOURTH PLACE
98-Ryan Shelstad, Hav, dec. Shane Bykonen, She, 8-3; 105-Josh Stedman, Ftw, dec. Jared Giard, Con, 7-6; 112-Bryce Gernaat, Con, dec. Brandan Zarn, Chi, 5-1; 119-Cody Kolodejchuk, Cfalls, dec. Chad Ranes, Hav, 6-0; 125-Dylan Isakson, Cho, pinned Paul Clark, Cas-Simms, 3:24; 130-Corey Pete, Cfalls, dec. Nate Harada, Hav, 1-0; 135-Ethan May, Ffd, pinned Bryce Stacy, Eureka, 2:35; 140-TJ Wanken, Shel, dec. Joe Shipp, Glas, 6-2; 145-Preston O'Haire, Cas-Simms, dec. Cole Plouffe, Gla, 8-1; 152-Myles Kittleson, Gla, dec. Brock Hodgkiss, Cho, 5-1; 160-Alex LeFurgey, Ftb, pinned Greg Stuart, Con, 3:59; 171-Joey Lopez, Ftw, pinned Todd Allen, Har, 2:00; 189-Chris Tacke, Ffd, dec. Nick Weller, Ftw, 7-4; 215-Cody Seely, Hav, pinned Mike Miller, Chi, 2:57; Hwt-Ethan Tweet, Ftb, dec. Logan Sims, Mal, 1-0
FIFTH-SIXTH PLACE
98-Chase Dirden, Har, pinned Chris Recio, Hav, 3:30; 105-Zach Snider, Har, dec. Dillon Martini, Bou, 5-3; 112-Xennie Kirkendahl, Eur, pinned Josh Christiansen, Mis-Charlo, 1:19; 119-Logan Erickson, Con, by forfeit over Cory Martini, Boul; 125-Ted Colburn, Mal, by injury default over Beau Nordahl, Ftw; 132-Donnie Ferrin, Ffd, by injury default over Josh Henderson, Ftw; 135-Justin McLeod, extra, by disqualification over Kyle Sweeney, Lew; 140-Phillip Sutherland, Hav, pinned Ryan Faltt, Mal, 2:43; 145-Isaac Houston, Ftw, pinned David McDonough, She, 3:59; 152-Clinton Dean, Val, pinned Jared Pankratz, Mal, 1:37; 160-Brent Thacker, She, pinned Mitche McIntyre, Gla, 3:44; 171-Raymond DeBruycker, Cho, pinned Matt Sauter, Cas-Simms, 2:00; 189-Mitch Ritchey, Lew, by default over Brian Mitchell, Mis-Charlo; 215-Wes Bently Har, pinned Jesse Woodward, Cas-Simms, 1:34; Hwt-JD Olsen, Cas-Simms, pinned Ryan Buswell, Ftw, :49
