Chris Peterson Havre Daily News cpeterson@havredailynews.com
Opening the season as the defending Class A state champions is nothing new to the Havre High Wrestling team, and this past weekend at the HHS gymnasium, the Ponies gave us all a reason to remember why they are the state champions. Havre had seven wrestlers take home individual honors in their respective weight classes, as the Ponies rolled the team championship of the Havre Invitational with a team total of 325.5 points compared to 127 for runner-up Lewistown and 112 for third-place Chinook. “All in all, I was very pleased with the way that the kids competed.” HHS head coach Scott Filius said. “It’s kind of hard to judge just how good you are because there aren’t many teams, but this weekend is more about young kids and getting them some valuable experience.” HHS swept through the lower weights, capturing individual titles at 98 pounds, 112 pounds, 119 pounds, 125 pounds and 130 pounds, as well as titles at 152 pounds and 171 pounds. Duell Streadle captured the title at 98 pounds with an 18-6 decision over Zach Damby of Lewistown. Junior Chris Recio pinned Clayton Vermulm of Cut Bank in 4:43 to win the title in the 112-pound weight class. Ryan Shelstad captured the title at 119 pounds by pinning Shane Bykonen of Shelby in 3:17. At 125 pounds, there was an all- Havre final as Loren Mack pinned freshmen Kristian Honadel in 1:08 to win the title. At 130 pounds, Mlyes Mazurkiewicz pinned Willie Willer of Chinook in :57 to win the title. The Ponies' two other individual champions were Ethan Hinebauch, who won the 152-pound title by way of an 11-3 decision over fellow Pony Aaron Olsen, and, at 171 pounds, Curtis Shandorf, who pinned Kurt Zubach from Browning in just 31 seconds. Sophomores Kent Pattison and Mitch Schnittgen also put together impressive performances at the meet, each finishing second in their respective weight classes. Pattison lost a 10-4 decision to Class A champion Ryan Martin of Lewistown to finish second at 135 pounds. And at 275 pounds, Schnittgen finished second after Willy Wells of Browning pinned him in 5:37. Other Havre wrestlers that placed in the meet included, Layne Waid, who took third at 119 pounds, Brett Normandy, who finished fourth at 112 pounds, Chad Ranes, who was third at 140 pounds and Terry Ceynar, who finished fourth at 130 pounds. Rio Costa, Phillip Sutherland, Paul Jensen and Michael Odegard also finished third at 152 pounds, 160 pounds, 189 pounds and 215 pounds, respectively. Cody Johnson of Havre also notched a fourth-place finish in the 145-pound weight class. “I think that this weekend is about the younger kids like Rio Costa, Kristian Honadel, Duel Steadle and a lot of others,” Filus said. “It got them a lot of good mat experience, which is really important. Kent Pattison also had a great weekend. He competed against some very good competition in the semifinals and the finals and he showed a lot of heart.” Chinook finished a solid third at the meet, thanks in large part to an individual title at 145 pounds by Robert Stroh, who pinned Jeremiah Hayes of Shelby in 1:42. Other Chinook wrestlers who placed in the top four included Connlin Brown, who was second at 189 pounds; Matt Chapman and Jimmy Miller finished third for the Beeters at 130 pounds and 171 pounds, respectively. Nolan Overcast finished fourth for the Beeters in the 125-pound weight class. Tyler Cook of Big Sandy finished second in the 160-pound weight class. Corey Halter of Big Sandy also had a solid weekend, finishing fourth in the 140-pound weight class. Havre wrestlers will be back in action on Thursday when they dual Butte Central and Belgrade in Butte, followed by the Mining City Duals in Butte on Friday and Saturday.
