By Rob Everingham
SHELBY - Area Class B/C wrestlers gathered in Shelby this past weekend for the Northern B-C Divisional tournament.
Malta edged out No. 1 Conrad for the team title, 185.5 points to 183.
The Chinook Sugarbeeters finished third with 137.5 points. Big Sandy finished in sixth place with 42 points, while Chester finished right behind the Pioneers with 33 points. The top four finishers in each weight class will advance to next weekend's state tournament at Billings.
At 125 pounds for the 'Beeters, Casey Reid picked up the individual title as he downed Curtis Yarn of Shelby in an 8-0 decision.
Kyle Butcher claimed the individual title for Chinook at 160 pounds as he won a 5-3 decision over Shelby's Bart Benjamin.
Chinook's Mike Maddox finished in second place as he fell 5-3 to Conrad's Eddie Jones at 171 pounds.
At 189 pounds, Josh Miller fell in a 3-1 decision to Lance Spencer of Malta.
Also for Chinook, Ben Parsons finished in third place at 119 pounds. Parsons won by default over Charlie Rohlf of Shelby.
At 130 pounds, Will Haugen of Chinook finished third in a 15-3 major decision over Lucio Zell.
Thomas Maddox came away in fourth place at 135 pounds as he fell to Cut Bank's Brian Schultz.
The 'Beeters final state qualifier was Chris Skoyen who pinned David Higgins of Cut Bank at the 2:35 mark.
Big Sandy picked up individual gold at 140 pounds as Mace Mangold won a 4-0 decision over Bryce Vandenberg.
The Pioneers only other state qualifier was Lance Nelson at 145 pounds. Nelson squared off against Chester's Scott Riggin in the championship. Riggin won the match in a 4-2 decision.
Along with Riggin for the Coyotes, Jeff Martin won a third place medal at 171 pounds as he downed Shelby's Temo Zell in a 7-2 decision.
