By Harvey Brock
The Havre Blue Pony wrestling team successfully began its 2002 campaign Friday and Saturday.
The Ponies opened the season Friday with a convincing 57-21 dual meet win over Livingston and easily won their own invitational on Saturday.
Havre outdistanced second-place Browning by nearly 100 team points. It placed eight grapplers in Saturday's tournament, and seven went on to win and take first place. Jeff Hedges, Jacob Szudera, K.P. Fisher, Garrett Hanson and Mike Schnittgen each pinned their opponent in the finals.
Havre coach Scott Filius said he was pleased with his team's overall performance.
"The kids wrestled hard, especially the young kids," Coach Filius said. "I thought they showed a lot of heart. We're not in shape yet but we're not supposed to be at this time of the season."
Drew Harlow, a transfer from Browning who placed first at 125, drew praise from the Havre coach. "We knew he was good. We just didn't know he was that good," Filius said.
Filius also said he was grateful for the work of the 20-plus volunteers who helped put on the tournament. "Putting on a tournament takes a lot of work. We couldn't do it without the help we always get," he said.
Chinook's wrestlers, who were sparked by first-place finishes from Clayton Parsons and Eric Hinebauch, placed third in the team standings with 159 team points.
The Havre Blue Ponies will next be in action at the Mining City Duals this weekend in Butte.
The following are the team results and individual results from the Havre Invitational Wrestling Meet:
Team Standings: 1. Havre 270; 2. Browning 161; 3. Chinook 159; 4. Lewistown 144.5; 5. Malta 116; 6. Belgrade 107.5; 7. Shelby 86; 8. Unattached wrestlers 81; 9. Chester 50; 10. Butte Central 42; 11. Valier 38; 12. Rocky Boy 36.
Individual Standings:
105 1. Clayton Parsons, Chinook; 2. Mike Rutherford, Browning; 3. Cody McBride, Shelby.
112 1. Jeff Hedges, Havre; 2. Ben Winney, Shelby; 3. Curt Solberg, Shelby.
118 1. Lance Haser, Malta; 2. Kris Parsons, Chinook; 3. Steve Watson, Shelby.
125 1. Drew Harlow, Havre; 2.Jeremy Painter, Chinook; 3. Austin Anderson, Butte Central.
130 1. Chad Hedges, Havre; 2. Geoff White, Browning; 3. Kyle Wellman, Valier.
135 1. Casey McDonald, Browning; 2. Derek Davis, Malta; 3. Greg Leyba, Havre.
140 1. Wayne French, Malta; 2. Phil Rinaldi, Lewistown; 3. Adam Jensen, Havre.
145 1. Jacob Szudera, Havre; 2. Jesse Scheffelmear, Lewistown; 3. Jerry Racine, Browning.
152 1. Eric Hinebauch, Chinook; 2. Chad Zuelke, Havre; 3. Calvin Juneau, Browning.
160 1. K.P. Fisher, Havre; 2. Thomas Maddox, Chinook; 3. Paul Reishus, Havre.
171 1. Garrett Hanson, Havre; 2. Mike Burns, Browning; 3. Grant Terry, Lewistown.
189 1. Jake Kallestad, Belgrade; 2. Danny Skoyen, Chinook; 3. Matt Humphries, Lewistown.
HWT 1. Mike Schnittgen, Havre; 2. Carl Flesch, Shelby; 3. Russell Liss, Belgrade.
The following are the results from the Havre dual meet with Livingston. Havre won the dual meet 57-21.
98 Cody Burdick (Livingston) won by forfeit
105 Jeff Hedges won by forfeit
112 Scott Sheppard lost to Lance Wilson 7-4
119 David Cross won by forfeit
125 Drew Harlow pinned Matt Detton in 4:30
130 Chad Hedges pinned D.J. Simpson in 21 seconds
135 Greg Leyba pinned Ryan Holland in 3:36
140 Adam Jensen won by forfeit
145 Jacob Szudera lost to Shad Albrect 9-6
152 Chad Zuelke pinned Dallas Hillman in 1:24
160 K.P. Fisher defeated Shawn Huravitch 7-3
171 Garrett Hanson pinned Guy Seely in 1:10
189 Nick Johnson was pinned by Jake Jesson in 1:36
HWT Mike Schnittgen pinned Keil Kovasn in 45 seconds
