Trophy Time: Blue Ponies begin their annual postseason march to glory

These past few months, the Havre High wrestling team has undoubtedly performed at an extremely high level.

But that was the regular season. The Eastern A Divisional comes this Saturday in Glendive, with the Class A state meet to follow next weekend. That means it’s time for the Blue Ponies to take their game to the next level, and there is no question that the four-time defending state champions are ready to do just that.

“I think the kids are looking forward to the conclusion,” HHS head coach Scott Filius said. “They have put in a good season of work. There have been some ups and a few downs, but I think they are looking forward to putting on a show.”

The Ponies rolled to the Eastern A title in the first instance of the super-divisional format last year in Havre and are a heavy favorites to repeat.

Yet, there will still be some solid competition in the form of Sidney, Laurel, Lewistown and Hardin.

“I would say Sidney had a nice bunch down at the Class A duals,” Filius said. “Laurel competes well, Hardin competes well, those three and Lewistown are probably the four teams I would look at. But you have to remember you are going into someone else’s house (Glendive), and they are going to want to put some knots in your head.”

However, just because the team competition may not be a nail-biter doesn’t mean the tournament isn’t important. As individuals, wrestlers need to finish in the top eight to get to state and the higher you finish, the better seed you get for the state tournament.

“There isn’t much for team depth,” Filius said. “But you have to go to divisionals and make sure that you get yourself set up for state. The higher you get seeded out of your divisional, the better your seed is at the state tournament.”

In all, Havre will bring 16 wrestlers with them to Glendive and four of them will be defending divisional championships as Parker Filius (145), Martin Wilkie (126), Dane Flammond (160) and Jase Stokes (205) will all be in action. Tyler Schaub, a defending individual state champion, was second at divisionals a season ago, while Ryan Stewart, who will wrestle at 113 pounds Saturday, was third. Lane Paulson was the other returning wrestler to place at divisionals last year, as he finished sixth.

Beyond its seven individuals returning who placed last season, the Ponies will have a slew of other contenders in action including both Quinn Reno and Cameron Pleninger at 103 pounds, Connor Harris at 138 pounds, Mason Dionne at 152 pounds and Jared Sienkowski in the heavyweight division.

The rest of the lineup for HHS will include Marc Ramirez at 113 pounds, Shawn Sullivan at 126 pounds, Taylor Gopher at 170 pounds and Austin Ratliff at 205 pounds.

In addition to Sidney, Lewistown, Hardin and Laurel, Havre will also contend with Glendive, Billings Central, Miles City, Browning, Belgrade and Livingston for the team crown.

The goal for the Ponies beyond winning the team title, will be advancing as many of its 16 wrestlers to the state tournament as possible. Parker Filius, Stokes, Wilkie, Flammond, Schaub, Stewart and Paulson have all made previous trips to state, but Sienkowski, Reno, Pleninger, Ramirez, Sullivan, Harris, Dionne, Gopher and Ratliff will all be looking to punch their ticket for the first time.

“I think we have a good chance to get most of them,” Filius said. “But, yeah, that’s the goal is to try and get all those kids through to the state tournament.”

The Eastern A Divisional wrestling meet will get underway Saturday morning in Glendive. The top eight wrestlers in each weight will advance to next week's Class A state tournament in, which, as always, will be in Billings.