Cut Bank is one of many Blue Pony stomping grounds

Over the years, the Havre High wrestling team has racked up a lot victories. But in the grand scheme of things, there is probably no place where the Blue Ponies have won more often than Cut Bank.

The Ponies, who are the five-time defending Class A state champions, will look to win the Cut Bank Invitational for the 16th time in a row this weekend. The two-day tournament will get underway Friday in Cut Bank and will conclude with the finals Saturday.

"It means that we come out of the break ready to go," HHS head coach Scott Filius said of his team's success at the tournament which is held annually in the first part of January. "We have got lucky a few times."

When the Ponies won the Cut Bank title last season, luck had nothing to do with it. Havre had 11 individuals place, with seven reaching the finals. Five won individual titles at the meet a year ago and three of those champions, Martin Wilkie, Quinn Reno and Lane Paulson will return to defend their titles.

In addition to Wilkie, Reno and Paulson, a slew of other Havre wrestlers will return to the mats in Cut Bank after placing in the meet a season ago such as Ryan Stewart, Cameron Pleninger, Mason Dionne and Austin Ratliff.

Havre will have its entire roster of wrestlers in action at the meet. thers to watch are Tyler Schaub, Connor Harris, Mark Ramirez and Mick Chagnon, who have all wrestled well to start the season. In the most recent Class A rankings, Schaub is ranked No. 1 in the 205-pound weight class, joining Wilkie, who is the top-ranked wrestler at 145 pounds.

Chagnon, a freshman, is No. 2 at 103 pounds, and Pleninger, a sophomore is in the same spot at 113 pounds. Reno and Stewart were ranked second and third at 120 pounds in the last poll, followed by fourth-ranked Ramirez at 126 pounds. Paulson is also ranked fourth at 138 pounds. Harris (152) and Dionne (160) were both ranked third, and Ratliff was fifth among the heavyweights.

Another wrestler to watch this weekend for Havre is one who isn't ranked and hasn't even wrestled yet this season, and that's Jazz Schroeder, who Filius said is expected to make his season debut Friday.

"I think that this will be his first tournament back," Filius said. "We look forward to seeing Jazz on the mat."

In addition to having 11 wrestlers ranked, the Ponies were also the top-ranked team in the recent Class A poll, but that was before they were beaten handily by third-ranked Sidney, 48-12, in a dual between the two teams Dec. 21.

There will be around 20 teams competing in Cut Bank, but only two will be from Class A and that's Havre and Browning, and only two are ranked in their respective polls, Malta and Havre. Great Falls High and CMR are sending junior varsity teams. Kalispell, which has competed at the tournament in the past, also will not attend. Host Cut Bank will be one team gunning for the Ponies, along with other traditional foes such as Glasgow, Chinook, Choteau and Malta, which just happens to be the only team from the Class B-C poll in attendance.

"It's a lot like our tournament," HHS head coach Scott Filius said. "Kalispell has come in the past and they aren't coming. You will have a lot of the schools from along the Hi-Line, and it's kind of a nice tournament from that aspect."

Certainly, Filius and the Ponies want to win another team title in Cut Bank, but more than that the head coach wants to see how his team responds from its recent setback.

"I would hope that it's a wakeup call," Filius said of the loss. "I guess we will find out. But I think the kids are ready."

With the Class A state tournament still more than a month away (Feb. 9-10), Filius said it's too early to think about the stretch run and that the focus remained on improvement, which his team will get a chance to do Friday and Saturday in Cut Bank.

"Right now, we are still just trying to get better," Filius said. "We are still a good six weeks from the stretch run, so we have about three weeks or so before we need to start worrying about February."