Blue Pony matmen finish the regular season in Malta

As hard as it might be to believe, the Havre High wrestling team will close out its regular season schedule at the Malta Invitational Saturday.

With the regular season coming to a close, the Blue Ponies are hoping to end things the right way as they are about to begin their final preparations for the postseason, starting with the Eastern A Divisional tournament next Saturday in Miles City.

"We are going to take everybody to Malta this weekend, even though in the past we have held some kids out," HHS head coach Beau LaSalle said. "We might hold a couple of guys back who just need to watch their match count with divisionals next week but some of our guys that have been sick or have been hurt, we need to get them some match experience and get them back out there before divisionals."

Over the years, the Ponies have dominated this tournament like they have dominated others on their schedule such as in Cut Bank. Last season, Havre rolled to another team title in Malta with 181 points thanks to six individual champions.

Four of the wrestlers that won individual championships in Malta last season are back on the team this season and can defend their titles this weekend are Martin Wilkie (145), Mike Chagnon (103), Cameron Pleninger (120) and Austin Ratliff (205). Ratliff won the title in the heavyweight division last season and he will look to do the same this year in the 205-pound weight class.

Ratliff, who also won an individual title at the Havre Invite earlier this season, has been on a tear recently, knocking off a top-five wrestler from Class A in his weight class in back-to-back weeks. A first place this week could help him carry the momentum that he has built into divisionals, which is something others such as Wilkie, Chagnon, Pleninger and Connor Harris would like to do too.

Another wrestler that did well in Malta last season was Lane Paulson, who recently committed to wrestle at Montana State University-Northern starting next fall. But in recent weeks, Paulson hasn't been 100 percent healthy and is one of the guys, along with Taylor Gopher, that LaSalle wants to try and get some work before the postseason gets underway.

In terms of competition, Glasgow might be the toughest team there for Havre, however, the tournament will also feature the host team Malta, as well as other teams from the Hi-Line such as Chinook and Cut Bank.

"It's a good warmup tournament for divisionals," LaSalle said. "The bracket isn't as deep, but there are always at least one or two good matches in each and more depending on how good each weight class is. So it's a good meet for us this week"

The Ponies will wrap up their regular season Saturday in Malta. The Eastern A Divisional tournament is set for next Saturday with the Class A state meet to follow the next week in Billings.