HHS grapplers roll to another Cut Bank Invitational mat title

As the Havre High wrestling team gets further into its season, the progress keeps showing up. That was the case over the weekend when the Blue Ponies reopened their season after the holiday break with another tough tournament.

Friday and Saturday the Central A Ponies were in Cut Bank for the 44th annual Cut Bank Invitational. And after leading the field after Friday's action with 131.5 points, the Ponies won the team title with a grand total of 279 points. The Ponies were crowned champions with four individual title winners, including Thomas Gruber (130), Eli Hinebauch (152), Kameron Pribyl (160) and Grant Pattison (171).

Following Havre was No. 2 Choteau (173), No. 3 Cascade-Simms (158.5), No. 3 Conrad (158.5) and No. 4 Great Falls High junior varsity (148.5), closing out the top team finishers.

The Ponies took on some top talent on route to a team title.

Gruber earned a 12-5 decision over Malta's Chris Doney to earn his individual title, and Hinebauch earned a 12-2 major decision over Glasgow's Ryan Bergtoll in his. Pribyl pinned Cole Werdal of Choteau in 1:01 and Pattison pinned Lucas Schultz of Conrad in 2:41 in the finals.

But the Ponies also had a handful of grapplers reach the championship round, just coming short of a title.

Grayson Brenna (98) fell to Maestro Martinez of Wolf Point and Kolton Lodge (285) was pinned by Cody Nelson of Shelby. Casey Schaub reached the championship round again, but ran into the always tough Ben Stroh of Chinook. Schaub was pinned in 2:32.

HHS also had three wrestlers make it into the third-fourth place matches, earning three No. 4 finishes. Dillon Seely (140) lost by way of a 9-2 decision and Jordan Schroeder was defeated 13-4 by Chester/J-I's Leonard Pugsley. Dustin Odegard (215) had another solid weekend, but fell to Roberto Smith from the Great Falls High in 2:49.

The Ponies have another short turnaround, getting back on the road Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Thursday the Ponies will face CMR in Great Falls, and Friday and Saturday, the Ponies will compete in the Missoula Invite in Missoula.

TEAM SCORES

1. Havre 279; 2. Choteau 173; 3t. Cascade-Simms 158.5; 3t. Conrad 158.5; 5. GFH JV 148.5; 6. Fergus 137; 7. Harlem 117; 8. Glasgow 98.5; 9. Fort Benton 90. 10t. Chinook 88; 10t. Cut Bank 88; 12. Lincoln County 74; 13. Fairfield 73.5; 14. Malta 63; 15. Wolf Point 62; 16. Browning 53.5; 17. Chester/Joplin-Inverness 53; 18. Whitefish 47; 19. CMR JV 42; 20. Jefferson 36; 21. Shelby 33; 22. Poplar 26.5; 23. Big Sandy 15; 24. Heart Butte 6; 25. Highwood (Alta) 4.

1st-2nd place

98—Maestro Martinez WPT pinned Grayson Brenna HAV 3:37; 105—Shay Snider HAR maj. dec. Garrett White LIN 11-2; 112—Teague Jones HAR dec. Kylan Berkram CTB 4-3; 119—Luke Schlosser CON pinned Kris Whitish CSS 1:55; 125—Jerine Granot FER dec. Caylor Jacobsen FFD 7-2; 130—Thomas Gruber HAV dec. Chris Doney MAL 12-5; 135—Destin Wassmann GFH JV pinned Christian Smith CSS 1:09; 140—Luke Zeiger GLA pinned Cole Mendenhall GFH JV 5:52; 145—Jim Malone FER maj. dec. Layne Durfee CHO 17-9; 152—Eli Hinebauch HAV maj. dec. Ryan Bergtoll GLA 12-2; 160—Kameron Pribyl HAV pinned Cole Werdal CHO 1:01; 171—Grant Pattison HAV pinned Lucas Schultz CON 2:41; 189—Ben Stroh CHI pinned Casey Shaub HAV 2:32; 215—Jorrell Jones CHI dec. Owen DeBruycker CHO 7-3; 285—Cody Nelson SHL pinned Kolton Lodge HAV 5:32.

3rd-4th place

98—Robert Rhodes FFD maj. dec. Slade Martinez WPT REN 13-4; 105—Reid VandenBos CTB pinned Morgan Koenig CON 4:17; 112—Zach Durden LIN pinned Clancy Ludvigson CSS 2:06; 119—Travis Vermulm CTB dec. Nikko Bakkila LIN 5-0; 125—Riley DeBruycker FTB maj. dec. Drew Floerchinger CSS 15-4; 130—Perry Woodland CSS dec. Garrett Moritz CON 6-4; 135—Colt Harris CON pinned Garrett Horsman WPT 1:56; 140—John Chamberlain FER dec. Dillon Seely HAV 9-2; 145—Leonard Pugsley CJI maj. dec. Jordan Schroeder HAV 13-4; 152—Brandon Ereaux FTB pinned Tony Lightner CHO 4:43; 160—Riley Trindle FTB dec. Travis Austin GLA 5-1; 171—Jake French CHO dec. Cord Anderson CHI REN 3-2; 189—Jack Clark CHO pinned Rob Smartnick JEF 1:50; 215—Roberto Smith GFH JV pinned Dustin Odegard HAV 2:49; 285—Seth Adams HAR pinned Shalon Norick CJI 2:58.