Ponies dominate Cut Bank mats, again

The Havre High wrestling team has dominated the Cut Bank Invitational for the better part of a decade. And this weekend, the Blue Ponies continued that dominance by capturing their 13th consecutive team title in Cut Bank.

While the Ponies did come out on top during the two-day meet that took place Friday and Saturday this past weekend in Cut Bank, it was not as easy as expected. In fact, there was a time Saturday that Havre actually trailed Kalispell Flathead before the Ponies emerged victorious with 238 points compared to 217 for the second-place Braves. Choteau was third with 191.5 points and Eureka finished fourth with 131 points.

“Kalispell came in and did a nice job. They gave us a good run there and were even ahead of us for a while on Saturday,” HHS head coach Scott Filius said. “But, I was really pleased with the way the kids wrestled. We ended up going 21-4 Saturday and the kids really wrestled lights out, so I was pretty pleased with that.”

HHS was hurt by the fact that it was not able to field a full lineup due to some medical issues with some of the wrestlers. That meant that the Ponies were only able to fill 10 spots in their lineup. Yet, Havre still crowned five individual champions to go along with four other top-six finishers en route to another team title.

The Ponies got their first individual title at 132 pounds from Grayson Brenna, who defeated Tate Niederegger of Chinook by way of a 3-2 decision, in one of the marquee matches of the final day. Niederegger is the top-ranked wrestler in Class B-C and Brenna the same in Class A. Then, Parker Filius earned an individual title at 145 pounds thanks to a pin in 1:35 seconds over Colton McElhinney of the Great Falls High junior varsity team.

At 160 pounds, Jase Stokes notched another first-place finish for Havre after winning by fall over Harlem’s Brenden Johnson in 3:57. Jace Billy also won his weight class at 205 pounds as did Travis Adams in the heavyweight class.

“I was pretty pleased with the way we wrestled,” coach Filius said. “It wasn’t that we wrestled bad on Friday or anything, I just didn’t think we were very sharp. And on Saturday, we came out and we were sharp. The kids wrestled with a sense of purpose and I was pleased with the effort.”

The other wrestlers that placed at the meet for the Ponies included Logan Pleninger, who notched a third-place finish at 126 pounds, Kody Pribyl, who finished fourth at 152 pounds, Tyler Schaub, who was fourth at 170 pounds and Ryan Stewart, who ended up fifth at 103 pounds.

Overall, it was another good performance for the Ponies, but Filius is still looking for ways to improve and get better with the state meet approaching next month.

“We need to get everyone back,” Filius said. “We need to get those numbers back up in our lineup and get some more matches for our young kids. Right now our young kids are growing by leaps and bounds. We just need to get them more experience and more matches.”

This week, the Ponies will have a lot on their plate as they will go head-to-head in a dual against Great Falls High Thursday in Great Falls, before taking part in the prestigious Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula Friday and Saturday.

Also at the Cut Bank Invite, the Chinook Sugarbeeters finished 10th with 91 points. Kevin Young wound up third at 205 pounds, while Jake Norby placed sixth at 145 and Jesse Dannels was fifth at 182. Johnson was Harlem's only placer in Cut Bank, while Chester/J-I's Brett Henke placed sixth at 170 pounds.

Note: Havre Daily News sports editor George Ferguson contributed to this story.

Cut Bank Invitational

Team scores -- 1. Havre 238, 2. Flathead 217, 3. Choteau 191.5, 4. Eureka 131, 5. Great Falls High JV 111.5, 6. Ronan 108, 7. Glasgow 102, 8. Cut Bank 95, 9. Townsend 91.5, 10. Chinook 91.

Championship

103 Cody DeVall, Flathead p. Chase DeBoo, Choteau, 1.35

113 Trae Vasquez, Flathead p. Trevor Moore, Choteau, 1:57

120 Zach Durden, Eureka p. Austin McArthur, Broadwater, 2.2

126 Garrett White, Eureka d. Dyan Guzman, Flathead, 4-2

132 Grayson Brenna, Havre d. Tate Niederegger, Chinook, 3-2

138 JJ Werdal, Choteau d. Cody King, Glasgow, 8-4

145 Parker Filius, Havre p. Colton McElhinney, GFH JV, 1.35

152 Reid VandenBos, Cut Bank p. Chase Short, GFH JV, 3:32

160 Jase Stokes, Havre p. Brenden Johnson, Harlem, 3.57

170 Walker Ferda, GFH JV tf. Evander Wilbur, Broadwater, 3RD PERIOD

182 Steeler French, Choteau md. Logan Wilson, Flathead, M 11-2

205 Jace Billy, Havre p. Eli Hohn, Townsend, :39

275 Travis Adams, Havre p. Michael Irvine, Ronan, 5.41

Third place

103 Slade Martinez, Wolf Point p. Hunter Rush FLA, Renegade, 4.18

113 Caleb Birdwell, Lewistown p. Trey Simanton, Malta, 2:30

120 Keaton Anderson, Cut Bank d. James Buckley, Whitefish, 9-5

126 Logan Pleninger, Havre d. Cole Snyder, Ronan, 7-4

132 Trevar McAllister, Ronan d. Payton Hume, Flathead, 5-2

138 Tyler Davis, Flathead p. Randon Anderson, Cut Bank, 1:51

145 Jared Neiss, Ronan d. Taner Stone, Choteau, OT 2-0

152 Ben Rauscher-CON, Renegade p. Kody Pribyl, Havre, 6:15 OT

160 Anthony Wright, Flathead d.Dec Trey Stone, Choteau, 6-5

170 Hunter Mycke, Conrad d. Tyler Schaub, Havre, 9-8

182 Devin Blythe, LEW d. Joe Fehr, Eureka, 5-1

205 Kevin Young, Chinook d. Streeter Stirling, Shelby, 6-2

275 Joe Doney, Glasgow d. Denver Krone, Choteau, 7-2

Fifth place

103 Ryan Stewart, Havre p. Dillon Dejean, CMR JV, 2.46

113 Hunter Peterson, Ronan d. Jimmy Smith, Belt, 4-3

120 Brodey White, Shelby d. Isaac Ramos, Valier, OT 12-10

126 Kenyon Fretwell-FLA, Renegade d. Jack Dolan, Broadwater, 8-1

132 Jamie Mullins, St. Ignatius p. Connor DeBruycker, Fort Benton, 1.46

138 James Dunn, Eureka d. Tyler Meyer, Great Falls High JV, 8-2

145 Jace Berkram, Cut Bank d. Jake Norby, Chinook, 7-6

152 John Pepos, Cascade p. Skyler Bowerman, Whitefish, 1:43

160 PJ Ayers, Highwood md. Judah Prestegaard, Whitefish, 13-0

170 Cody Lucke, Browning p. Brett Henke, Chester-Joplin-Inverness, 2:34

182 Jesse Dannels, Chinook md. Roman Lorance, Cascade, 11-2

205 Payton Boyce, Flathead p. Travis Field, Choteau, 2:01

275 Ethan Goss-Dickie, St. Ignatius p. Tyler Norstedt, Belt, 4.53.