State Wrestling 2016: Heavy Hearts: Chinook will march on

The Chinook wrestling team has faced a lot of challenges over the years. But nothing will be as challenging as what the Sugarbeeters will face this weekend at the All-Class State tournament in Billings.

That's because this state tournament will be unlike any other for the Sugarbeeters, due to the fact that it comes just days after the tragic passing of their beloved teammate and senior leader Jesse Dannels.

The loss of Dannels has been a crushing blow to the team, the community of Chinook and the entire Hi-Line. Every wrestling team within a 200-mile radius made the trip to attend Dannels' memorial service Wednesday at Chinook High School, which only underscores how severely the entire wrestling community has been affected. Yet, despite the emotional pain and heartache the Beeters, their coaches and everyone associated with the team, the town or the sport feels and have felt since last Sunday, Chinook decided to compete and attempt to win a second straight Class C state championship -- for Jesse.

"We were back in the room on Monday," Chinook head coach Perry Miller said. "We sat down, we had a lot of tears and had a lot of conversations about Jess and about what happened. But, the bottom line is that after a few tears, I asked them what their goals were. Their goals at the beginning of the season were to win a state championship and their goals hadn't changed, so we went back to work. It was a very intense practice, but it was an emotionally intense practice. There were a lot of tears and a lot of emotion. You just look around and at one point, I even asked coach Stroh, 'What's wrong with us, why is he missing a partner? And it was Kevin Young, Jesse's partner.

"But you know, these kids are very tenacious," he added. "They are some tough kids. And one thing I know that they are going to do, is give it everything they have. Those five kids that we put on the mat this weekend are four matches away from a state championship and that's what they believe in their hearts, that's the way that they have trained. I told them that they can't short change themselves. They put in the effort and now it's time to go to work."

When Chinook takes to the mats Friday at the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metra, it will certainly be an emotional time. Yet, the Beeters are determined to honor Dannels in the best way they know how and that's by winning.

"Jesse wanted us to win one more this year and put one up on the wall," senior Kevin Young said. "And we are going to do that for him."

On top of having to wrestle while coping with the loss of their close friend and comrade, making things even more challenging at state for the Beeters is the fact that they will now only have five wrestlers in their lineup, instead of six.

"I think this is the hardest we have all practiced all year long," Young said. "We all want this for Jesse. We are going to be one man down and we are going to have to wrestle our best to fill where he left off."

Chinook may only have five wrestlers, but all five of them are contenders to place, led by junior Tate Niederegger, who has a perfect 42-0 record on the season. While Niederegger is favored to win another state title, Kenny Pruttis, who will be wrestling at 170 pounds is another Beeter who has a legit chance at an individual crown. Jake Norby, who wrestles at 152 pounds also has a chance to make a run at an individual title this weekend, following a fourth-place showing a year ago. Young, who wrestles at 205 pounds and Derek Bell, who is at 160, also have previous state experience, each posting 2-2 records at state in 2015.

Yet, as much as the Beeters want to try to focus on the wrestling, it's simply going to be impossible to do with the monumental loss they are dealing with.

"It's tough," Pruttis said. "Monday was the longest day of my life I think. Practice was long. One-hour periods at school turned into four-hour periods. We are missing him bad right now. But, we are going to try and make it through it and win that state title for him.

"We know what needs to be done in order to win," He added. "But it's tough because he was by far the most inspirational person in the (wrestling room). He was cheerful and just a good teammate and friend. A really good friend. I am pretty sure he was the most liked kid I have ever met. He was the most liked kid in the high school and in the wrestling community by far. He always cracked everybody up. We are going to miss him."

Pruttis, like all of his teammates said that he believed Dannels would have wanted the team to compete and not to give up on its goal of winning a second consecutive state championship.

"I think if he could say something to us, he would tell us to go get it done," Pruttis said. "I think he would crack us up and get us going and we would get it done. That's just who he was."

Wrestling just days after such a tragic event will be hard for the Beeters, but it could also serve as a distraction and might, in some small way, help with the healing process.

"When we are in the room, we are in a different mindset," Niederegger said. "I think it's probably the best thing for our situation right now. It's going to be emotional, especially at the parade of teams. But, Jesse would not want his passing to affect our performance at state. He would want us to go to prove how tough we are and prove we can adapt and overcome because we are wrestlers."

While getting back to wrestling may provide some sense of normalcy for the team, Miller said it would take some time before they would even be able to ascertain what normal means.

"I don't know if the coaching staff or the kids even know what normal is right now," Miller said. "But, I think that Jesse is with us in our hearts and in our minds. This is a tragic, tragic accident and those boys want to go down there and compete so hard for everybody, Jesse included. I can't tell you what normal is going to be next week, but I can tell you that these kids are going to give it 100 percent. They are not going to fold their guards and they are not going to go away and if someone wants to get that state championship, they are going to have to go through those five guys. And those five guys, are on a mission."

The All-Class state meet and the Beeters' quest to win a state title for Dannels begins Friday at 10:10 a.m., which follows the parade of teams, that starts at 10 a.m. Harlem, Chester/J-I and Big Sandy-Fort Benton also have local grapplers in the Class B-C field this weekend.