State Wrestling 2016: Beeters go back-to-back for Jesse

BILLINGS -- The Chinook wrestling team has had some emotional days recently, with the passing of the beloved Jesse Dannels. But, Saturday night, after winning a second straight state title, the emotion overwhelmed them.

With tears in their eyes and love for Jesse in their hearts, the Sugarbeeters accepted the Class C state championship trophy, following two days of raw emotion and outstanding wrestling. Chinook dominated the competition, placing all five wrestlers and scoring 100 points to run away from second-place finisher Charlo, which had 47.

"You know I think when we left home our goals hadn't changed, but honest to god we achieved more than we ever imagined." Chinook head coach Perry Miller said. "We stayed together and we stayed together as a family and worked through it and I could not be more proud of these boys."

After advancing all five wrestlers to the second day of the tournament, the Beeters entered the day with a 15-point lead. But, by the end of the semifinals and the consolation quarters, the Chinook lead would balloon to 40, thanks to semifinal victories by Tate Niederegger (132) and Kenny Pruttis (170).

Jake Norby (152) and Kevin Young (205), each lost their semifinal match, but the two seniors showed the resiliency that was the strength of their team all weekend and they bounced back to win in the consolation finals.

With third-place on the line, Norby put together another outstanding match, winning a 10-8 decision to finish third.

"I can't describe it, it's the greatest feeling of my life," Norby said. "I am so happy for myself and for the team and for Jesse and everybody in Chinook. It's just really emotional."

The entire team cited Dannels as inspiration for their performance over the weekend, but no one elicited it more than Young.

On Friday night, in the quarterfinals, Young was facing Merline Whitedirt, the top-seed in the bracket from Colstrip. The match went into overtime and then a second overtime and it was at that point, that Young spoke to the heavens and asked Jesse for a little help.

"He helped me win my last one (Friday night)," Young said. "When we went into the second overtime I said, 'Jesse you gotta help me out here bud.' And I got it done."

With the assist from Jesse, Young scored a one-point escape and was able to run out the clock to score a 6-5 victory, which got him into the semifinals in the first place.

"It's pretty emotional right now," Young said after losing his final match. "The support of the whole wrestling community has been great throughout this whole tournament and this whole week. Jesse touched so many people and they are giving it back to us now. We knew what Jesse wanted us to do and we didn't want to let him down."

With his memorable victory, Young went on to finish fourth for the Beeters, while Derek Bell, another senior, finished fifth after winning two of three matches Saturday. And to cap it all off, Chinook crowned two individual champions.

The first was Pruttis, who wrestled out of his mind all weekend and capped it off with a with an individual title with an 12-3 major decision in the 170-pound final. Then, in the final match of the tournament for the Beeters, Niederegger closed it out in style by capturing his second individual title at 138 pounds with a 7-0 victory.

"I felt a huge, huge moment of relief that I could do it for Jesse," Niederegger said. "I wanted to make him proud."

It's safe to say that Niederegger, his teammates and coaches were all successful in making Jesse proud.

"Jesse has been with us this whole week," Miller said. "I could just feel him and I know he would be so proud of what his teammates were able to achieve."