Pony grapplers take on the best of the west

After starting the season with back-to-back team titles, the Havre High wrestling team will head out of state this week, to take on some high-level competition at the Tri-State tournament.

The annual Tri-State tournament, which is hosted in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and takes place Friday and Saturday, is one of the most prestigious wrestling invites in the Northwest. And for the second straight year, the Blue Ponies will have a full team in attendance, as Havre will bring a total of 13 wrestlers to the meet.

“They use the high school weights there so we will have a 98-pounder,” HHS head coach Scott Filius said. “We will have Cameron Pleninger there, that will work out well for him. We will be open at 220 and 138. They don’t have a 205 so Jase Stokes will be 195.”

Stokes was one of the few Havre wrestlers to place at the meet a year ago, as he finished fourth in his weight class. Parker Filius, who will wrestle at 145 pounds, finished second a year ago and was the only Pony wrestler to make the finals. Sophomore Martin Wilkie (126), who is a defending individual state champ, like Filius and Stokes, finished fifth, as did Ryan Stewart (113).

While those four all have an idea about what it’s like to wrestle at the Tri-State tournament, the Ponies will have a number of freshmen making their first appearance, such as Pleninger (98), Quinn Reno (106) Connor Harris (132) and Mason Dionne (152).

“These young kids are growing up in front of our very eyes,” Filius said. “The sooner that they can accept and meet and embrace tough competition, the better they get. So we are excited to see how they do out there. I know a couple of years ago, this group of seniors, they gained a lot from it.”

Lane Paulson will also make the trip and wrestle at 120 pounds, while Dane Flammond and Walter White, who each won multiple matches last year in Coeur d’Alene, will also be back to wrestle at 160 and 182 pounds, respectively. Sophomore Taylor Gopher will wrestle at 170 pounds and in the heavyweight class, HHS will have Jared Sienkowski.

As a team, the Ponies took home a sixth-place finish a year ago, which was partly due to having open weights. But armed with more weight classes this year and a fuller roster, Filius said he and the Ponies are hoping to push the envelope a little further and contend for some individual titles, as well as the team championship.

“We would sure like to,” Filius said. “But you are bringing 64 teams in, so you have no idea who is going to be there. The only thing you can do is control what you can. We have some kids that we feel can place and place very well. We might be able to win the tournament with those kids. We haven’t been able to do that quite yet, but we would sure like to try.”

With top-tier from Idaho, Washington, Oregon and Montana, the Tri-State has become a highlight of the Ponies’ early-season schedule and with the caliber of competition Havre gets to compete against, it’s easy to see why. It’s also why winning it would mean so much.

“It would be a lot of fun,” Filius said. “I don’t know how realistic it is. Like I said, you just have no idea. One year when we went, they had a great team from Post Falls and the next year, they had a great team from out in the coast in Oregon, so what happens is the great teams cycle through, so if they have a down year, they don’t go. But I know that we are going to go and push through as best we can.”

The Ponies will compete in the Tri-State wrestling tournament in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, starting Friday and continuing into Saturday.