Blue Ponies stampede right through Cut Bank, again

The Havre High wrestling has gotten pretty used to winning the Cut Bank Invitational and this past weekend, the Blue Ponies won it again, for a 16th straight time to be exact.

Just as they did at the 2017 Cut Bank Invite, the Ponies crowned seven individual champions Saturday, on their way to finishing with 306 points, well ahead of second-place finisher Eureka, which had 175. Lewistown was third with 146.

While Havre crowned seven champions, five other wrestlers placed in the top five for the Ponies. The champions for Havre were Mick Chagnon, who took home the title at 103 pounds, followed by Cameron Pleninger, who won at 113. Mark Ramirez took home the 126-pound crown, and at 132 pounds, Lane Paulson finished in first. Martin Wilkie also won another title this season at 138 pounds. Connor Harris also won at 145 pounds, and at 205 pounds, Tyler Schaub beat out Bryce Boyce of Lewistown for first place.

“I thought that the kids had a nice weekend,” HHS head coach Scott Filius said. “I was just pleased with our overall effort. We had several matches where we got behind early and just continued to wrestle hard until they turned things around. I had some kids that had not done well recently that did really well. So I was really pleased with all our kids.”

At 120 pounds, both Quinn Reno and Ryan Stewart contented for first place, Reno ended up finishing second to Nathan Schmidt of Eureka. Stewart ended up finishing third. At 160 pounds, Havre had another wrestler in the finals and that was Mason Dionne, who also lost to a wrestler from Eureka, Jonathan Schmidt. Austin Ratliff, a junior, was third in the heavyweight division.

Yet, Havre had another wrestler who placed in the meet and that was Jazz Schroeder. The senior, who has been sidelined most of the two seasons with an injury, made his 2017-18 debut and although he fell short of winning the meet, he scored points and finished fifth.

“That was his first match in about a year and a half,” Filius said. “It’s going to be a process, but at least we got it started.”

When it came to the Ponies seven individual champions, Chagnon, Pleninger, Ramirez and Schaub all won by fall, while Paulson, Wilkie and Harris won by decision. Chagnon scored his pin over Jackson Carson of Whitefish in 38 seconds. Pleninger got his pin over Dylan Riphenburg of Fairfield, and it took 2:28. Ramirez pinned Tanner VandenBos of Valier in 3:22, and Schuab pinned Boyce of Lewistown in 3:22.

In his championship match, Wilkie earned a major decision (12-0) over Trey Simanton of Malta, and at 145 pounds Harris got a 9-4 win over Kaden Moore, also of Malta. Paulson beat Hank Dunn of Lincoln to win his title. He notched a 6-0 decision.

Chinook also competed in the meet and scored 49 points, with 20 of those coming from Reubin Swenson who finished fourth at 205 pounds. Harlem also placed fourth in the meet, but had two place, as Gavin Horn got fourth at 113 pounds. Damian Schuhmacher also finished fourth for the Wildcats at 170 pounds.

However, another area team, Fort Benton, outscored both squads as the Longhorns racked up 62 points, which was good enough for 12th. Fort Benton put three wrestlers on the podium, as Connor Schnabel and Landon Taylor each got third at 126 and 152 pounds respectively. Hayden Axtman also finished sixth at 170 pounds for the Longhorns.

This coming week, the Ponies will be challenged by one of the most competitive meets on their schedule as they will head to the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic. The tournament gets underway Friday and runs through Saturday in Missoula. Havre won the team championship in 2015 and 2016 before taking third last season.

Cut Bank Invitational

Team scores: Havre 306, Eureka 175, Lewistown 146, Malta 142, Jefferson 131, Poplar 124, Whitefish 91.5, Great Falls JV 88, Circle 73.5, Valier 68, Browning 63, Fort Benton 62, Cut Bank 51, Chinook 49, Harlem 49, Fairfield 45, Choteau 42, Simms 39, Wolf Point 38, Conrad 34, Great Falls CMR 28, Shelby 28, Three Forks 16, Cascade 9, Frazer 6, Belt 0.

Individual order of finish

103: Mick Chagnon, Havre; Jackson Carson, Whitefish; Ashton Flamand, Browning; Christian Davis, Jefferson; Dominick Davis, Jefferson; Tristan Welch, Whitefish.

113: Cameron Pleninger, Havre; Dylan Riphenburg, Fairfield; Gunnar Smith, Eureka; Gavin Horn, Harlem; Trisetan Kemp, Wolf Point; Matt Connelly, Valier.

120: Nathan Schmidt, Eureka; Quinn Reno, Havre; Ryan Stewart, Havre; Kyle Durden, Eureka; Tanner Mannin, Lewistown; Jacob Lone Bear, Poplar.

126: Mark Ramirez, Havre; Tanner VandenBos, Valier; Connor Schnabel, Fort Benton; Payton Gonser, Great Falls JV; Tyrell Hallan, Great Falls CMR JV; Logan Boadle, Poplar.

132: Lane Paulson, Havre; Hank Dunn, Eureka; Callan Mears, Malta; Pete Henderson, Choteau; Andrew Andersen, Cut Bank; Cole Becker, Circle.

138: Martin Wilkie, Havre; Trey Simanton, Malta; Quinn Whitmus, Wolf Point; Dakota Flannery, Whitefish; Jacob Travis, Jefferson; Ethan Mishler, Simms.

145: Connor Harris, Havre; Kaden Moore, Malta; Wyatt Brusven, Shelby; Trey Taylor, Circle; Duane Otto II, Lewistown; Jack Eisenbarth, Whitefish.

152: Chase Farrar, Lewistown; Ceaton Mears, Malta; Landon Taylor, Fort Benton; James Feher, Eureka; Logan Wren, Great Falls JV; Carlos Clayton Great Falls JV.

160: Jonathan Schmidt, Eureka; Mason Dionne, Havre; JR Seewald, Cut Bank; Nat Brunett, Jefferson; Tyson Krahe, Great Falls JV; Dylan Yerbich, Circle.

170: Alex Wickens, Lewistown; Dylan Monroe, Valier; Emmit Augare, Browning; Damian Schumacher, Harlem; Jazz Schroeder, Havre; Hayden Axtman, Fort Benton.

182: Garrett Graves, Eureka; Wyatt Blythe, Lewistown; Travis Epperson, Malta; Derek Nygaard, Jefferson; Tyson Sutherland, Poplar; Kale Larson, Conrad.

205: Tyler Schaub, Havre; Brady Boyce, Lewistown; Nick Workman, Jefferson; Reubin Swenson, Chinook; James Slaughter, Choteau; Caleb Allen, Jefferson.

285: Trey Pribbernow, Poplar; Kyle Schillinger, Circle; Austin Ratliff, Havre; Nathan Rasch, Jefferson; Keegan Wold, Whitefish; Sam Johnson, Eureka.