HHS matmen wrap up the regular season with win in Malta

In the final tuneup before divisionals and state, the Havre High wrestling team was in Malta this past weekend, to defend its title at the Malta Invitational.

The Blue Ponies, who rested some of their top wrestlers for the meet, still managed to win the team competition with relative ease, sending seven to the finals and crowning six champions on their way to a first-place finish. Havre won the Malta Invite with 184.5 points, followed by Glasgow with 151. Malta finished third with 130. Other local teams participating in the meet were Chinook, which finished in sixth place with 61 points and Harlem, which was ninth with 19 points.

“We had a good weekend,” HHS head coach Scott Filius said. “I left a couple of kids home to get healthy. This is always a nice tune-up, it’s not a horribly tough tournament, but you always run into someone good at your weight, so it was a nice tune-up for divisionals.”

Havre’s six individual champions at the meet included freshman Mick Chagnon, who added another title to his already impressive resume, as did Martin Wilkie. Chagnon pinned Krayle Stomer of Circle in :58 seconds to win at 103 pounds. Wilkie won his title by defeating Kaden Moore of Malta 16-4. Cameron Pleninger took home the 113-pound title by pinning Tristan Kemp of Wolf Point in 3:27.

Mason Dionne continued his strong run in recent weeks by winning at 170 pounds after pinning Andres Lopez of Malta in 2:58. Tyler Schaub also took home the 205-pound title after pinning his way through the tournament. He beat Cooper Larson of Glasgow in the finals, notching the fall in 1:15. Pleninger and Dionne also managed to win all of their matches by fall.

While five of Havre’s individual champions have won many times before, the Malta Invitational was notable for Austin Ratliff, who notched two pins and won a 6-5 decision over Trey Pribbernow of Poplar to win his first career tournament title.

“It’s fun to see him peaking at the right time of the year,” Filius said. “It’s fun to see him get to the top of the podium. It was a good weekend. A lot with Austin has been basically getting the mental part of competing down and he is getting better every week.”

Lane Paulson was the other finalist for the Ponies. He finished second at 132 pounds, dropping the final to Matt Reyling of Glasgow, who won a 2-1 decision. Other wrestlers who placed were Quinn Reno, who was third at 126 pounds, Taylor Gopher also finished third at 160 pounds. Dylan Young (113), who lost to Pleninger in the semifinals, wound up taking fourth, along with Carson Lunak and Jazz Schroeder, who were fourth at 160 and 170 pounds respectively.

Chinook will held to the Northern B-C Divisional tournament this week and will head in with positive momentum after putting five on the podium in Malta. J.T. Hauer made the finals and finished second at 152 pounds. Ross Reed (145) and Reubin Swenson (205) were the next finishers getting third. Rebecca Stroh (103) and Garrett Pruttis (120(, two freshman, also finished fourth in their weight classes. Harlem also scored 19 points at the meet, with 16 of them coming from Gavin Horn, who finished third at 113 pounds.

Havre will look to win its third consecutive Eastern A Divisional championship this Saturday in Belgrade. Chinook and Harlem will take a return trip to Malta Saturday for the Northern B-C Divisional. The All-Class State tournament will be at the Metra in Billings Feb. 9-10.

Malta Invite

Team scores

1. Havre 184.5; 2. Glasgow 151; 3. Malta 130; 4. Poplar 79; 5. Circle 73; 6. Chinook 61; 7. Cut Bank 33.5; 7. Wolf Point 33.5; 9. Harlem 19; 10. Frazer 16; Hays-Lodgepole 0.

Championship matches

103: Mick Chagnon, Havre, p. Krayle Stormer, Circle, 0:58; 113: Cameron Pleninger, Havre, p. Trisetan Kemp, Wolf Point, 3:27; 120: Colten Fast, Glasgow, dec. Keagan Thompson, Glasgow, 5-1; 126: Kaden Zimmerman, Glasgow, def. Lincoln Stormer, Circle, inj.; 132: Matt Reyling, Glasgow, dec. Lane Paulson, Havre, 2-1; 138: Trey Simanton, Malta, p. Quinn Whitmus, Wolf Point, 1:32; 145: Martin Wilkie, Havre, MD. Kaden Moore, Malta, 16-4; 152: Ceaton Mears, Malta, p. JT Hauer, Chinook, 5:04; 160: JR Seewald, Cut Bank, p. Dylan Yerbich, Circle, 2:41; 170: Mason Dionne, Havre, p. Andres Lopez, Malta, 2:58; 182: Dylan Nieskans, Glasgow, dec. Travis Epperson, Malta, 5-0; 205: Tyler Schaub, Havre, p. Cooper Larson, Glasgow, 1:15; 285: Austin Ratliff, Havre, dec. Trey Pribbernow, Poplar, 6-5