Beeters return to their winning ways

BILLINGS - The Chinook Sugarbeeters didn't really know what to expect as they came to Billings for the All-Class State Wrestling Tournament, but when the two-day extravaganza came to a close, it ended up being a memorable weekend.

Chinook wasn't able to do enough to win another Class C state championship, but the Beeters did find the podium Saturday night inside the Rimrock Auto Arena at the Metra, claiming the second-place prize in Class C with a total of 43 points. Circle won the Class C crown with 80 and Valier finished in third place with 38.

"All of these kids we brought this weekend were young kids," Chinook head coach Perry Miller said. "And all these kids competed and wrestled their hearts out. I know they are young, but I believe in them and if they believe in themselves, good things will continue to happen."

While much of the attention surrounding Chinook was on freshman Rebecca Stroh, who was the first female to wrestle at state for the Beeters, by the end of tournament, Reubin Swenson did his best to steal some of the spotlight.

The sophomore was a huge part of Chinook's second-place finish, as he scored 23 of the team's 43 points. In all, Swenson wrestled six matches and won five of them on his way to third place at 205 pounds in Class B-C. Yet, Saturday morning, in the consolation quarterfinals, things weren't looking so good.

Needing a win to ensure a spot on the podium, Swenson found himself down to James Slaughter of Choteau 11-4 late in the second period. An injury timeout allowed Swenson to catch his breath. It also allowed assistant coach Willie Miller to give Swenson some words of encouragement. And when the match resumed, Swenson found another gear and within a matter of seconds, he pinned Slaughter, guaranteeing himself a spot on the podium.

"Willie (Miller) told me to pull my head out and get it done," Swenson said. "I told myself I wasn't going to come here to lose out, I came here to win, so I kept my head and found a way."

After his win over Slaughter, Swenson couldn't be stopped. He pinned Nick Workman of Jefferson/Boulder in the consolation semifinals in 3:39 and then in the third-place match, he won by fall over Austin Cooper of Thompson Falls in just 2:13.

"It feels awesome," Swenson said. "I was hoping for first, but I messed up on a move (in the quarterfinals) but I came back in it and just kept fighting. I am stoked. It's awesome."

Swenson's impressive finish was notable, but what Stroh did at the state tournament was historic. Prior to this weekend, only two female wrestlers had ever placed at the All-Class State Tournament and none had ever done it in Class B-C. Yet after Stroh won two matches Friday, including the first ever all-female match in the first round against Tjo Friis of Anaconda, she put herself in a position to do just that.

The moment of truth came Saturday morning, in the consolation quarterfinals. Stroh squared off against Emma Brown of Jefferson/Boulder and clinched her spot on the podium after a 5-1 win by decision. The freshman lost her last two matches of the state tournament, but that didn't change the fact that she did something, no one else had ever done in Class B/C wrestling.

"It was definitely a sigh of relief, I was glad I made it and got past everyone's expectations," Stroh said. "I just tried to do as best I could. I hope I can come back and do better next year. I am going to work as hard as I can to get higher on the podium, but this year, I started out not ranked and I get sixth at the state tournament. It's amazing.

"We knew that she could get on the podium, we absolutely knew that she could," Perry Miller said. "She is our first girl and she doesn't get treated any differently in that room. She wrestles hard, she has her up days and her down days. She came here and she did a wonderful job and we are just tickled for her. She came and did that on her own."

While Stroh and Swenson were the bright spots, Chinook also got points from J.T. Hauer, who won a match and Ross Reed, who won two before being knocked out Saturday. Garrett Pruttis and Favion Couturior also competed at state for the Beeters, who will have the majority of their wrestlers back next season, when they will have their sights set on reclaiming the Class C state title.

"This was huge for us," Miller said. "We got great kids. We have two seniors on the team and we are going to return nine kids. We have great stuff coming up in the middle school, too. I couldn't be happier with them. We are looking good."

Harlem was another local team in action, bringing four wrestlers to Billings. Zack Jackson, Gavin Gorn and Ken Todd, were all eliminated Friday, but Wildcats heavyweight Curtis Humphreys finished as a medalist, getting fifth place. Fort Benton/Big Sandy also sent three wrestlers to the All-Class State Tournament in Connor Schnabel, Landon Taylor and Weston Allderdice, but none were able to place, although Schnabel and Taylor each won two matches respectively. Harlem finished with 23 points, Fort Benton/Big Sandy wound up with 12.

2018 Class B-C State Wrestling Results

Team scores: Colstrip 196, Eureka 127.5, Glasgow 120.5, Huntley Project 101.5, Forsyth 89, Thompson Falls 88.5, Malta-Whitewater 88, Circle 80, Florence 80, Jefferson 75, Townsend 65.5, Shepherd 63, St. Ignatius-Charlo 60, Plains-Hot Springs 56.5, Whitehall 54, Chinook 43, Valier 36, Wolf Point 32.5, Baker 26, Columbus-Absarokee 24, Choteau 23.5, Fairfield 23, Harlem 23, Poplar 22, Cascade 20, Superior-Alberton 15, Cut Bank 14, Arlee 13, Fort Benton-Big Sandy 12, Great Falls Central 12, Shelby 11, Simms 6, Broadus 5, Highwood 3, Anaconda 1, Belt 0, Manhattan 0, Deer Lodge 0, Three Forks 0.

Individual results

103

First place: Camron Reilly, Forsyth, dec. Clayton Donally, Huntley Project, 3-2.; Third place: Krayle Stormer, Circle pinned Sam Lane, Townsend, 2:39. Fifth place: Dawson Powers, Whitehall pinned Rebecca Stroh, Chinook, 1:38.

113

First place: Gunnar Smith, Eureka, dec. Tanner Cook, Shepherd, 4-1.; Third place: Dylan Riphenburg, Fairfield def. Matt Connelly, Valier, 3-1; Fifth place: Trisetan Kemp, Wolf Point, pinned Walker Murphy, St. Ignatius-Charlo, 2:30.

120

First place: Kaleb Frank, Thompson Falls, dec. Nathan Schmidt, Eureka, 2-1.; Third place: Colten Fast, Glasgow def. Dawson Buckalew, Colstrip 4-2; Fifth place: Keagan Thompson, Glasgow def. Conrad Vanderwall, Plains-Hot Springs, 3-0.

126

First place: Daniel Uli, Plains, dec. Oden Hallock, Glasgow, 7-1; Third place: Kaden Zimmerman, Glasgow pinned Lincoln Stormer, Circle, 3:58; Fifth place: Easton Held, Townsend def. Josh Pepos, Cascade, 2-1.

132

First place: Nathan Weber, Forsyth, dec. Hank Dunn, Eureka, 6-2; Third place: Matt Reyling, Glasgow def. Rylin Burns, Colstrip 4-0; Fifth place: Pete Henderson, Choteau def. Josiah Vanderwall, Plains-Hot Springs, 8-6.

138

First place: Jackson Currier, Colstrip, major dec. Trey Taylor, Circle, 12-3; Third place: Trey Simanton, Malta def. Avery Meinzen, Florence-Carlton 6-0; Fifth place: Darwin Adams, St. Ignatius-Charlo pinned Jacob Travis, Jefferson 4:56.

145

First place: Michael Weber, Forsyth, p. Jethro Thorne, Florence, 0:44; Third place: Kaden Moore, Malta pinned Quinn Whitmus, Wolf Point, 3:03; Fifth place: Dylan Raihl, Columbus-Absarokee def. Wyatt Brusven, Shelby 6-0.l

152

First place: Ty Bradley, Colstrip, dec. Matthew Middleton, Huntley Project, 5-4; Third place: Kameron Rauser, Townsend pinned Peyton Irvine, Thompson Falls 2:29.

Fifth place: Ceaton Mears, Malta pinned James Fehr, Eureka :56.

160

First place: Dalton Herbst, Baker, won by injury default over Nate Brunett, Jefferson; Third place: Cody Blaede, Colstrip def. Jonathan Schmidt, Eureka, injury default; Fifth place: JR Seewald, Cut Bank, def. Kameron Powell, Shepherd 9-6.

170

First place: Nakoda Siegel, Colstrip, p. Dylan Nieskens, Glasgow, 1:56; Third place: Jase Sorenson, Thompson Falls pinned Sonny Cochran, Shepherd 1:55; Fifth place: Dan Miller, Florence-Carlton pinned Dylan Monroe, Valier 2:06.

182

First place: Garrett Graves, Eureka, dec. Spencer Jones, Florence, 12-; Third place: Wyatt Selman, Huntley Project def. Gustav Wenz, Shepherd 6-5; Fifth place: Gus Bosley, St. Ignatius-Charlo md. Travis Epperson, Malta 14-6.

205

First place: Blaine Buchanan, Huntley Project, dec. Trey Yates, Colstrip, 7-1; Third place: Reubin Swenson, Chinook pinned Austin Cooper, Thompson Falls, 2:13; Fifth place: Nick Workman, Jefferson pinned Luke Lawless, Malta, 1:18.

285

First place: Merlin Whitedirt, Colstrip, p. Dawson Hoerauf, Whitehall, 3:06; Third place: Kyle Schillinger, Circle, def. Trey Pribbernow, Poplar, 3-1; Fifth place: Curtis Humphreys, Harlem, pinned Trevor Yuhas, Great Falls Central 1:34.

Chinook Individual Results

103 – Rebecca Stroh (6th Place)

1st rd – pinned Tjo Friis, ANA, 5:47; Quarterfinals – pinned by Krayle Stormer, CIR, :45; Consolation 2nd rd – pinned Kaholo Toves, WP< 3:00; Consolation 3rd – dec. Emma Brown, BOU, 5-1; Consolation Semi – pinned by Same Lane, TOW, :49; Fifth-Place Match – pinned by Dawson Towers, WHT, 1:38.

120 – Garrett Pruttis

1st rd – lost by tech. fall Conrad Vanderwall, PLA, 15-0; Consolation 1st rd – pinned by Cody St. Clair, BOU; :37.

145 – Ross Reed

1st rd – pinned by Quinn Witmus, WP, 1:22; Consolation 1st rd – pinned Anthony Dulac, FLO, 2:19; Consolation 2nd rd – pinned Austin Stafford, PLA, :51; Consolation 3rd rd – pinned by Kaden Moore, MAL, 2:15.

152 – J.T. Hauer

1st rd – pinned by Ty Bradley, COL, 2:45; Consolation 1st rd – pinned Nathan Cargill, EUR, 2:43; Consolation 2nd rd – pinned by Davie DiAngelis, CAS, 4:49.

160 – Favion Couturior

1st rd – pinned by Dalton Herbst, BAK< 3:21; Consolation 1st rd – pinned by Michael Ayers, HW, 1:27.

205 – Reubin Swenson (3rd Place)

1st rd – pinned Kayden Howser, WHT, 1:49; Quarterfinals – pinned by Austin Cooper, TF, 1:32; Consolation 2nd rd – maj. dec. Jadon Lamb, TOW, 14-6; Consolation 3rd rd – pinned James Slaughter, CHO, 2:51; Consolation Semi – pinned Nick Workman, BOU, 3:39; Consolation Final – pinned Austin Cooper, TF, 2:13.

Harlem Individual Results

113 – Gavin Horn

1st rd – pinned by Walker Murphy, STI, 1:36; Consolation 1st rd – pinned Gage McMillan, WHT, :08; Consolation 2nd rd – pinned by Tristan Kemp, WP, 2:17.

113 – Zack Jackson

1st rd – pinned by Trentin Walker, WHT, :42; Consolation 1st rd – pinned by Garrett Jones, TF, :16.

120 – Ken Todd

1st rd – lost maj. dec. Kyle Durden, EUR, 13-0; Consolation 1st rd – pinned Porter Blanchard, MAN, :42; Consolation 2nd rd – lost maj. dec. Dalton Amsden, BRD, 17-6.

285 – Curtis Humphreys (5th Place)

1st rd – pinned Trevor Yuhas, GFCC, :52; Quarterfinals – pinned by Merlin Whitedirt, COL, :33; Consolation 2nd rd – pinned Chris Anderson, STI, :20; Consolation 3rd rd – pinned Ethan Hood, COL, 2:00; Consolation Semi – pinned by Tyler Pribbernow, POP, :57; Fifth-Place Match – pinned Trevor Yuhas, GFCC, 1:34.

Ft. Benton/Big Sandy Individual Results

126 - Connor Schnabel

1st rd – pinned Wesley Buchanan, SUP, 3:49; Quarterfinals – lost dec. Kaden Zimmerman, GLA, 5-3; Consolation 2nd rd – dec. Mike Parkin, SUP, 8-5; Consolation 3rd rd – pinned by Lincoln Stormer, CIR, 1:48.

152 – Landon Taylor

1st rd – pinned Angel Boyd, POP, 5:33; Quarterfinals – pinned by Peyton Irvine, TF, 3:10; Consolation 2nd rd – pinned Cole Swanson, GLA, 1:28; Consolation 3rd rd – pinned by Kameron Rauser, TOW, :37.

170 – Weston Allderdice

1st rd – pinned by Brett Hale, BOU, 1:32; Consolation 1st rd – pinned by Garrett Smith, HP, 4:56.