Ponies battle their way up at Jug Beck

The Havre High wrestling team has always performed well at the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic and this past weekend in Missoula, the Blue Ponies did it again.

Despite finding themselves in 12th place after the first day of the two-day meet, the Ponies closed strong again in one of Montana’s most prestigous wrestling tournaments and wound up finishing fourth behind only Mead (Spokane, Washington), Bozeman and Great Falls High. Mead won the tournament with 201 points. Bozeman finished second with 199.5 and Great Falls High was third with 165. Among Class A teams, the Ponies finished with the highest point total (124). Yet, Sidney was not in attendance and Frenchtown also finished right behind HHS in fifth with 122.5.

“I thought we wrestled well,” HHS head coach Beau LaSalle said. “We had two firsts, two thirds and a fifth and Martin was the most outstanding wrestler. It came down to Martin’s match at the end. If he doesn’t win there, we probably end up sixth.”

On an individual level, the Ponies also enjoyed plenty of success as both Martin Wilkie and Mick Chagnon took home titles from the prestisgous tournament. Wilkie notched three pins on his way to the title, while also notching a decision in the semifinals, before getting a (7-3) win over Brock Rodrigues of Bozeman in the finals. When it was all over, Wilkie was named Most Oustanding Wrestler at the Jug Beck for the second straight year in a row.

“I don’t know many guys that have won that at the Rocky Mountain,” Lasalle said. “The talent is so deep there that it’s just a huge accomplishment.”

Chagnon, a sophomore, was also impressive in maybe his best performance as a Blue Pony. He pinned two others on his way to the 103-pound title and defeated Keagan Gransbery of Butte High (4-3) in the finals.

“It was huge for Mick to finally break through in a big tournament,” LaSalle said. “He has been in the finals everywhere this year so far, so for him to finally get over that hump was big. He wrestled a smart match in the finals and he never put himself in bad positions. And once you get over the hump of finally winning one, now you expect him to open up and wrestle with a little more confidence.”

In addition to Wilkie and Chagnon each winning individual titles for the Ponies, Havre also got standout

performances from both Connor Harris and Austin Ratliff, who each got third place. For Harris, it was his second third-place showing at a major tournament after doing the same thing at the Tri-State tournament in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. Harris lost in the semifinals to John Mears of Belgrade, before rallying to get third by knocking off Caden Hilliard (6-3) of Great Falls High in the consoliation semifiinals and winning a major decision over Bridger Wentzel of Polson in the third-place match (12-3).

“Connor lost to Mears, a two-time state champ,” LaSalle said. “But there are some technical things we can fix there and we think we can turn that one around. And I was really impressed with how he wrestled in his third-place match. He beat Wentzel, who beat him earlier in the year at Tri-State. I think Connor, Mears and Wentzel are the three best wrestlers in Class A at 152 pounds and it helps to take the mystery out of it by beating a guy like that.”

Ratlif fell in the quarterfinals to Kameron Moreno of Butte High, before winning four straight matches to end up getting third.

“It was the best performance he has put out throughout the weekend,” LaSalle said. “He lost to a kid that was second and wrestled him well. And then he kind of dominated and knocked off the No. 1 guy from Ronan in Class A. He dominated the match and the kid didn’t have a chance to do anything offensviely. He can just see his confidence building and he is just putting together a pretty good season.”

Cameron Pleninger wound up with fifth-place for HHS at 120 pounds and scored a total of 16 team points. In terms of team points, Havre got team points from seven different wrestlers including Wilkie (30), Chagnon (28), Ratliff (22), Harris (21), Pleninger (16), Hunter Velk (4) and Taylor Gopher (3).

Havre will be back in action this weekend at another key tournament in the run up to the state tournament and that will be the Class A duals which will get underway Friday in Belgrade. Following the Class A Duals, only the Malta Invitational and the Eastern A Divisional tournament remain before Havre will compete in the All-Class state tournament Feb. 7-8 in Billings.

Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic

Team scores: Mead 201, Bozeman 199.5, Great Falls 165, Havre 124, Frenchtown 122.5, Missoula Big Sky 121, Butte 118, Powell 118, Polson 99.5, Coeur d'Alene 99, Kalispell Flathead 94, Great Falls CMR 90.5, Lake City 88, Missoula Sentinel 84.5, Helena Capital 80, Columbia Falls 79.5, Nampa 79, Ferris 76, Lewistown 62.5, Helena 59, Hamilton 54, Ronan 44.5, Corvallis 44, University High 39, Libby 38.5, East Valley 38, Kalispell Glaicer 35, Belgrade 34, Clarkston 23.5, Superior 17, Missoula Hellgate 14.

Individual order of finish

103: Mick Chagnon, Hav; Keagan Gransbery, Butt; Colton Martello, CMR: Caden Hess, LC; Landen Stewart, Fre; Dre Coles, GF; Jason Franklin, Uni; Jake Mark, Mea.

113: Walker Dyer, Fre; Johnny Mason, Mead; Felix Peterson, Boz; Jose Luna, Nam; Rene Pierre, Pol; Easton Shupe, GF; Bryson Danziner, MS; Dom Jessos, Coe.

120: Jake Bibler, Fre; Isaac Romero, Hel; Carson DesRosier, HC; Ryan Clark, Mea; Cameron Pleninger, Hav; Buddy Doolin, Lib; Tayt Rogers, Boz; Devin Sorrelle, LC.

126: Cooper Birdwell, Lew; Sterling Quinn, Boz; Dayne Martin, MB; Andrew Paradise, CMR; Dante Venema, Cor; Hunter Schueller, Coe; Justin Kovalicky, MS; Brennon Noah, McDermott, EV.

132: Leif Schoreder, Boz; Chase Tebbets, Mea; Michael Golden, Ham; Hayden Azure, GF; Avery Sundheim, EV; Fin Nadeau, Fla; Josh Anastasi, Fer; Tanner Lange, Cla.

138: Reese Karst, Pow; Reece Eckley, MS; Lee Lambrecht, HC; Carter Carroll, CMR; Triston Davis, Cor; Dayton Evans, MB; Nolan Randles, Coe; Jaden MacNeil, Fla.

145: Martin Wilkie, Hav; Brock Rodrigues, Boz; Hunter Meinzen, MB; Kai Stewart, CMR; Trey Thompson, Lib; Bridger WIlliams, Ham; Luke Joy, MS; Austin Blevins, Nam.

152: Chance McLane, Boz; John Mears, Bel; Connor Harris, Hav; Bridger Wenzel, Pol; Caden Hilliard, GF; Brody Karhu, Pow; Bridger Hall, MH; Gunner Giulio, Coe.

160: Devin Crawford, Hel; Coy Cohenour, Boz; Jett Rebish, MB; Seth Horton, Pow; Duane Otto II, lew; Mitchell Moffat, Coe; Carl Anderson, Butt; Zaybin Stewart, Fla.

170: Cameron Crawford, Mea; Hunter Fritsch, Pol; Tanner Russell, Fla; Mason Corcoran, MB; Tyson Krahe, GF; Matthew WHitcomb, LC; Keaton Potter, Lew; Quinn Sullivan, Butt.

182: Elijah Davis, GF; Colton McPhee, CF; Liam Shannon, Nam; Bo dearcorn, Pow; Paxton Boyce, Fla; Nick Dohm, Coe; Trey Green, Sup; Tate Jones, Fre.

205: Ben Voightlaender, Mea; Kameron Moreno, Butt; AustiN Ratliff, Hav; Zane McCormick, HC; Justin mays, Ron; Elijah McCann, Fer; Levi Downard, Fre; Colby Martin, Gla.

285: Ethan DeRoche, GF; Trace Franks, Mea; Taylro Gladeau, CF; Brian Karunaratne, Fer; Owen Hughes, LC; Cody Miller, Fre; Camryn Vergeront, Gla; Camren Spencer, Boz.