Pony matmen dominate in Malta

In its final appearance of the regular season, the Havre High wrestling team went to the Malta Invitational and did what it always does: win a team championship.

The Blue Ponies defended their team title in Malta with a 229.5-point effort, which allowed Havre to cruse by Glasgow, which finished second with 182 points and the rest of the competition to take home the team title. Malta finished third with 87 and Chinook, another local team, was 10th with 49.

On their way to winning another team crown in Malta, the Ponies crowned six individual champions at the meet, starting with Mick Chagnon at 103 pounds. He defeated fellow Havre wrestler Riley Pleninger, a freshman, in an all-Havre final. While Riley Pleninger finished second at 103 pounds, his brother, Cameron Pleninger, took home first at 120 pounds knocking off Jake Meiers of Glasgow.

Joining Pleninger and Chagnon in first place were also Martin Wilkie (145), Lane Paulson (138), Connor Harris (152) and Austin Ratliff (205), who captured his first title at the meet a season ago and followed it up with a repeat thanks to a win over Tyler Pribbernow of Poplar.

In the other championship matches, Paulson defeated Pete Henderson of Choteau, Wilkie beat Trey Taylor of Circle and Harris won over Austin Vanek of Cut Bank.

In addition to having six wrestlers wind up at the top of the podium in their weight class, Havre placed 11 wrestlers total in the meet. Outside of Riley Pleninger, the other non-champions who placed were Kendall Pleninger, who got second at 126, Dominic Perkins who got third also at 126 pounds, Taylor Gopher, who was fourth at 170 pounds and Brayden Stadell, who finished fourth at 182 pounds.

Havre will head to the Eastern A Divisional tournament this week, as the Ponies will try to qualify as many wrestlers as they can for the All-Class state wrestling tournament the next weekend Billings.

Malta Invitational

Team scores: Havre 229.5, Glasgow 182, Malta 87, Circle 79.5, Cut Bank 78, Shepherd 74, Poplar 68, Conrad 67.5, Choteau 61, Chinook 49, Wolf Point 33, Chester-Joplin-Inverness 17, Harlem 4.

Order of finish

103: Mick Chagmon, Havre; Riley Pleninger, Havre; Langdon Smith, Shepherd; Jake Kuka, Glasgow.

113: Tugg Taylor, Circle; Roper Mycke, Conrad; Jase Frederick, Poplar; Jeffrey Colesworthy, Conrad.

120: Cameron Pleninger, Havre; Jake Meiers, Glasgow; Kierrin Rooney, Cut Bank; Danny Burshia, Wolf Point.

126: Colten Fast, Glasgow; Kendall Pleninger, Havre; Dominick Perkins, Havre; Dalton Brown, Conrad.

132: Oden Hallock, Glasgow; Kolter Schipmann, Malta-Whitewater; Cole Becker, Circle; Blake Gunderson, Choteau.

138: Lane Paulson, Havre; Pete Henderson, Choteau; Ron Barnhill, Conrad; Logan Boadle, Poplar.

145: Martin Wilkie, Havre; Trey Taylor, Circle; Callan Mears, Malta-Whitewater; Andrew Andersen, Cut Bank.

152: Connor Harris, Havre; Austin Vanek, Cut Bank; JT Hauer, Chinook; Kyler Hallock, Glasgow.

160: Calvin Maples, Choteau; Ty Kittleson, Glasgow; Favion Courturier, Chinook; Levi Beeler, Shepherd.

170: Dylan Nieskens, Glasgow; Mason Garfield, Wolf Point; Nate Gorham, Shepherd; Taylior Gopher, Havre.

182: Andres Lopez, Malta-Whitewater; Kameron Powell, Shepherd; Cooper Larson, Glasgow; Brayden Stadell, Havre.

205: Austin Ratliff, Havre; Tyler Pribbernow, Poplar; Gage Schmitt, Shepherd; Dylan Sullivan, Cut Bank.

285: Mayson Phipps, Glasgow; Reubin Swenson, Chester-Joplin-Inverness; Luke Lawless, Malta-Whitewater; Kyler Powell, Shepherd.