Blue Pony matmen aim for state

The Havre High wrestling team begins its postseason as the Blue Ponies head to the Eastern A Divisional at Sidney this Friday and Saturday. Havre will compete with the nine other teams from the Eastern A: Sidney, Lewistown, Miles City, Glendive, Hardin, Billings Central, Livingston, Laurel and Lockwood.

Sidney is the top-ranked team in the state and the heavy favorite. Other teams ranked ahead of Havre include Lewistown at third and Laurel at fourth. Havre is the fifth-ranked team in the state and right behind them are Miles City at sixth and Livingston at ninth.

"Sidney's obviously the team to beat. They've got one of the better teams I've seen in a long time," Havre head coach Beau LaSalle said. "Miles City and Lewistown will be right there at the top, too."

While LaSalle is looking forward to competing at divisionals, he is more focused on getting his team qualified and ready for the state tournament than the final results from this weekend.

"Divisionals are great but we're really gearing toward the state tournament," LaSalle said. "Divisionals is just the step to get there and get our kids qualified and in a good position for that first round match at state."

Havre will send 16 wrestlers into divisionals. Carson Harris will compete in the 113-pound weight class. Ranked wrestlers that he will face in that class include first-ranked Owen Lonski from Sidney and Austin Berry from Glendive. Havre Senior Mick Chagnon is ranked the second-best wrestler in the state at 120. He will compete with the likes of Kolby Hutzenbiler from Sidney and Aston Ulschak from Laurel. Changnon is also undefeated this season.

Dominic Perkins will represent the Ponies at 126 and will compete against Zander Dean of Sidney, Jonathan Herr from Laurel and Kason Olsen from Lewistown. Senior Hunter Velk and Jacob Kuntz will compete for Havre at 132 pounds where they will compete with Cooper Birdwell from Lewistown, Kolton Reid from Sidney, Curry Brown from Miles City and Devan Oneal from Billings Central.

Riley Pleninger is ranked sixth in the state at 138. Tough opponents that he will face include Jordan Darby from Sidney, Danyk Jacobsen from Livingston and Hayden Azure from Glendive. Twin brother, Kendall Pleninger and Mason Wilting will compete for the Ponies in the 145-pound class. They will face the state's top four wrestlers in that class: Damian Leidholt of Miles City, Zander Burnison of Sidney, Cody Harrington of Glendive and Wyatt Elam of Lewistown.

Competing for Havre at 152 will be Tristian Stygles and Wyatt Hansen. Notable wrestlers that they will go up against include Aden Graves of Sidney, Tyler Eminenth of Laurel, Ashton Grover of Lewistown and Alex Kober of Livingston. Kale VanCampen and Landon Caplette will compete at 160 for the Ponies. VanCampen is the state's fourth-ranked wrestler in that class and will compete against Kade Graves from Sidney, Cade Gubler from Livingston and Aaron Forster from Billings Central. Havre's Orion Thevierge is ranked first at 170 and is the defending state champion. Daniel Edmonds will also compete for the Ponies in that class. They will face ranked wrestlers such as Dylan Lutz from Sidney, Keaton Potter from Lewistown and Cole Younger from Laurel.

Randy Tommerup will wrestle for the Ponies at 182 and will compete against Landon Farrar from Lewistown and Easton Hopes from Sidney. Andrew LaRoque will wrestle at heavweight and will compete against Brody Skogen from Sidney, Gabe Walker from Miles City, Dylan Morris from Lewistown and Gabe Hernandez from Laurel. The Ponies are open at 205.

As the Ponies head into divisionals and possibly state, LaSalle is confident that his team is physically and technically prepared and all they need to focus on is the mental aspect of their game.

"We're to the point now in the season where we just have to be mentally ready to go. So the mental game right now is where our focus is," LaSalle said. "We're just going to get the kids feeling good and getting their minds in the right place to go compete for divisional and state championships."

The Ponies hit the mats for the Eastern A Divisional in Sidney, which runs Friday and Saturday. The top eight wrestlers in each weight class will advance to next weekend's Class A state tournament in Miles City.