Lights crown three champs, place seven at Spokane Open

The Montana State University-Northern Lights are off to a great start this wrestling season. And it continued last Sunday in Spokane, Washington.

Northern wound up second at the Spokane Open, a traditionally tough tournament the Lights, of head coach Tyson Thivierge, have been competing in for years.

Among the individual successes for the Lights, they placed seven grapplers overall, landed four in the finals and crowned three champions.

Isaac Bartel cruised to a title at 197 pounds, while NaKoda Siegel won at 174 pounds. But the best performance was by MSU-N 165-pounder Chase Short, who won the team title at 165 pounds, and was named the tournament’s Most Outstanding Wrestler. The Lights also got a second-place finish from former Havre Blue Pony Martin Wilkie at 141 pounds.

Other Lights to reach the podium Sunday included, freshman Collin Silverthorn, who placed sixth at 149 pounds, Carl Hansen, who finished third at 184, and Rylan Moldenhauer, who finished sixth at 285.

The Lights will return home to dual Cascade Conference rival Southern Oregon Dec. 2 then go to the Battle of the Rockies Dec 4 in Great Falls.