Blue Ponies look to stay strong on the mats

The Havre High wrestling team had a solid end to the season this past March. Along with finishing sixth as a team at state, two Blue Ponies won state titles. As they get ready for this season, HHS head coach Beau LaSalle hopes for a similar outcome this winter.

"The expectations are the same as they always have been - compete hard every weekend and by the end of the year, come home with a trophy from the state tournament," LaSalle said.

Many Pony wrestlers return to hopefully lead the team to success on the mats. Orion Thivierge returns after winning a state title wrestling in the 170-pound weight class last year. Kale VanCampen also returns after placing sixth at state where he wrestled at 160. The Blue Ponies did lose two-time state champion Mick Chagnon.

Riley Pleninger also brings state experience into his senior season. Last year, he wrestled at state and finished fourth at the Eastern A Divisionals.

Carson Harris returns for his sophomore season after wrestling at state last season and placing sixth in the Eastern A Divisionals. Senior Kendall Pleninger brings back postseason experience as he wrestled at state and took sixth at divisionals. Randy Tommerup also returns after taking fifth at divisionals. Dominic Perkins returns for his senior season after taking sixth at divisionals and Zale Thomas will wrestle at 285 pounds in his junior season this season.

The Ponies also have some underclassmen who might be able to make an impact on the mats this season. Foreign exchange student Lukas Fahl will try out wrestling for the Ponies, competing at 160 pounds. Freshmen such as Pierce Caplette, Jack Gillen, Matthew Lemer, Tate Nelson and Colter Soloman join the program this season while sophomores such as Trystan Stygles, Landon Caplette, Andrew LaRoque and Mason Wilting hope to get more time after wrestling at divisionals last season. Other sophomores on the team this season include Gavin Moffit, Reinhardt Bold, Jacob Kunz and Brisbin Reiter.

The HHS girls wrestling team will be made up of mostly sophomores this season. Aaliyah Stiffarm returns for the Ponies after placing third at state last year and will wrestle at 205 pounds this winter. Maliegha Fuzesy will wrestle at 138 pounds, Brooklyn Nelson will wrestle at 120 pounds and Clara Laird will either wrestle in the 170 or 205-pound weight class this winter.

With the season beginning later this week, LaSalle believes his wrestlers are healthy and are on track to be ready for the season.

"We're in a good spot. Everybody came out of fall sports and things like that healthy," LaSalle said. "They look sharp and they still look hungry. The returners are a little disappointed with last year's finish so they're hungry to improve on that."

The Ponies will begin the season this weekend when they host the Havre Mixer at the HHS gymnasium. The Ponies will wrestle against schools such as Lewsitown, Cut Bank, Chinook, Big Sandy, Malta and CJI. But the Ponies look forward to their duals against Sidney and Lewistown this season.

"Always good to see where you measure up against some of the best teams in the Class A," LaSalle said.

But LaSalle also looks forward to the Mining City Dual in Butte, the CMR Holiday Classic in Great Falls and the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula this season. In Missoula, the Ponies will get to wrestle against schools from other states such as Idaho, Wyoming and Washington.

"Those are some of the big tournaments that the kids get excited to go to and they see where they stack up with the rest of the state," LaSalle said.

The Ponies have a long and tough season ahead of them, but LaSalle believes they have it within themselves to pull it together and perform well on the mats this winter. In the Eastern A, Havre will have to contend with powerhouse Sidney yet again, while Laurel is also strong, as is Lewistown. In Class A, Sidney will be the team to beat, while from the west, Polson and Frenchtown are always strong as well.

"Everybody's going to have to compete hard all the time," LaSalle said. "As a team, we can't take moments off in duals or moments off in individual matches. We have to wrestle hard through the whole six minutes and if we do that and we work hard in practice and compete hard, good things will happen."

The Ponies begin the season with the Havre Mixer at the HHS gymnasium that starts Friday at 4 p.m. and 10 a.m. on Saturday.