Pony grapplers look to beat the best at Class A Duals

The Havre High wrestling teams only have a few weeks left before divisionals begin in Laurel on Feb. 5. With little time left, the Blue Ponies hope to use that time to round into form and be at their best. One of their last chances to do that comes this weekend with the Class A Duals in Lewistown.

"I think this weekend we'll just establish where we're at in Class A for each individual kid because it's all Class A competition," HHS head coach Beau LaSalle said. "We just want kids to finally cement themselves into their spot and in the rankings"

It will be a dual tournament, with pool play taking place today and then getting put into brackets Saturday based on their performance in pool play. In their pool, the Ponies will compete in duals against Hamilton, Libby/Troy, Livingston, Billings Central and East Helena.

"All those teams are pretty scrappy," LaSalle said. "The team that sticks out teamwise the most is probably Livingston. I think they have the fullest lineup. Libby's got some tough kids. Hamilton's got some tough kids so there'll be some good individual matchups in those ones."

There are three other pools in the tournament. In one pool, Frenchtown, Miles City, Whitefish, Stevensville/Victor and Lockwood will face off. In another pool, Laurel, Ronan, Lewistown, Glendive and Dillon will all go at it. In the last pool, Sidney/Fairview, Columbia Falls, Corvallis, Hardin and Browning will wrestle against one another in duals. Once they get to the tournament, LaSalle believes Sidney, Laurel and Frenchtown would be their toughest possible duals.

The Ponies are coming off a sixth-place finish at the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula last weekend. As they look to build off of that and continue to march toward the postseason, many Ponies will have to continue their strong seasons. HHS Senior Orion Thiveriege, who usually wrestles in the 170-pound weight class, will look to keep up his strong performance this season as has won three tournaments this season and placed second at the CMR Holiday Classic last month.

Randy Tommerup has been wrestling well at 205 pounds this season. In the Havre and Cut Bank Invitationals, he took first in both those tournaments. Kale VanCampen, who wrestles at 182 pounds, has taken second in the Havre Invitational and has placed third in CMR, Cut Bank and the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic this season. Riley Pleninger has also shown well for Havre with a first-place finish in Havre and a second-place finish in Cut Bank.

The HHS girls wrestling team will also compete in their own dual tournament this weekend in Lewistown. That team is coming off a strong showing in Missoula last weekend where Maleigha Fuzesy placed second and Angelina Caplette and Aliyah Stiffarm placed third in their brackets.

After this weekend, the Ponies only have a dual and one tournament before the postseason begins. If they want to make some noise in February, they need to use this weekend to continue improving to be at their best when it matters the most.

The Class A Duals begin today in Lewistown with pool play. The tournament will continue on Saturday with bracket competition.