Havre wrestling takes second at state

After a strong first day at the All-Class State wrestling tournament, the Havre High Blue Ponies looked to keep things rolling at the Metra in Billings on Saturday. While they did have a rough start to their day, the Ponies gathered themselves to finish second in the Class A, capped off by a state title from Orion Thivierge.

"Not so hot of a morning and then in that next round, we didn't have a great round either," HHS head coach Beau LaSalle said. "But the kids responded in the placing rounds and got us a lot of pins and put us in a position for Orion to finish it off in the finals and take home second place."

In his championship match at 170 pounds, Thivierge made quick work of Sidney's Grady Nelson with a pin just 48 seconds into the match. In his final match as a Pony, Thivierge was surprised by how quickly he took care of business to wrap up the title.

"I was expecting a six-minute battle. He's a tough kid but we got in a situation and I just felt it and sometimes that's all you need," Thivierge said.

With the title, Thivierge ends his high school career with three straight state championships. Thivierge put himself in position to clinch another title with a win in the semifinals on Saturday morning. Against Brandon Role from Columbia Falls, Thivierge won by pin 3:03 into the match.

While Thivierge won a semifinal to start the day, his teammates were not as fortunate as the other six Ponies in the semi finals did not win their matches. But they were able to respond to get the Ponies some team points.

In his first consolation match at 152 pounds, senior Riley Pleninger pinned Tate Hanson from Dillon. In the third-place match, Pleninger won by fall 2:39 into his match against Owen Younger from Laurel.

"I just got my head right and worked for the next best thing," Pleninger said about rebounding to take third.

Tristian Stygles placed fourth for the Ponies at 138 pounds. After losing in the semis, he pinned Trae DeSaveur from Livingston. At 145 pounds, Reinhard Bold won the fifth-place match with a pin against Andrew Carmody from Hamilton.

In his fifth-place match at 182 pounds, Kale VanCampen won, 3-0, against Cody Todd from Billings Central. At 205 pounds, Randy Tommerup finished his career with a fifth-place finish after winning, 6-2, against his teammate Pierce Caplette. With the loss, Caplette finished sixth in the tournament.

Some of the Ponies that placed on Saturday went through the consolation after losing in the quarterfinals on Friday. At 120 pounds, Havre's Carson Harris won, 6-5, in the fifth-place match against Beau Contreraz from Lockwood. At 160 pounds, Kendall Pleninger won his fifth-place match with a pin 36 seconds in against Laurel's Beau Mares.

The Havre High girls wrestling team was represented by Aliyah Stiffarm on Saturday. She finished fourth wrestling at 205 pounds for the Ponies. After losing in the semifinals to start the day, she won with a pin 34 seconds into her consolation match against Celia Jaeger from Billings Senior.

With the tournament wrapped up, the Ponies finished the season as the second-best team in Class A. While they had an opportunity to do even better, LaSalle believes it will be a good jumping off point for next season.

"Second is not the goal obviously but we're happy with the way the kids performed and it was something to build on from here on out," Thivierge said.