Blue Ponies head to Butte for Mining City Duals

After opening the season at home last weekend, the Havre High wrestling teams will go on the road to Butte. Tonight, the Blue Ponies will compete in the Butte Central Mixer before competing in the Mining City Duals in Butte this Friday and Saturday. Now that they are finally on the mats, HHS head coach Beau LaSalle wants to see his wrestlers continue to do well this weekend.

"(We expect to) just improve on where we were last weekend with our guys and girls. When it comes to these duals, it's a good chance to get a lot of matches and a lot of mat time," LaSalle said. "It's a good chance for the kids to see some other guys from AA schools and some of the bigger schools and just come together and compete hard."

The Ponies start their trip with the Butte Central Mixer tonight, which will be a small tournament where they will compete against Corvallis, Lewistown and Butte Central. The main event will then be the Mining City Duals over the weekend where the Ponies will compete against several AA schools.

On Friday, the Ponies will compete in several duals in their pool. Along with CMR and Browning, the Ponies will wrestle a dual against Kalispell, which LaSalle believes is one of the best teams at the tournament this weekend. If they do well Friday, the Ponies will head to the championship bracket through the rest of the weekend where they will compete in more duals.

There will be many other programs in the tournament such as Belgrade, Billings Senior, Billings Skyview, Bozeman, Butte, Columbia Falls, Frenchtown, Helena Capital, Missoula Hellgate, Missoula Sentinel, Billings West and Ronan. Along with Kalispell, LaSalle expects Billings West to be one of the toughest teams at the tournament.

After strong starts to the season, several Ponies will look to build on that this weekend. After taking first in last weekend's tournament, Matthew Lemer will wrestle in the 120-pound weight class and Carson Harris will wrestle in the 126-pound weight class.

After taking first last weekend as a freshman, Reed Mantle will look to continue his strong start as he will wrestle at 126 pounds. Reinhard Bold will look to do well this weekend as he will wrestle at 152 pounds. Teegan Solomon and Colter Solomon should also get chances on the mats this weekend as Teegan will wrestle at 113 pounds and Colter will wrestle at 126 pounds.

Braydon Knoles will wrestle for the Ponies at 132 pounds while Justin Awtrey will wrestle at 138 pounds. Tristan Stygles will wrestle at 145 pounds while his teammate Tate Nelson will wrestle at 160 pounds.

Daniel Edmonds will wrestle at 160 pounds after finishing second last weekend. Landen Caplette and Rowdy Doney will both wrestle at 170 pounds for the Ponies. Kale Van Campen will wrestle at 182 pounds while Pierce Caplette, Brandon Healy, Mason Wilting and Blake Wilson will wrestle at 205 pounds this weekend. Tommy Lewis will wrestle at 285 pounds for the Ponies.

The HHS girls wrestling team will also compete this weekend at the Whitehall Invite in Whitehall. It will be a dual tournament where the Ponies will compete against teams from across the region.

Aliyah Stiffarm will look to build off her first-place finish at last weekend's tournament as she will wrestle at 235 pounds this weekend. Brooke Nelson and Brooklyn Wilting will both wrestle at 138 pounds while Clara Laird and Angelina Caplette will both compete at 185 pounds. Other wrestlers for the HHS girls team this weekend include McKenna Caplette at 120 pounds, Maleigha Azure at 132 pounds and Aubree Erickson at 145 pounds.

The Ponies are just one tournament into their season and they have a long road ahead of them before the postseason in February. While he wants to see improvement in his wrestlers this weekend, LaSalle also wants them to enjoy the atmosphere in Butte this weekend.

"It's just a fun tournament. It's one of my favorites of the year," LaSalle said. "It's a fun environment to wrestle in. The fans get excited to watch and they get to watch the team together all at one time. So it's just a fun tournament and I'm excited to go."

The Butte Central Mixer will begin tonight at 6 p.m. and the Mining City Duals will begin Friday at 9 a.m. The Whitehall Invite will begin at 9 a.m. Friday.