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Young Polson wrestlers weather adversity

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POLSON — The Polson Pirates, coming off two straight division titles, have one of the youngest teams head coach Bob Owen has ever led. 

The Pirate wrestling squad boasts a large roster of 29 athletes; however, of these 29 wrestlers, only two are seniors. This, compared with the team’s five freshmen. 

Three of these freshmen hold starting positions in the three heaviest weight classes — 185, 215 and 285 pounds. 

“When you have freshmen in those upper weights, it’s tough because they’ll be wrestling against juniors and seniors,” Owen said. 

In addition, the team has already weathered two serious injuries — one surgery to repair a torn meniscus and one concussion. 

“We’re really hoping we can get everybody back in the lineup before too long,” Owen said. “That would really help us out, but even when we do have everybody, we’re a very young team.”

While the Pirates are young and injured, as the age-old saying goes, “Never judge a book by its cover.”

“We have some good, young talent that, in the long run, will be pretty competitive at their weight,” Owen said. “We’ve got a new class of kids who are working really hard in the wrestling room, and I’m encouraged (by) where they’re going to be as we progress through this season.”

Junior Carlos Quinones is ranked second in the 119-pound bracket at the state level. 

Fellow junior Dylan Moll, 125 pounds, is ranked fourth in the state, along with senior Craig Feistner at 145 pounds. 

“Feistner has been far and away our top wrestler,” Owen said. “His only two losses came at the tri-state tournament in Coeur D’Alene and he was in the toughest weight class. Even those two matches he lost were great matches.”

Fresh off a first-round pin at the Western Montana Duals in Ronan last weekend, Feistner said the thing he’ll miss the most after graduation would be his coaches. 

“They’ve helped out throughout all the years and they’re there for you,” he said. 

In addition, Feistner said Owen’s son Pat, a new assistant coach, had helped tremendously with the team’s technique, as he had spent the past four years as a coach for Harvard University’s wrestling squad.

“It’s actually going really well,” Feistner said of Pat’s coaching debut with the team. “He’s helping us a lot, showing us a lot more moves and showing us different things we can use in different situations ... he’s helped us out a lot on technique.”

Owen said as a coach, one of the things he tries to do is teach goal-setting skills and help the athletes understand that it takes a unified group supporting each other for individuals to succeed. 

“You have to have your teammates care about what you do, so we spend a lot of time talking about those kinds of things,” he said.  

The strategy seems to be working. Feistner said the seniors get along very well with the freshmen and that he does his best to show them how to have fun and get better at the same time because, “At this level, you have nothing to lose.”

Owen said if he is able to get everyone healthy and back in the lineup, the team should be competitive at the divisional tournament. Polson finished fifth at the Western Montana Duals (see page 30 for complete results), after beating Libby 54-37 at home on Thursday.

The Pirates will host Columbia Falls Thursday at 6 p.m. before traveling to Missoula for the Rocky Mountain Classic and John Fisher Invitational this weekend.

 

Polson 54, Libby 37

 

98 - Polson win, Libby forfeit

105 - Cody Hedeen, P, pin Ty Height, 5:20 

112 – Triston Caye, P, pin Dylan Roby, 1:05 

119 – Carlos Quinones, P, pin Ian Edwards, 1:47

125 – Zack Crase, L, dec. Dylan Moll, 7-2 

130 – Michael Ayala, L, pin Rhett Burland, 1:30

135 – Skylar Higareda, L, pin Drew Fouty, 1:30

140 - Polson win, Libby forfeit

145 – Craig Feistner, P, pin Ricky Roach, 1:23 

152 – Garrett Chapel, L, pin Jared Young, 4:23

160 – Josh Bowers, L, maj. dec. Tel Motichka, 15-5 

171 - Polson win, Libby forfeit

189 - Both teams forfeit

215 – Mike Corrigan, P, pinned Zack Dolezal, 1:50

Hwt - Libby win, Polson forfeit

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