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Polson 

News from Polson High School

WHITEFISH — Columbia Falls placed 17 wrestlers to outscore Polson for the Divisional title on Saturday, Feb 6, in Whitefish.

“We came out of the blocks a little slow on Friday, and we dropped a couple of matches that we should have won. That gave Columbia Falls a pretty big lead,” Head Coach Bob Owen said. “Their large numbers served them well in this level of tournament.”

Despite their second place finish at Divisional, Owen is pleased with the results.

“We set ourselves up well for the state with the number of wrestlers that we got into the top four slots,” Owen said.

Twelve Pirates finished in the top eight of their weight classes to punch their ticket to the State Wrestling Tournament in Billings this Friday and Saturday. Eight of the 12 wrestlers finished in the top three, which will help their seeding in the state bracket tremendously.

Mateo Quinones (103) upset his teammate R.J. Pierre to claim the title at that weight class. Both wrestlers are favorites at their weight in state.

“Saturday was a completely different story as the Pirates, led by Mateo Quinones’ big pin over Ashley Nelson in the semi-finals, provided the spark that led to a great day of wrestling, Owen said.

Bridger Wenzel dominated his 120-pound weight, scoring four straight pins. He won the “Jug Beck” trophy for the wrestler with the most pins in the least time.

Cameron Brown also had an outstanding tournament at 132 pounds as he dominated one of the toughest weight classes.

At 126 pounds, Thunder Morales had the biggest upset of the day for the Pirates when he defeated the second-seeded Ben Windauer from Columbia Falls in the semi-finals. He took a loss in the finals, but set himself up for a great run at state.

Parker Adler pinned his way into the finals, but unfortunately got caught in a funky move in the first period of the championship match and was pinned. He will definitely be in the mix at the state in his weight class, according to Owen. 

Mike Corrigan met his old rival from Hamilton, Jason Hinson, in the finals of the 205-pound weight. Hinson came up with a 6-4 decision this time. Like the other finalists, Mike’s second-place finish will put him in a great position to place well at state.

Freshman, Koby Garcia put his best showing of the year on the mats Saturday. He avenged an earlier defeat going into the consolation finals where he overcame an earlier loss to Colton McPhee from Columbia Falls, beating the Wildcat by decision 10-6.

Colton Cote also reached the consolation finals losing a 10-7 decision to Kyle McCaullum from Corvallis.

Jabin Wenzel won his fifth place match over Drew Schmitt of Corvallis.

Noah Humphrey finished eighth in the 182-pound class.

In the heavyweight, Nick Marquart finished in fourth place and will advance with the rest to the State Tournament this weekend.

“Our guys are chomping at the bit to get to Billings and finish some goals they have set for the team and individually,” Owen said.

The Polson Pirates will head to Billings Thursday, Feb. 11, to start their weekend at State Wrestling. 

 

Ronan

RONAN – The Ronan Chiefs wrestled at their Divisional tournament on Friday, Feb. 5-6, in Florence.

“The team wrestled well,” Head Coach James Muir said.

Muir is excited to see his wrestlers peak at State starting Friday, Feb. 12, in Billings.

Jared Neiss and Hunter Peterson are two of the Ronan wrestlers ready to make a mark in their final match this season.  

“Our team will make noise at the state tournament,” Muir said. “The Chiefs are looking at leaving an exclamation point on the season next weekend.”

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