Plains wrestlers take medals home

Heather Hasty

Valley Press

This past weekend was a big weekend for wrestlers in Montana. The Choteau Classic Wrestling Tournament is the largest Class B/C tournament in Mont. other the state finals, having 27 teams in attendance this year. The competition is rough but Plains Hot Springs pulled through.

“For the first time since 2004 we had a wrestler in the finals, which is awesome,” Kenny Marjerrison, head coach said, “All told we ended up with three medalists at Choteau and finished in 16th place. We had a really good weekend.”

As a sophomore, wrestling at 112, Kenneth Beech finished in third place, an improvement from last years sixth. Beech wrestled five times during the two-day tournament before taking the third place rank. He was ranked third in the state and first in the Western Division. Beech currently carries a season record of 21-3.

“For a sophomore to place third at a tournament of this caliber is awesome,” Marjerrison said, “He is wrestling excellently right now and is exactly where we want him to be mentally and physically to prepare for state. I could not have asked for a better performance out of him last weekend based on the competition.”

Kyle Steinebach had a tough weekend; although he finished sixth he had to wrestle every match with renewed strength to get there.  According to Marjerrison in the quarter final round he was drawn against a returning state champion from Chinook.

“Kyle worked hard and kept wrestling tough all the way through his last match, even though he lost, which is all we can ask for,” Marjerrison said.

Taking second place as a senior at 171 pounds Chris Stobie had a great tournament. Stobie had to win three matches to get to the championships, two of which were ranked above him in the state polls.

“Chris went into the tournament as an unseeded wrestler and had a very tough road to the championship but he rose to the occasion and came out with a silver medal,” Marjerrison said, “The championship was the only disappointing part of Chris’ weekend. Although defeat is always difficult in wrestling, you always have to find ways to learn from the losses; we just hope that Chris makes those adjustments before the state tournament.”

Brandon Read also wrestled finished with a record of 2-2, leaving him one match away from placing.

“He improves with every match and is always eager to learn what he could improve on,” Marjerrison said, “Hopefully he can keep improving and maybe earn a trip to state in a few weeks.”