Wrestling team brings home more medals
Heather Hasty
Valley Press
The wrestling team traveled to Thompson Falls this weekend for the annual Ted Kato tournament and once again had a great outcome. Thirteen teams attended including Timberlake ID, Glacier JV, Flathead JV and Sentinel JV. Plains/Hot Springs brought home three medal winners this last weekend.
Chris Stobie, a senior wrestling at 171, won four matches on Saturday to take the Ted Kato title. In his first round match he pinned Mackenzie Crabb from Superior in 2:00. Stobie wrestled Justin McManus from Sentinel in the quarterfinal match; he won by a tech fall 17-2. In the semifinal match Stobie wrestled Caplan Weare from Noxon who he decisioned 10-6 taking him to the championship round. In the final round he wrestled Josh Suthard from Flathead and decisioned him 11-8.
“Chris had a great weekend again this weekend and is really wrestling well,” Kenny Marjerrison, head coach, said, “Chris is really enjoying his senior year and the next three weeks should be even better if he keeps progressing as he is right now. After this weekend, Chris’ overall record improved to 24-2.
Kenneth Beech won three matches on Saturday, wrestling at 112 to win his Ted Kato title. Beech pinned Ryan Allen from Noxon in 2:27 in his first round match. His semifinal match was against Austin Kinser from Thompson Falls who he major decisioned 12-0 taking him to the finals. In the championship round Beech took down Taylor Gatchel from Superior 7-3.
“With another great weekend behind him, Kenneth is taking the season one match at a time with an eye for the state tournament,” Marjerrison said, “He is wrestling great right now and just needs to keep doing what he is doing. Kenneth improved his record to 25-3 with the first place at the Kato.”
Rio Crismore, a junior wrestling at 105, took fourth place this weekend as well. She wrestled Dakotta Kinser in the semifinal match, which she ended up losing 11-9 despite putting up a fight. To get into the third and fourth match Crismore wrestled Tim Maldanado from Timberlake who she pinned in 3:36. Unfortunately Crismore ended up losing in the consolation to Jake Stueben of Flathead leaving her in fourth place.
“Rio really turned a corner this weekend,” Marjerrison said, “She wrestled better than I have seen her wrestle all year, it was a great weekend for her.”
Omar Vazquez and Brandon Read were one match off of placing this tournament but wrestled tough all weekend. They are both new to wrestling this year.
“It is really rewarding to see kids like these two who have never wrestled before win some matches,” Marjerrison said, “All of these kids work extremely hard and not having experience can make for a very long season so it is great to see them pick up some wins. It is possible that if both of them keep continually improving they could qualify for state.”
The weekend came out great for most of the wrestlers and they look forward to their last home dual in Plains Thursday night at 6 p.m.
“It would be great to see an many fans there as possible,” Marjerrison said.