Alberton co-ops with Frenchtown

Alberton might not have a wrestling program of its own, but three Alberton students are traveling over to Frenchtown to co-op with the Broncs wrestling program. Cody Ishler, Roy Schutter and Jacob Beckwith are wrestling for the Frenchtown Broncs this season.

Winning state his freshman year and taking second last year at state, Coach Bob Henderson is looking forward to some great things from Ishler this season.

“We’re looking for some big things out of Cody this season and not just on the mat, but in the role of leadership as well,” Henderson said.

Ishler wrestled last weekend at Polson and took second place in the weight division of 125 pounds.

“He had a tough semifinal match against a kid out of Columbia Falls,” Henderson said. “We knew it was going to be a good match right off the bat and I think Cody will be right with him when he sees him again later in the season.”

Henderson said that it was a slow start, but expects that Ishler is going to be right up in second or first place as he gets going.

“Cody is a competitor and he will always be right there. He’s always been like that,” Henderson said. “I’m hoping he’s going to be the top two again at state and any place but there is not in his vocabulary.”

Schutter, who Henderson will wrestle at 112 pounds this season, had to be bumped up last weekend to the 119 pound division when he missed his weight class.

“He didn’t place this past weekend, but he wrestled well and just gave up too much being a few pounds over,” Henderson said.

Schutter also went to the state competition last year and Henderson is hoping that he will find a place in the lineup again this season.

“He’s turning into a great athlete and has great potential,” Henderson said.

Finally, Beckwith is filling the depth on Frenchtown’s junior-varsity squad and is in his second year of wrestling.

“He didn’t get to wrestle this past weekend, but he’s a very coachable individual. I’m hoping he’ll have a great season this year,” Henderson said, “and find his way to a winning record.”

Henderson has a total of 33 kids this year with eleven of those kids having gone to state in the past years, six of them placing.

“I don’t think we’re a powerhouse team. We have some young kids that went to state and are returning,” Henderson, who is working on getting them spaced out in weight classes. “I think we’ll be all right though when state rolls in. We just got to bide time.”

Henderson said that a lot of the first few weeks were spent getting the technique down and focusing on conditioning.

“They know the technique, but it’s getting it step by step perfected,” Henderson said. “Conditioning plays a big role as well.”

Henderson said if they do everything right and practice hard, everything should fall into place when state rolls around.