Thompson Falls wrestler wins state

At the State Wrestling tournament in Billings, only six wrestlers from the western region of Montana made it to the Championship round. Of those six, only two walked away with a state title. Ben Conover of Thompson Falls was one of those wrestlers after winning state in the 145-weight class.

After beating Layne Durfee of Choteau-Augusta in the quarterfinals, it took a 4-2 decision in overtime against Chris Nile of Florence to earn a chance in the Championship Round. Ben Conover then proceeded to pin Shay Christiansen of Townsend in a time of 5.26 to take home the prize.

Conover wasn’t the only wrestler from Sanders County who had a top ten finish as Kris Beech and Ben Gorham from Plains both had a strong outing. Although both Beech and Gorham reached the semi finals, they were unable to grab a spot in the Championship Round. Beech was defeated by Dallen Brauer of Forsyth after a 12-2 decision while Gorham was pinned by Jack Clark of Choteau-Augusta in a time of 5.37. Beech finished third in the 152-weight class while Gorham finished sixth in the heavyweight class.

Another notable finish at state was by Rod Carew of Thompson Falls in the 105-weight class. Carew pinned James Wall of Belt in a time of 1.12. That enabled the wrestler to make it all the way the quarterfinals.

At state, the toughest realization a wrestler has to face is that the matchups in the early rounds are single elimination. You only get one chance against wrestlers from around the state. Jeremiah Chandler, Austin Johnson and John Onofrey of Noxon may not have moved past the first round but they demonstrated how skilled they are by reaching this level in the season.

Other wrestlers who represented Sanders County were Russell Kujala of Plains along with Thompson Falls wrestlers Joe Bowden, Lena Babcock, Wade Gascon, John Gunderson, Colton Bray and Eric Milner, and Braxton Eubanks. All these students achieved something special this season.