Savage Horsemen wrestlers bring it to the mat
<p>Plains junior Caleb Connolly grapples with an opponet from Polson at the Mission Mountain Classic on Dec. 22.</p>
PLAINS - Head coach of Plains/Hot Springs wrestling Kenny Marjerrison is quite proud of his squad so far this season.
The band of nine has racked up some serious stats that have Marjerrison looking to Divionals and State with a girn; and each tournament the team attends brings them closer to improvement, better results, and a chance in February.
“We focus on conditioning the most,” Coach Marjerrsion said. “Probably more conditioning than any other sport. We’re very reacitve. We film at every meet we go to and make lists of things that need to be worked on, like points of technique that they may or may not have seen yet, and we also do a lot of live wrestling in the week.”
At the Mission Mountain Classic last weekend, the Savage Horsemen made a showing with 18-8; Hot Springs sophomore Brandon Shay made his first showing in three years’ break from the mat. Shay went 2-2, which mpressed Coach Marjerrison.
“He [Shay] hadn’t wrestled in three years, so I wasn’t sure how he would do,” Coach Marjerrison said. “But he did good, and he’ll get better.”
Other notable wrestlers are Russell Kujala, Ben Gorham, Logan Goodwin and Caleb Connolly. According to Coach Marjerrison, Kujala currently stands 13-1 in his weight class, while teammate Gorham stands 13-1 in the heavyweight class. Goodwin, a freshman, has placed at every meet he has gone to - taking 4th in Superior and 3rd in Eureka. Coach Marjerrison said that for a freshman in the mid-weight class to do so well so soon opens a lot of possibility. Goodwin has a bright future in the sport ahead of him, it would appear. Connolly is another up-and-coming after a few years’ worth of struggle.
“He has made an amazing transformation,” Coach Marjerrison said of Connolly. “In his freshman and sophomore years, he won a total of four matches. This year, as a junior in the 215 class, he’s gone 13-5 so far, and he’s a huge success story of our program, and the training progrma of Jeff Kujala. He came in every day this last summer with them, worked out, lifted, and it’s finally paying off.”
With each meet they attend and compete at, they gain more experience on the mat.
“We try to get them into as many matches as possible at these bracket meets,” Coach Marjerrison said. “Teh more experience, the better. By the time they reach Divisionals, they’ll hopefully have about 40 under their belt.”