Plains performs well at Quad, Chaoteau

PLAINS - The band of Plains and Hot Springs wrestlers just keep improving with time as they progress with tournaments and challenges.

They hosted a Quad Tournament on Thursday, and had found some success on the mat against some tough competition, according to Coach Marjerrison.

“Any time you line up across from Ronan, you just never really know,” Coach Marjerrison said. “They’re a powerhouse team. But you know, our kids wrestled really well with them.”

The main highlight was that of sophomore Russell Kujala’s win over Ronan’s Chase Ryan in the 125-pound class, which was not an easy task, according to Coach Marjerrison.

“Russell has had a banner year so far,” he said.

Another highlight from the Quad was the fact that both of the Savage Horsemen heavyweights beat both of Ronan’s heavyweights.

“Ben and Brandon did really well, and Ronan kids are very tough and very good, so it goes to show that we’re getting better,” he said. On a whole, of the 17 matches, the Savage Horsemen won 10 of them.

“We had a better weekend in Choteau,” Coach Marjerrison said and then explained why.

“It’s a Class B-C tournament only, and they try to make it as close to like the state tournament as possible, and there were 27 teams there,” Coach Marjerrison said. “It’s a meat grinder, and every year, we go into it not expecting much, but this was different. Of those 27 teams, we placed 11th overall. We haven’t done that in 12 or 13 years. And, we got a tournament champion, which hasn’t happened since 2002.”

That champion was Russell Kujala.

“His was a huge victory,” Coach Marjerrison said. “Russell had a really awesome weekend. He’s a very disciplined and commited individual, and it shows. He’s at the school nearly every morning to work out before class, and then he comes to practice after school. With winning the Choteau tourney, it sets him ranked 3rd in state, and we’re setting pretty well, for a sophomore. We were stoked. I have never had one [tournament champion] for as long as I’ve coached.”

As for other Plains-Hot Springs wrestlers at Choteau, two more medaled and contributed to the team’s success.

“Ben Gorham got third in his weight class, he did extremely well,” Coach Marjerrison said. “He probably should’ve won, but then suffered a crushing lost. It was hard for him to take, hard for us to take. You see, he was beating his opponet 4-0, but then he got excited, he rolled through and then the other kid got the pin. Ben was the better wrestler, but the other guy got the pin. A pin is ultimate, and final. But Ben rallied very well after that, which is good because sometimes kids struggle with a loss, and he didn’t have a problem with coming back. He pinned the next kid in 10 seconds, which is very rare in the heaveyweight class. So, Ben worked his way back in, and got third.”

“Logan Goodwin – he was the most unexpected medal we received ever because of the weight class AND he’s a freshman. He took 4th overall in his weight class. The best weekend of his entire wrestling career,” Coach Marjerrison said.

The boys will face off more foes this weekend at the Thompson Falls Invitational Tournament.

That’s always a pretty decent tourney,” Coach Marjerrison said. “There’s always have very good competition, and Thompson Falls has a lot of pretty tough kids. We’re hoping to take three or four medals, becuase the kids are on a roll.”