Savage Horsemen perform well during senior day
<p><strong>Demi Horton stands with her parents, Robert Horton and Tammy Marjerrison, as she is recognized during senior day for the Plains-Hot Springs wrestling team.</strong></p>
<p><strong>Jake Lile and his parents, Jerrod and Ruthie Lile, were all smiles as he was honored during senior day for the Savage Horsemen wrestling team.</strong></p>
On Saturday Plains/Hot Springs hosted their senior night mixer. Teams in attendance were the Arlee warriors, Superior bobcats and the St Ignatius/Charlo bulldogs. It was a fairly quick day but the kids got some quality matches in before heading in to the post season week. Daniel Uli went 3-0 on the day and continues to improve. He is getting better by the day and is really looking good for going in to the divisional tournament. Terrence Caldwell went 0-2 on the day but wrestled a couple decent matches. You can always count on Terrence to work exceptionally hard and never give up and Saturday was no exception to that. Josiah Vanderwall was 1-2 on the day and despite a nagging elbow injury wrestled very well. Josiah always brings a ton of energy and positive attitude to the team.
Kenzie Angle also went 1-2 Saturday marking a second round pin over Arlee’s James Crazyboy. Kenzie improves every week and continues to push herself to be better. Jake Lile had another exceptionally dominant performance going 3-0 with 2 first round pins and one technical fall. Luke Lile also had a great day going 2-0 with 2 first round pins. Luke is progressing very well and looking poised to place at divisionals. James Detienne also went 2-0 on the day and avenged an earlier loss by beating Trent Dennison of St Ignatius/Charlo 11-3. The win over Dennison was huge, he is the number 1 seeded kid in the division so to get that win back was an awesome match. James is just such a tough kid and he never stops, he will be a top contender at divisonals and state. Overall we feel the kids wrestled fairly well on Saturday. There is always plenty of room for improvement but by and large we are looking pretty good going into the divisional tournament.
In regards to Jake and Demi, it is always difficult to watch kids leave that you have spent an exceptional amount of time with. These two seniors in particular are going to be incredibly hard to see move on. First of all, Demi has been an integral part of our program for the last two years but beyond that she is also my only niece and we have been very close her entire life. It is going to be extremely hard to watch her move on to the next phase of her life but exciting as well to see who she becomes as an adult. I have coached Jake for the last seven or so years and have watched him transform from a very nonathletic child to an extremely determined premier wrestler. Jake is one of those kids that you hate to see leave your program. He is a leader, motivator and always leads by example giving more than 100% every match and every practice. He has become a close friend and he will be sorely missed by the entire team. I have always said being a wrestling coach is a bittersweet profession because you spend so much time with kids over the 4 years that they are in your care. You get to know them on a very personal level and watch them grow into young adults, and then as quickly as they came in to your life as freshmen, they graduate and leave as seniors. It is undeniable that over the course of the next couple weeks there will be some smiles, as well as tears as I am forced to let go of these two wonderful individuals. I love them both like my own and I will miss them immeasurably.