Plains-Hot Springs finishes 5th at Choteau Invite
The Plains/Hot Springs Savage Horsemen continued to show they are a wrestling force with which to be reckoned as they used individual performances and team depth to propel them to a fifth place finish in the Choteau Invitational wrestling tournament this past week in Choteau.
Plains/Hot Springs swept the top two spots in the 132 pound category as teammates John Waterbury and Drew Carey fought to a 12-8 decision win by Waterbury, a Hot Springs student, over Carey, who attends Plains.
Those two placings helped the two-school wrestling co-op amass 133.5 team points on their way to another upper tier team showing. Jefferson High of Boulder won the boys portion of the meet with 224.5. Cut Bank was second, Whitehall captured third and Florence-Carlton came in fourth, ahead of Plains/Hot Springs in the two-day meet.
Thompson Falls boys, meanwhile, rode the individual title won by 160-pounder Eli Ratliff to an 11th place team finish. The Blue Hawks also got a second place medal from Max Hannum in the 170-pound category as they piled up 97.0 team points.
Both local schools’ girls also fared well in Choteau, with Plains/Hot Springs getting an individual title at 145 pounds from Lillian McDonald, which helped them finish ninth in the team standings. Simms girls won the tournament.
The Thompson Falls girls finished 14 in the team chase on the strength of a third-place medal captured by 235-pounder Veronica Bewick.
A total of four Savage Horsemen wrestlers place in the top six in their weight classes during the meet, which comes on the heels of Plains/Hot Springs strong showing last weekend at the Western Montana Duals meet in Ronan.
Highlight of the day for the co-op was no doubt the 132-pound title bout between Waterbury and Carey. Waterbury’s narrow decision over his teammate Carey was a demonstration in team depth.
The win boosted Waterbury’s season mark to 22 wins vs three losses, while Carey is now 17-3 on the year. Plains also got a fourth place medal from Gavin Schrenk in the 113 division, and a fifth place effort from his brother Brady Schrenk at 160 pounds.
McDonald, meanwhile, took home the girls 145-pound title with a quick pin over Joli Beston of Wolf Point in the first round of their championship bout. McDonald ran her season mark to 14-3 with the win.
Thompson Falls wrestler Eli Ratliff, a senior who has notched several tournament wins in the 160-pound category so far this year, powered out a third period fall over Percy Bechtold of host Choteau, pinning him to the mat at the 5:34 mark. Ratliff’s victory boosted his season mark to a sparkling 24-1.
The Blue Hawks almost had a second individual champ but Max Hannum came up short at 170 pounds, losing a 14-2 major decision to Whitehall’s Miles Hoerauf.
This year’s Choteau event attracted boys and girls teams from 18 mostly Class B schools from throughout Western and Northern Montana.
Plains/Hot Springs grapplers have a busy week ahead of them with scheduled “mixers” Tuesday in Superior and Thursday on their home mats at Plains High. They will then head to Thompson Falls this weekend to take part in the Ted Kato Invitational meet hosted by the Blue Hawks.
Thompson Falls hosts the Thompson Falls Dual event this Friday, then returns as hosts for the Ted Kato Invivational over the weekend.