Pirates kick off wrestling season with Polson Invite

The Polson Pirates will kick off their wrestling season this week with the annual Polson Invitational, as the team looks to regroup and fill the void left by four grapplers who placed at state and graduated last year.

The team lost Kevin Owen, Logan Kugler, Kaine Zetterberg and Colby Wolfenden to graduation, but will return a host of wrestlers who got good state experience last year.

"Those guys were all multiple state placers, so that took a pretty good whack out of our team this year," said head coach Bob Owen.

But the team will have multiple wrestlers returning who got state experience last year, which is a good sign. This year's team will include Shane Ludwick who placed fifth at state last year and will probably wrestle in the 112 class; junior Conlin Benson, who placed second at state and will probably wrestle at 119 this year; Logan Torgison, who placed third at state last year and who will wrestle at the 125 class this year; junior Pat Dellwo, who took sixth at state and will wrestle in either the 140 or 145 weight class; and heavyweight Aaron Jones, a senior this year, who took sixth at state last year.

The team will also have Bryce Picard, who took fifth at state in the Class B/C meet while wrestling for Mission last year. Picard will wrestle in the 189 weight class. Sophomore Shawn Medland will also return after doing a great job at the 98 class last year, taking third at divisionals after losing a tough match-up by one point. Billy Johnson, a junior, will also help the team this year, after being injured just prior to the state tourney. Johnson will probably wrestle in the 152 class this year.

The team is still looking to fill spots at the 130 and 135 pound weight classes. Owen said the turnout wasn't as good this year as he had hoped, but that he's glad to have so many wrestlers back with state experience. That experience will be put to the test Saturday when Polson hosts its annual Invitational, in which 12 other AA, A and B/C teams from around the area will come to town.

"It's nice to have that blend of schools all wrestling under one roof. It gives everyone some good experience," Owen said.

The action starts at 9:30 a.m. at the Linderman gym on Saturday.