Seven Pirates help team to sixth

BILLINGS — It wasn't as good as some had hoped, but the Polson Pirates finished sixth and placed seven grapplers at the state wrestling tourney in Billings last weekend, including a first-ever state title for senior Kevin Owen.

Shayne Ludwick took fifth in the 98-pound class, Logan Torgison took third at 105, Kaine Zetterberg finished second at 130, Logan Kugler also took second but at 160, Pat Dellwo came away with a sixth place at 140, Aaron Jones got sixth at 215, and Owen took first at 171 pounds.

"If we'd had everyone healthy, I know we would have been fighting for third," said head coach Bob Owen.

Health issues proved to be the undoing of a couple of Pirates. Ted Morigeau hurt his knee during the divisional tourney, but that didn't stop him from beating the No. 1 seed in the first round of the 145-pound weight class. Unfortunately, Morigeau got an injury default in the next match.

"Had he been healthy, I know he would have placed," Owen said.

Colby Wolfenden was fighting a flu-like bug, but it was a bad-luck call that undid his tourney. Up 6-2 with 15 seconds left in a quarterfinal consolation match, Wolfenden's opponent called timeout. At that time, Wolfenden felt sick and approached a nearby bucket set aside for that purpose, only to be disqualified by the refs for taking too many timeouts. He had used two already, but thought he was OK when his opponent called timeout.

The refs ruled otherwise.

"I wasn't a happy camper," about that call, Owen said.

Others had varying amounts of success. Ludwick had one bad outing in the quarterfinals, but battled back to take fifth.

"He'd have gone all the way if it wasn't for that one bad match," Owen said of his 98-pound star.

Torgison faced one of the many Sidney state champs lurking around the tourney. He took a 0-0 score going into the third period, but it wasn't enough. Sidney led all teams with 264 points.

Zetterberg also fell to a Sidney state champ in the finals, and had to settle for second. Kugler also took second, getting pinned with one second left in the first period, Owen said. Kugler had a total of three state champions in his weight class.

"The kid that beat him was really tough. Logan doesn't have anything to be ashamed of," said Owen.

Dellwo won by beating Columbia Falls' Bobby Opp in an almost identical match to the one they had the week before in divisionals. Jones surprised everyone by beating the top seed from the Southwestern division in the first match-up, and then worked his way up to sixth place.

"That was a huge breakthrough. Aaron did a great job," Owen said.

Shawn Medland also had a good tourney, Owen said, missing placing by one match which he lost by two points. Conlin Benson also missed placing, but Owen said he's confident the 112-pounder will reemerge as a contender next year.

Watching his son take first - after so many close calls and first places in everything but the state tourney - was the most emotional event, both Owens said. Kevin's "championship" round was actually in the quarterfinals, when he won 3-2 in the last 20 seconds of the match.

He took first over Jake Spencer of Libby with a 26-13 decision in the final - almost identical to the match he had against Spencer in the divisional championship.

"That was pretty emotional. Nobody wanted it more than him," Bob said. "I was just elated."

"It's something I've been working for for so long. It's just nice to know that hard work can eventually pay off," Kevin said earlier this week.

Owen's squad will lose Kevin Owen, Kugler, Zetterberg and Wolfenden to graduation this year.

"I'll miss the leadership. Those are big shoes to fill, and it will definitely put a dent in our program next year," Owen said.

State results are on page B3.