Ronan wins Superior tourney

Zach Urness / Leader Staff

The Ronan Chiefs continued to roll last week, taking first place at the Superior tournament as well as beating Columbia Falls and Frenchtown in duals to improve to 4-0 on the season.

"The team is responding very well and making great strides towards our ultimate goal for the state tournament," said head coach Ryan Fisher. "Although the wins, both in duals and this tournament are nice, we are far from satisfied and will continue to work at improving every week."

On Thursday, Dec. 13, the Ronan High School wrestling team will be hosting Whitefish at 4:30 p.m. in the Event Center. The time has been changed to 4:30 p.m. from 6:30 p.m.

Superior tournament

The Chiefs won the first tournament they've entered this season, scoring 213 points to outdistance Frenchtown, which took second place with 184. Zach Robinson (105), Cameron Neiss (112), Cole McArthur (140) and Toby Cheff (145) all took home tournament championships and Marcus Shiele (189) and Tomy Parker (285) scored second place.

The most impressive stat from the weekend was that of Ronan's 32 overall victories at the tourney, 24 of them came by pin.

"Winning this tournament was one of our team goals this year," said Fisher. "The boys did an outstanding job throughout the entire day and never lost focus on that goal. I was very pleased with the determination they all wrestled with."

Freshmen Cole McArthur and Toby Cheff were the story for the tournament, scoring pins in every match. Fisher also pointed out great tournaments from Marcus Shiele and Tomy Parker.

Fisher also said that the championship run of Cameron Neiss was an impressive one.

"The highlight was the championship match with Cameron and Chad Hanson," he said of Neiss' Frenchtown opponent. "Chad had beat Cameron the night before by three points and I expected another close match. Cameron scored the first takedown, the only points in the first period. The second period was scoreless. The match ended with Cameron riding out Hanson in the third period for a 2-1 win."

Ronan 42, Frenchtown 37

Ronan won a toughly contested duel against Frenchtown on Friday, a team that took second place in the state last season.

"I knew going into this dual that a victory would be very difficult," noted Fisher. "Robinson couldn't make weight at 105 and we were missing Mickey Cheff at 135. At first I was just going to forfeit 135 and hope that we could make up the point loss somewhere else in the match, but at the last minute decided to put in a first year wrestler and try to make Frenchtown at least earn their six points. It ended up being the deciding factor in the dual score. Trevor wrestled a very well for us and was able to nail a pin; he really helped the team pull through."

Toby Cheff, Trevor Rubel, Cole McArthur, Ricky Luchau, Frank Swan and Tomy Parker all won via pin.

Ronan 55, C-Falls 28

Cameron Neiss, Micky Cheff and Ricky Lucheau all won by pin and the Chiefs won four matches via forfeit to take their third victory in Northwest A wrestling action.

"Columbia Falls has some talent on their team this year and they proved that by winning five of the 11 contested matches," said Fisher. "They gave up four forfeits to us, but those were at weights where we are generally strong as well."

SUPERIOR TOURNAMENT

#105 Zach Robinson 1st

#112 Cameron Neiss 1st

#125 Tyson Noyes 3rd

#140 Cole McArthur 1st

#145 Toby Cheff 1st

#152 Westyn Kiehn 4th

#160 Ricky Luchau 3rd

#171 Josh Krantz 3rd

#189 Marcus Shiele 2nd

#215 Frank Swan 3rd

#285 Tomy Parker 2nd

Ronan 42, Frenchtown 37

#98 Jesse Robertson (Ron) lost by pin Tyler Stedman 1:42

#105 Open (Ron) forfeit to Clay Armstrong

#112 Cameron Neiss (Ron) lost by dec. Chad Hanson 3-6

#119 Ryan Hardy (Ron) lost by dec. Curt Sprague 5-9

#125 Tyson Noyes (Ron) pinned Ethan Newsom 3:05

#130 Nate Templer (Ron) lost by pin Brad Nordahl 5:32

#135 Trevor Rubel (Ron) pinned Mitch Myles 1:35

#140 Toby Cheff (Ron) pinned Keith Carmen 3:32

#145 Cole McArthur (Ron) pinned Scott Hawkins 0:37

#152 Westyn Kiehn (Ron) lost by major dec. Derek Nelson 3-11

#160 Ricky Luchau (Ron) pinned Russell Dorsman 0:19

#171 Josh Krants (Ron) lost by dec. Cody Way 7-9 OT

#189 Marcus Schiele (Ron) lost by pin Brennan Fisher 2:57

#215 Frank Swan (Ron) pinned Kelly Rupel 0:23

#285 Tomy Parker (Ron) pinned Keith Brant 3:47

Ronan 55, Columbia Falls 28

#98 Jesse Robertson (Ron) win by forfeit

#105 Zach Robinson (Ron) win by forfeit

#112 Cameron Neiss (Ron) pinned Hunter Fishel 0:55

#119 Ryan Hardy (Ron) lost by pin Clayton Patterson 3:03

#125 Tyson Noyes (Ron) win by forfeit

#130 Nate Templer (Ron) win by major dec Virgil Matt 18-8

#135 Mickey Cheff (Ron) pinned Casey Stewart 3:00

#140 Toby Cheff (Ron) lost by pin Cody Kolodejchuk 3:20

#145 Cole McArthur (Ron) lost by pin Mike Hader 1:03

#152 Westyn Kiehn (Ron) won by dec Joe Gross 7-2

#160 Ricky Luchau (Ron) pinned Bridger Beach 2:52

#171 Josh Krants (Ron) win by forfeit

#189 Marcus Schiele (Ron) lost by maj dec Kelly Houle 13-2

#215 Frank Swan (Ron) lost by pin Kodie Kenfield 2:29

#285 Tomy Parker (Ron) won by pin Nathan Woods 0:45