Six Ronan grapplers place at Rocky Mountain Classic

Zach Urness

Leader Staff

Hot off their tournament victory at the Western Montana Duals, the Chiefs were an extremely busy, but successful, team last week. They split two duals and took home second place among class ‘A’ schools at the vaunted Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic tournament, finishing behind only Havre, considered the top team in the state.

“This past week was very busy and wearing on the team,” said head coach Ryan Fisher. “Finishing our home dual tournament, having to make weight on Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, makes for a difficult week on the kids.”

The first event of the week was a Dual against a tough Corvallis (13-4) squad. Ronan was equal to the task, winning fairly easily, 43-28, behind first-round pins from Mike Trosper (Hwt), Zach Robinson (98), Micky Cheff (125) and Ben White (152). Cameron Neiss won in a decision for the team 9-2 and Tyson Noyes (112) won 7-2. Tyler Espinosa (171) won 4-0, and Levi Guenzler (189) earned a victory, 9-0.

In their second dual of the week the Chiefs came up just a single point short in the rubber match against Libby last Thursday, Jan. 11, losing 33-32. The dual featured lots of close matches that were decided by only a few points. Ronan had a clear advantage in the lower weights, earning wins in all five of the lowest weight classes. The team struggled, however, in the heavier weight classes.

“The Libby dual was a bit disappointing,” said Fisher. “We had beaten them earlier at our tournament because we secured pins in our wins. This time around, Libby did an excellent job at stopping the pin and the result was our losing by one point. When you consider the dozens of scenarios in a dual match, that one point could have been made up time and time again. We were just out wrestled.”

Despite the loss, Fisher noted that Ronan’s success this year has brought the team a certain amount of respect amongst their opponents.

“Libby moved their lineup around to give them a better chance at winning the dual,” he said. “I actually find it quite pleasing that other teams have to maneuver their lineup to beat us. It actually says a lot for our team. I could have played chess to make the win happen, but that would mean having to bump someone out of our lineup so the others could move up a weight. I would rather lose a dual with dignity than have to tell one of my varsity wrestlers that I didn’t have faith in him to win, so I was bumping him out to secure a win. A simple dual victory is not worth that.”

Ronan was led against Libby by Seth Clary (119), Ben White (152) and Woody Wayman (215) who all won via pin. Zach Robinson won in a decision, 16-0, as did Cameron Neiss who won 8-1. Tyson Noyes won 4-2 and Micky Cheff also won a big decision, 14-7.

Over the weekend Ronan participated it the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic, a tournament that brings together the very best Montana has to offer as well as four teams from Washington and two from Idaho. The Chiefs were in great position after the first day, holding down third place. They ended up finishing in seventh place overall, but beat out every class A school except Harve, a team ranked No. 3 in a USA Wrestling Magazine’s Northwest States poll.

“Considering the class of competition in attendance, I am very pleased,” commented Fisher. “We had 11 wrestlers make it to the second day. Last year we had five and two years ago we had one. So as a team, we have progressed nicely.”

Ronan had six wrestlers place at the tournament. Seth Clary, the number two seed in the tournament, lead the way, taking home a second place finish in the 119 pound division and winning many of his matches via pin.

“Clary puts some points on the board for us by pinning his way into the semifinals,” said Fisher. “Seth ended up beating Kyle Richie of Sentinel to advance into the finals. In the finals, we were matched up against Brian Ham of Kalispell. Ham is an outstanding wrestler and losing to him is still very respectful. Seth had a great tournament and is looking very good heading into the final weeks of the season. He has his goals set on the finals of the state tournament.”

Cameron Neiss (98), who was the number two seed in his weight despite being a only freshmen, took home fifth place at the tourney. “Cameron Neiss placed above all other class A opponents except for Chris Recio of Havre,” said Fisher. “Cameron needs to better develop his offense. He understands this and will be working the next few weeks to make that happen.”

Tyler Espinosa, the tournament’s number three seed, had a good tournament and also finished in fifth place.

“Tyler Espinosa in placing fifth, never lost to a class A opponent,” said Fisher. “In his semifinal match, Tyler lost 9-6 to undefeated Ty Vinson from Great Falls, who went on to win the tournament. Tyler just needs to find it within himself to take it to the next level so that his speed can sustain the entire match. At this point, it’s up to him.”

Zach Robinson, a number four seed, also looked good, winning sixth place despite moving up weight classes and competing at 105.

“Robinson was actually weighing in at 98 but wrestling 105 because there were no openings at 98 and a team can only enter one wrestler per weight class,” explained Fisher. “Giving up that extra weight is a difficult undertaking, but Zach has done so without question and has not complained (to me anyhow). Despite that disadvantage, he wrestled his way to a respectable sixth place.”

Tyson Noyes, the tournament’s sixth seed, did well, earning a sixth place finish.

“Noyes knocked off the third seeded wrestler by way of pin,” said Fisher. “He beat a very tough wrestler. It just comes to show that anything can happen when you show up to win.

Perhaps Ronan’s biggest surprise of the tournament was unseeded Mickey Cheff, another super-freshmen, who, despite competing in perhaps the toughest weight class, took home sixth place. On Friday he knocked off Nick Cambron, the tournament’s second seed.

“Cheff beat a previous state champion in the second round to advance to the quarters,” commented Fisher. “It wasn’t a fluke win; he wrestled very well and skillfully beat him 10-2. I think many coaches and wrestlers mistakenly underestimate Mickey. I have very high hopes for him.”

Ronan also had five wrestlers who didn’t place, but made it to the second day of competition including Joe McCarthy (135), Josh Krantz (145), Frank Swan (160), Levi Guenzler (189) and Mike Trosper (285).

Fisher said he was pleased with the team’s overall performance but stressed the need to improve before division and state competition.

“In order to be competitive at state, the boys need to learn that we need to have a solid tournament both days,” said Fisher, alluding to the team’s drop from third place on Friday to seventh place on Saturday. “We can’t perform well one day and slack off the next. A tournament is won in the consolation wrestle backs and those who are there are an intricate part of the overall scoring. This is actually more of a mental conditioning, and we will be working on that in the next few weeks.”

The Chiefs hosted Whitefish on Tuesday night and will then get a much needed break until they travel to Columbia Falls on January 27, not January 20 as listed on the school calendar. Also, the divisional wrestling tournament will be held in Columbia Falls just on February 3, not 2-3 as originally noted.