Three from Ronan take first

BILLINGS — Ronan head coach Ryan Fisher’s Chiefs had two aims going into the Class-A State Tournament in Billings.

“The first was to bring  home some hardware and the other was to take some state championships,” Fisher said. “And we accomplished both goals.”

Becoming the very best at their weights on the year was the well-earned privilege of Ronan senior Zach Robinson at 105 pounds, junior Cameron Neiss at 125, and junior Micky Cheff at 145.

With only 12 wrestlers competing, the team finished third as a unit.

Robinson had wrestled all four years through weight cuts and practices, tough wins and harder losses. He had taken fifth his freshman year and second his junior year. As a senior, he took his state championship at last.

“It was really amazing for it to finally happen,” Robinson said. “It was thrilling.”

Robinson’s wrestling tenure had been a roller coaster ride of ups and downs, Fisher said. And with a 6-1 decision win in the final over Sidney wrestler Brennan Gorder,  he finished on top.

“To see him stick it out four years and pull it out – possibly to end his wrestling career – with a state championship, it kind of justifies everything he had to go through. It was kind of an emotional win for him,” Fisher said.

High school wrestling over, Robinson said he keeps reliving the moments, not standing on podium for a gold medal, but the ones in his final match that defined his career. And he will miss that feeling, and the thrill of the competition his coaches, parents and teammates encouraged those long four years, Robinson said.

“I’m going to miss it a lot,” Robinson said. “I was excited that it was over but I’m a little upset now,” he said.

Junior Cameron Neiss was another Ronan wrestler with a championship story to remember.

He beat Miles City wrestler Derrick Singleton by a 4-2 decision in a final match decided on the mat. Neiss took the first takedown, and worked the angles on Singleton, who is known to be great on his feet.

With Neiss steering clear of neutral position wrestling he went on to finish the match his way and finish a year to remember, after taking gold at the Rocky Mountain Classic earlier in the season.

Neiss said in an interview before state that winning would be up to him.

“I guess if I wrestle how I need to and have the mentality to win it then I could,” he said.

He proved himself right.

“He wrestled very smart,” Fisher said. “The more difficult the match, the better he wrestles.”

And then there was Micky, ranked first going into the tournament and ready to prove it.

Known to shoot left by his final adversary, Havre wrestler Aaron Olsen, Micky switched things up and shot left. It worked and Micky got the 4-0 decision win he needed to meet expectations and become a state champ.

“His ability to the wrestler really have in the advantage in his match against Olson,” Fisher said.

While Micky battled for his personal gold, he was also competing for his team’s bronze. 

Going into the finals, Ronan needed to either win both one match by pin and one by decision or win all three by decision to close the gap on the Corvallis team’s lead.

Neiss and Robinson had both taken the full six minutes to get their wins, so it was up to Micky.

“We didn’t let him know that heading into the match though,” Fisher said.

Whether he knew it or not, Micky got the job done.

Also competing very well in state and giving the team a shot at third were Ronan wrestlers sophomore Toby Cheff and senior Marcus Schiele.

Toby took a huge 10-0 decision over Miles City’s Jimmy Harding for third and senior Marcus Schiele took fourth to complete the team’s mission.

Looking back on two outstanding goals accomplished, Fisher said his team performed when the time was right.

“They were respectable goals and challenging and the kids answered them,” he said. “I’m very pleased with how well they’ve done.”