Ronan, a Little Guy battleground

RONAN — Ronan’s big boys aren’t the only ones who know how to wrestle - the littlest Chiefs and Maidens get down and dirty too.

At this last week’s Little Guy Inter-Valley Wrestling Tournament in Ronan, the Ronan beginner and novice class wrestlers pulled out the first place morning team score of 71 points, sliding just ahead of Lolo, which finished with 70. Combined with a afternoon score (middle and junior class wrestlers) of 40, Ronan finished in first place overall with 111 points.

While the Mission-Charlo Irondog little guys finished with a total score of 77 to put them in seventh place overall, the Mission-Charlo middle and junior class wrestled to a second place finish in the afternoon tourney.

Polson had a balanced attack, the little guy Pirates scoring 51 points in the morning tourney and 50 in the afternoon for a total score of 101 points and fifth place finish overall and second to only Ronan among Lake County teams.

The Arlee Warriors scored 32 total points on the day.

 Other competing teams were Eagle, Missoula, Frenchtown, Corvallis, Hamilton, Darby, Dillon, Florence and Drummond.

Beginner

At the 50-pound weight class, it was Arlee Warrior Rowdy Nentwig who made a statement, beating Lolo’s Riley Johnson for the first place honors and finishing the day 5-1.

Ronan’s Noah Cheff climbed to the top of 55-pound bracket to take first with a win over Hamilton’s Machael Golden in the championship.

Arlee’s Lane Schall took fourth in the division.

Polson’s Stram Seaman overcame Eagle’s Kyle Gordon to take third at 60 pounds and Ronan’s Bridger Wenzel and Parker Adler took first and second at 65 pounds.

Ronan’s Dylan Morgan and Isaak Brown took second and fourth at 70 pounds.

Sweeping the 75-pound bracket, Ronan wrestlers Justin Mays, Leland Red Cloud, Brandon Blood and Chandler Krahn took first through fourth in that order.

At 85 pounds, Arlee’s Zachary Jensen took second and Ronan’s Lander Smith took third.

Topping off the 95-pound slot was Mission-Charlo’s Lars Omingo. Polson Pirates Noah Humphrey and Preston Folch finished third and fourth.

At 108 pounds, Ronan’s Julian Lutes took second.

At 130 pounds, Polson’s Anthony Camel and Hunter Fritsch battled it out for first with Camel coming out on top and Ronan’s Ray Robert Littleboy finished in fourth.

Novice

Polson’s Shayne Pierre took first at 55 pounds with a win over Ronan’s Spencer Staggs. St. Ignatius wrestlers Mattea Coffman and Bailey Weible took third and fourth.

At 65 pounds, Ronan’s Kohltin Starkel took the first place honors and teammate Jaben Wenzel finished in fourth.

Polson’s Cadis Chowning took second at 70 pounds and finished the day 3-1.

At 85-pounds, Polson wrestler Wyatt Ducharme took second place.

Pirate Tanner Wilson took third at 95 pounds and his teammate Matt Rensvold finished a perfect 3-0 day in first at 100 pounds.

At 110 pounds, Ronan’s Austin Bensen took second, Mission-Charlo’s Peter Ryan Matt took third and Ronan’s Isaak Julius took fourth.

Polson’s Justin Young took second at 124 pounds and Ronan’s Vincent Webster took fourth.

At 140 pounds, Arlee Warrior Bill Adams took third with a win over Ronan’s Jarome Hewankorn, who finished fourth.

At 158 pounds, Mission-Charlo’s Emilio Bravo finished in third.

Middle

Now for the bigger Little Guys.

At 70 pounds, Mission-Charlo’s Morgan Schultz finished third place with a win over Dillon’s John Rickard.

Another Irondog, Darius McDougall took third at 80 pounds, finishing the day 4-1.

Polson’s Austin McCabe took gold at 90 pounds and Irondog Steven Bravo took third at 95 pounds.

Irondog Jake Tenstrom finished 4-1 and in third place with a final win over Missoula’s Cole Henrekin.

It was all Chiefs at 105 pounds. Brandon Dumont took first with a win over Chase Rhiner in the championship at the weight and Pirate Tel Seaman finished fourth.

At 110, Irondog Cody Couture took third. At 120 Ronan’s Austin Hake finished first with Irondogs Will Powell and Brandon Wilbur taking second and fourth.

Ronan’s Ronny Collis and Kellen Couture too first and third at 130 pounds, and Polson’s Chris Giebar took third at 147 pounds.

Arlee Warrior Calvin Hendren finished in first at 166 pounds with a win over Irondog Maverick Nelson, maybe the start of a high school rivalry.

Junior

Ronan’s Lucas Polk took first at 85 pounds, and Polson’s Carlos Quinones and Dillon Moll took third and fourth at 90 pounds.

Pirates Craig Feistener and Tanner Johnson took second at 95 pounds and first at 100 pounds, while Arlee’s Austin Rubel finished fourth at 100 pounds.

At 105 pounds, Polson’s Steven Walk finished second and Ronan’s Andrew Teigan finished third. Pirate Devon Morris took fourth at 112 pounds, finishing the day 2-2.

At 119 pounds, Arlee’s Cameron Dominick took with a final win over Polson’s Jared Young. Irondog Kyle Lawson finished third,

Jacen Peterson of the Irondog squad finished at the top of the 125-pound bracket and Polson’s Nate Brooks took third. Pirate Machael Devlin finished second at 135 pounds.

At 152 pounds, another Irondog finished first, this time Dyllan Evans coming away with the title. Chief wrestler Quinton Denton finished fourth.

Irondog’s Barrett Sargent and Joseph Hawkins each took second at 160 and 171 pounds, while Arlee’s Justin Adams and Polson’s Marlin Burke took second and fourth at 189 pounds.

Arlee Warrior was the lone Lake County placer in the last three weight classes, finishing in fourth at 215 pounds.

The placers will go onto Columbia Falls to compete for a championship next weekend.