Warrior wrestlers take second

DARBY — The Arlee wrestling team had its hands full of trophies on the ride home from the Darby Invitational during the last weekend of regular season competition.

Along with a second-place team finish, seven individuals placed in the competition.

“They stepped it up,” head coach Ken Hill said.

Class A Corvallis took first while Arlee squeaked into second, a half point ahead of third-place Florence and one point ahead of fourth-place Darby.

It wasn’t as big of a deal to place behind Corvallis as it was to finish ahead of divisional teams such as Florence and Darby, Hill said.

“For the first time, we were ahead of them,” Hill said.

Individually, junior Cole Rice took home first at 140 pounds after beating Corvallis’ Riley Nagel 11-6. Hill said Rice’s reputation as a solid wrestler had the Corvallis coach worried about Nagel getting hurt.

They know how tough Cole Rice is,” Hill said. “He is getting tougher each week.”

Junior Bryce Norling, at 215 pounds, lost to Florence’s KaCee Sutton by pin for second place.

Arlee had three wrestlers finish third. Freshman Austin Rubel, at 105 pounds, won with a 26-second pin over Thompson Falls’ Dalton Nelson. At 145 pounds, Zach Tameler had a 5-2 decision over Darby’s Hayden Gandy. Junior Damon Cordier defeated Mission/Charlo’s Chad Anderson 12-3.

Freshman Cameron Dominick, at 119 pounds, and junior Curt Seidel, at 189, each took fourth place.

Arlee head coach Ken Hill said a big point contributor who didn’t place was sophomore Leif Rova, at 145 pounds. He defeated three opponents on the day before being eliminated from competition.

“Warriors cranked it up, this last weekend of competition before the [divisional tournament],” Hill said. “We are getting healthy and putting more wrestlers on the mat.”

Hill also said the addition of Tameler and Clayton Trimble have “added some sorely needed depth to the team.”

Trimble, who wrestled as a freshman, went 2-2 in Darby during his first weekend back.

The Warriors travel to Deer Lodge this weekend for the Western B-C divisional tournament. The top four wrestlers from each weight class will move on to the State tournament Feb. 12-13 in Billings. Hill said each team in the division has three or four tough kids so the team points will rely on the third through sixth place finishers.

“Those are the ones that are going to win divisionals,” Hill said.

He is confident in his team, as the Darby tournament was a good trial.

“They are coming along,” he said. “The kids are confident.”