Warrior grapplers finish with four champs, Bulldogs claim three

 Full brackets for the 2010 MHSA Class AA, A and B/C State Wrestling Tournament

DEER LODGE — Half of the top-four teams at the Western B-C divisional tournament last weekend were from Lake County.

Mission/Charlo finished third, three points behind second-place Florence and seven points behind champion Florence. Arlee finished fourth with 128 points.

“It was quite a tournament,” Mission/Charlo head coach Lyle Cronk said. “It has some excitement and quite a few story lines.”

The Bulldogs qualified eight wrestlers for state, with four repeats. The Warriors will send six, including junior Cole Rice and sophomore Logan Lefler.

Here are the results broken down by weight class:

98: Mission/Charlo’s Dillon Edwards took the crown with a 28-second pin over Darby’s Tyler Wiedeger.

“He was one of our heroes,” Cronk said.

Entering the tournament, Edwards didn’t have a conference win. He pinned Superior’s River Sides in 31 seconds to make the title match.

“He came out fired up,” Cronk said. “He has worked towards this and when you devote yourself, it makes it even more exciting.”

105: Arlee freshman Austin Rubel made a statement at the divisional tournament with a divisional crown.

He won a 7-5 decision over Darby’s JT Hamblen.

To make the championship, Rubel defeated Plains’ Rio Crismore with a pin in the first period.

112: Mission/Charlo sophomore Russell Schultz took fourth after losing a major decision to Thompson Falls’ John Gunderson. Schultz entered the tournament ranked fourth.

119: Arlee freshman Cameron Dominick took fifth with a 14-13 win over Mission/Charlo’s Casey Nitschke.

125: Lefler brought home gold with a pin over Superior’s Mason Chatterley in the third period. He recorded pins in all three of his matches, after finishing third last year.

He defeated Drummond’s Kaylie Charlton with a 51- second pin in the quarter final round before pinning Mission/Charlo’s sophomore Scotty Gilleard with a dramatic 3:51 pin.

Gilleard went on to take third with a 8-2 decision over Thompson Falls’ Austin Kinser.

135: Arlee senior Shane Gillette took sixth after a major decision loss to Plains’ Cole Goodwin.

140: Rice used three pins to repeat as a divisional champion. Last year, he won at 130.

Rice pinned freshman teammate Albert Plant in the first period of the opening match. Rice pinned Mission/Charlo’s junior Dakota Matt in the first period before doing the same to Drummond’s Barrett Stanghill in the championship match. Before the pin, Rice was leading 14-0. The win is Rice’s sixth first-place finish of the year.

Matt took sixth after dropping an 8-6 decision in the fifth-place match.

145: Mssion/Charlo senior Jame Petersen won by injury default in the title match over Deer Lodge’s Bobby Ray. Ray had been sitting out for a month prior to the divisional tournament and Petersen had been out for two weeks with injury.

“[Petersen] was in the same boat,” Cronk said. “Coming back from injury, you don’t want to risk re-injuring when you are a week away from state.”

During the two times Ray and Petersen had met this season, Petersen pinned him both times.

Petersen had two pins to get into the title match, both under one minute.

“It was great to see him do what he does best, which is dominate his opponents,” Cronk said.

Petersen has finished sixth twice and fifth at state in the past three years.

“He really has one thing left to accomplish,” Cronk said. “He is excited and ready to go.”

Arlee’s Zach Tameler finished fifth by forfeit in the final round.

152: Mission/Charlo senior Travis Dumont finished third with 54-second pin over Deer Lodge’s  Martin Reap. Dumont went 2-2 at state last year.

“He’s really hungry,” Cronk said.

160: Mission/Charlo sophomore Chad Anderson entered the tournament unseeded and left in third place. He finished with a 10-7 decision over Florence’s Tanner Cobbs.

“He continued to pour it on,” Cronk said. “I couldn’t be happier for him.”

State was Anderson’s goal at the beginning of the season and Cronk isn’t surprised he met that goal.

“I’ve watched him work hard,” he said. “He has been able to eliminate some of the mistakes he’s made. He has the key ingredients: a good attitude and good work ethic.”

Arlee junior Damon Cordier finished fifth by default.

189: Mission/Charlo junior Joel Lewis finished fourth after a 11-3 loss to Eureka’s Michael Wilson. This is Lewis’ first time placing in a tournament this year.

To get to the championship round, Lewis had to beat Arlee junior Curt Seidel, someone that has beat Lewis three times this season.

“[Lewis’] goal was to beat Seidel and that ended up being his ticket,” Cronk said. “His hard work paid off.”

215: Arlee junior Bryce Norling took second after he was pinned in the finals.

Norling defeated Roy Stidham of Deer Lodge with a 53-second pin in the quarter finals and Noxon’s Derek Jensen with a pin in the first period.

Teammate sophomore Cody North finished fourth, in what head coach Ken Hill described as the “biggest surprise of the day.”

In order to earn his first trip to the state tournament, North pinned his opponent in the first round and lost in the second round. He bounced back with a pin over Deer Lodge’s Roy Stidham in the third period to punch his ticket to state.

Hwt: Mission/Charlo senior Nick Dinnell finished second after losing a 3-1 decision to Noxon’s Cody Martins.

Arlee freshman Jordan Plant finished fifth by default.

STATE

Entering the tournament, the Bulldogs hoped to do better than they were seeded.

“Russel, Scotty and Travis all hoped to improve their seeds but they all wrestled solid for us,” Cronk said. “It was an emotional day. It’s always interesting how things shake out.”

It will be the first state trip for Dinnell, Lewis, Anderson and Edwards while Gilleard, Schultz, Dumont and Petersen know the drill.

Last year, the Bulldogs finished third as a team at the tournament but graduated three huge contributors.

“We’re proud of the kids on the entire team,” Cronk said. “They all contributed to the trophy. It’s sad to be leaving some of our team home.”

To prepare for the state tournament, Cronk said his team will focus on mentally preparing.

“We’ve done technique,” he said. “We are going to sharpen the saw, so to speak, and put a little edge on us.”