M-C WRESTLING ROUNDUP: Plenty of firsts

SUPERIOR - The depth of the Mission-Charlo wrestling team

continues to shine and a whopping seven of their grapplers placed

at last weekend's Superior Invitational.

Three of them, Barret Sargent, Chadd Anderson and Fabian

Camacho, brought home first-place finishes in their respective

weight classes and Mission-Charlo finished the highest among B-C

schools at the tournament.

SUPERIOR - The depth of the Mission-Charlo wrestling team continues to shine and a whopping seven of their grapplers placed at last weekend's Superior Invitational.

Three of them, Barret Sargent, Chadd Anderson and Fabian Camacho, brought home first-place finishes in their respective weight classes and Mission-Charlo finished the highest among B-C schools at the tournament.

The team placed third with 142.5 points, ahead of nine other schools.

"I am pleased with the overall team performance, yet there was plenty of room for improvement," Mission-Charlo head coach Lyle Cronk said. "We have yet to have our entire team ready to go, and technically we are still making basic mistakes on the mat. Our goal is to improve each week individually and as a team. We want 100 percent participation from every member of our team and improvement every time we step on the mat."

Sargent continued to be a battle axe for his wrestling team. After taking second at the Polson Invitational two weeks ago, the 189-pounder blazed his way to a first-place finish in Superior with a 6-2 decision over Clayton Trimble from Arlee. At the wrestling mixer the day before, Sargent picked up a win over Eureka's David Wilson, who placed in the 2011 state tournament.

Also in that mixer, Mission-Charlo's Cody Couture picked up a pin over Eureka's Jose Letcher who is currently ranked among state wrestlers. Anderson, who took second place two weeks ago, won first place for the 215-pound class after defeating Thompson Falls' Eric Milner 5-4.

"It was great to see Chadd and Barret winning in the championships," Cronk said. "Both have worked hard to get where they are at right now. Their level of competition and focus is a great example for our team. Only after years of work and improvement have they finally achieved their first tournament championship."

Mission all-state football player Fabian Camacho took home first place in the heavyweight division. His pin of Dakota Rutherford from Browning in the championship match showed that he should be a force to reckon with this season.

"Fabian has tremendous potential as an athlete. It is exciting to watch him compete at 285," Cronk said. "Having Fabian in our lineup at divisionals could be a great benefit for us. Hopefully, this early success will help fuel his desire to work hard and continue improving."

At 160-pounds, Jacen Petersen made the championship match for Mission-Charlo and was narrowly edged 6-5 by Libby's Dylan Berget.

"Jacen is a tough wrestler and a tough competitor," Cronk said. "I know that Jacen was disappointed with a second place finish. It is always tough to lose close matches but focusing on eliminating mistakes and improving on strengths is always the key. As long as Jacen continues to improve there will be plenty of tournament wins in his future."

Mission-Charlo had Scotty Gilleard finish third at 130 pounds after he earned a 7-3 decision over Thompson Falls' John Gunderson. Morgan Schultz placed fourth in the 105 pound weight class and Casey Nitschke was fourth at 135 pounds.

Cronk was also happy with the performances by Steven Bravo and Cody Couture, both who went 3-2 in the invitational. Mission-Charlo now turns its attention to Florence on Tuesday and then the Corvallis Tournament for the weekend.