RONAN WRESTLING ROUNDUP: Impressive showing

by Brandon Hansen & Sports Editor
| December 15, 2011 9:00 AM

BUTTE - Colby Roberts brought the pain to the Mining City Duals

for the Ronan Chiefs last weekend, going 5-0 with five pins in the

215-pound division as Ronan picked up two dual wins this weekend

against bigger Class A and AA competition.

BUTTE - Colby Roberts brought the pain to the Mining City Duals for the Ronan Chiefs last weekend, going 5-0 with five pins in the 215-pound division as Ronan picked up two dual wins this weekend against bigger Class A and AA competition.

"It was a good learning experience," Ronan head coach Dustyn Azure said. "They learned they could compete with the AA kids and that was the main reason we came. Even on the second day they looked a lot better once they realized they could compete against these kids."

Roberts' undefeated weekend was especially sweet considering he defeated Missoula Sentinel's Jadyn Wilson via pin. It was the same wrestler that had beaten Roberts for the championship during the season-opening Polson Invitational.

"He wrestled exceptionally and he also got a little payback,"Azure said.

Roberts wasn't the only Chief having an exceptional weekend. Five other individuals went 4-1 during the duals: Chase Rhine, Andrew Teigan, Quinten Denton and Dustin Goldsby. Denton recorded four pins at 160 pounds and Goldsby pinned three at 171 pounds.

Rhine and Grant both had two pins at 119 and 152 pounds respectively.

Goldsby is also ranked fifth at his weight class in the first coaches poll.

Again Azure said that his wrestlers had to get over the mental hurdle of wrestling kids from bigger schools.

"It's kind of a big head game that the kids play with themselves," he said. "I hope this carries over. We try to set our tournaments with a high level of competition."

Ronan will get another test of good competition, traveling for a tri against Cascade Simms and Anaconda on Thursday. Cascade-Simms is ranked third in the state according to the most recent coaches poll.

"We'll see this week where we're sitting among the state's

ranked teams," Azure said.