WARRIORS HIT THE ROAD

CONRAD - On the road throughout North Central Montana this week,

the Arlee Warriors became road warriors and came home with some

good placements in their two stops.

On Thursday, Jan. 12, Arlee wrestlers went 11-7 at Conrad during an

eight-team mixer. That tournament was one example of how the

Warriors have continued to make progress from the beginning of the

season to this point.

CONRAD - On the road throughout North Central Montana this week, the Arlee Warriors became road warriors and came home with some good placements in their two stops.

On Thursday, Jan. 12, Arlee wrestlers went 11-7 at Conrad during an eight-team mixer. That tournament was one example of how the Warriors have continued to make progress from the beginning of the season to this point.

"We're never going to be perfect, but we've gotten better and the boys wrestled extremely well this week," Hill said.

They took that success with them to Choteau for a two-day tournament and excelled again, with five wrestlers finishing in the top six, four of whom made top four.

Nathan Bertollt, at 145 pounds, defeated wrestlers from four different schools to earn fourth place where he was matched by 160-pounder Leif Rova. Rova ran into last season's state champion, Barrett Stanghill from Drummond, in the semifinals, but rebounded to win a match against Fort Benton before falling in the third-place match.

Clayton Trimble, in his return from injury, also finished fourth out of 16 wrestlers in the 189-pound division. Chinook's Ben Stroh, three-time state champion, defeated Trimble in the semifinals before Trimble rebounded with a win. Trimble then fell to Mission-Charlo's Barret Sargent.

Cody North completed the fantastic four for Arlee with a fourth-place finish in the 215-pound division. North was pinned in a quarterfinal match, but responded in dominant fashion with a 58-second pin before winning his next two matches via decision.

Wrapping up a successful week for the Warriors was Al Plant, who worked his way to a sixth-place finish in Choteau thanks to three victories over opponents from Townsend, Shepherd and Columbus.

Arlee's Cameron Dominick, Austin Rubel and Donovan McDonald also won matches in Choteau, helping the Warriors finish 10th of the tournament's 29 teams.

"One of the best things we did this week was we got into close, overtime matches and we won those matches," Hill said.

Another thing Hill has really enjoyed seeing, especially lately, was how his team has bonded and created a close-knit feel among each other, something that may have been responsible for Arlee pulling out so many close matches in their two tournaments.

"They're really coming around and starting to feel like a team," Hill said. "They like to watch each other wrestle."

Arlee faced Mission-Charlo on Tuesday, but results were unavailable at press time. Hill has been impressed with the Bulldogs this season and had nothing but praise to heap on them.

"Mission-Charlo is wrestling really tough," Hill said. "They're stacked across the board and Lyle Cronk has done a fantastic job."

The Warriors will wrap up their week with a pair of tilts, first against Noxon, Plains and Eureka in a mixer on Friday, followed by the Ted Kato tournament in Thompson Falls on Saturday.