Six Polson grapplers place in Billings

BILLINGS — Bob Owen has taken quite a few wrestling teams to state in his 39 seasons as the Polson wrestling coach.

So when Owen is pleased with the outcome, it means the Pirates had a pretty solid showing at the Montana’s State All-Class Wrestling Tournament last weekend.

Six of Polson’s 10 state-qualifying wrestlers—Thunder Morales placed fifth at 106, 113-pounder Jaron Morgan finished fifth, 126-pounder Carlos Quinones placed fourth, Tel Motichka placed fourth at 170, 182-pounder Tele Seemann finished sixth, as did 220-pounder Isaiah Williams—stood on the podium Saturday evening, though none finished higher than fourth place.

The Pirates finished 10th in the team standings.

“I’m pleased with what we did at state,” Owen said. “Being a fairly young team, I thought we wrestled pretty well.”

Young indeed, four of the Pirates’ six placers—Morales, Morgan, Seemann and Williams—will return to the mat next year.

“Those four underclassmen are all going to really add to the next couple years,” said Owen. “We’re real proud of them.”

Polson’s other four state qualifiers—Cody Hedeen, Jaben Wenzel, Skyler Knutson and Mike Corrigan—are all underclassmen as well.

But all that excitement about the coming seasons didn’t stop Owen from highlighting his seniors’ accomplishments.

Quinones’ fourth-place finish was his fourth trip to the podium at the state tournament, and his path wasn’t easy, Owen said.

“Carlos was in arguably one of the toughest weights in the tournament,” the coach asserted.

Both of Motichka’s losses came by a single point.

“I’m telling you what, he’s a hard luck kid. He had his quarterfinal match won,” Owen said, referring to a 7-6 loss to Sidney’s second-place finisher Cody Christian.

“He outwrestled the kid all the way through and nearly pinned the kid,” Owen continued. Christian out-pointed Motichka with a reversal just before time expired in the third period.

Both of Polson’s divisional champions faced some hard luck as well.

Corrigan, who took the 195-pound Northwest A crown for Polson a week prior, was upset in the first round by John Chinadle of Havre.

“He kind of let his guard down the first match and that really hurt him,” Owen said.

Corrigan pinned his next opponent but then ran into Dillon’s Parker Tezak, Southwest A’s divisional champ who had also been upset. A 19-10 major decision loss to Tezak ended Corrigan’s run at the podium.

“It was circumstances,” said Owen. “What killed him was losing that first one.”

Seemann, the 182-pound divisional champion, made a quarterfinal exit from the winner’s bracket after Hardin’s Connor Murdock pinned him, but the sophomore battled his way to two victories in wrestle-backs. Seemann met Murdock again in the fifth-place match, falling again in 2 minutes, 25 seconds.

Overall, though, Owen was excited with his team’s resiliency in the wrestle-back rounds. “I was pleased with that,” he said. “We were hoping for a top ten finish and that’s what we got.”

Polson Results

Team score, 73, 10th

106, Thunder Morales, 3- 2, 5th Place

L, Carson Meyer, Ana, 4:57; W, Payten Batalden, Lau, 1:45; W, Will Wissenbach, Cor, 1:27, L, Wyatt VanBuren, Sid, 2:49; W, Cody Warner, Ftwn. Frft.

113 Cody Hedeen 0- 2

L, Clay Stillwagon, BC, 1:13; L, Phillip Rising Sun, Har, 2:50.

113 Jaron Morgan 4- 2 5th Place

L. Trey Smollack, Ana, 9-2; W, Jordan Shovar, Lau, 5-0; W, Cade Livoti, Ftwn, 1-0; W, Brandt Ackerman, Glen, 4-2; L, Logan Pleninger, Hav, 5-2.

W, Casey Christian, Sid, 7-3.

120 Jaben Wenzel 1- 2

W, Paul Allsop, Cor , 5-0; L, Grayson Brenna, Hav. :44; L, Kwin Stoddard, Dil, M-Dec 12-2

126 Skyler Knutson 0- 2

L, Josh Venema, Cor, M-Dec 14-1; L, Dane Flammond, Hav, 6-3.

126 Carlos Quinones 4- 2 4th Place

W, Isaac Faughn, Ham, :45; L, Hunter Grover, Fer, 4:41; W, Connor Ludwig, Lau, 4:23; W, Coltin Cox, Ham, 9-3; W, Josh Venema, Cor, 4-3; L, Hunter Grover, Fer, M-Dec 10-2.

170 Tel Motichka 4- 2 4th Place

W, Grady Blewett, Bel, 8-1; L, Cody Christian, Sid, 7-6; W, Jason Williams, CF, 8-4; W, Ethan Reich, Ana, 4-1; W. Jake Williams, Hav, 3-1; L, Casey Fredericks, Har, 2-1.

182 Tele Seemann 3- 3 6th Place

W, Cody Lucke, Bwn, 2-0; L, Connor Murdock, Har, 3:01; W, Brandon Becker , Har, 14-12; W, Tyler Scheffer, Ham, 4-2; L, Raven Cunningham, Bel, 7-0; L, Connor Murdock, Har, 2:25.

195 Mike Corrigan 1- 2

L, John Chinadle, Hav, 2:33; W, Garrett Darby, Sid, 3:54; L, Parker Tezak, Dil, M-Dec 19-10.

220 Isaiah Williams 3- 3 6th Place

W, Bryce Blumenshein, Bel, 4:29; L, Hunter Severson, Sid, 4-2; W, Caid Dickman, Cus, 2:39; W, Luke Channer, Cor, 2-2; L, Rand Pritzkau, Ftwn, 1:47; L, Hunter Severson, Sid, 2:13.