Chiefs grapplers capture first at Kato Invitational

The Ronan High School wrestling team captured first place in the Ted Kato Invitational tournament Saturday.

“The Kato was a good tournament for us to see about 90 percent of our district teams, our western division and get a graph on where we were at individually and as a team,” Chiefs’ wrestling coach James Muir said. “Winning Kato was a real confidence booster for us. It was some good wins, some good matches, and where we have to be (moving forward).”

Currently in the 103-pound division, the Chiefs have a lot of competitors to choose from.

“You know, for the past couple of weeks 103-pound wrestler Zane Walchuk was battling for the weight class,” Muir said.

“Walchuk had a pretty big win over Mission and Charlo was a good match for Zane to win in such a great tournament,” Muir said. “It is a little problematic to have so many good 103-pound wrestlers and wanting to make sure that you find the right guy. We’ve kind of found our two guys and we are going to run with it. Right now, we aren’t going to disclose that because one might get sick or injured. We are still going to be very competitive and that is a good thing to have.”

Chiefs 113-pound wrestler Spencer Stagg competed well against the No. 2 ranked wrestler Caleb Frank from Thompson Falls.

“It was a great match and he’s come along very well,” Muir said. “He is starting to pick up the pace and wrestling technique. He’s going to shine and hasn’t been ranked all year. He was in Ronan his freshman year and then he moved to Arizona. He will be one of the top-3 kids in the state.”

At the 120-pound weight class, Owen Brown, in his freshman season, has already made an impact, according to Muir.

“Owen came out and impressed with a 10-4 score,” Muir said. “He ended up winning six points in the finals and won that by a pretty good decision there.”

At the 126-pound division Hunter Peterson again shined for the Chiefs’ wrestling program.

“Hunter Peterson won it and he was hindered with a little sickness,” Muir said. “He wrestled well and it was really obvious his technique and skill level was really high. He won by a tech fall in the finals by 15 points.”

According to Muir, Noah Cheff wrestled well at the 132-pound division. Ethan Christopher took second at heavy weight and Sam Mockbee took third at heavyweight.

“We were winning small battles,” Muir said. “We have to win those small battles and small things in the match. We have a few guys that are still progressing as a team and winning small battles We ended up winning the match in those small battles.”

Wesley Pablo finished second to Gus Bosley at the 182-pound division.

“He did really well for us and Bosley is just a tough kid and really solid wrestler,” Muir said. “We did a good job of making it to the finals because we were kind of on the fence. He did a great job to make it to the finals against Gus because Gus is the front-runner to win that weight class.”

Other placers included Tyler Houle in third place at 182 pounds and Justin Mayes in third place at 182 pounds.

“Overall, we ended up winning the tournament 186-118 and Plains took second,” Muir said. “That is a pretty good margin. We are looking at being fairly close with Eureka and in the divisional tournament.”