Pirates wrestlers ready to hit the mats

Polson High School wrestling coach Bob Owen has to like his chances of capturing a Class A Montana state wrestling title this fall.

Owen will have ten returning state participants on his roster that also boasts of seven returning state placers as his Pirates team prepares to enter the 2017 wrestling season.

Aside from talent and skill, one of the key components to Polson’s success will simply be experience.

“Any coach will tell you nothing replaces experience,” Owen said. “Even our younger wrestlers got experience at the state tournament and saw what it is like. They won’t have that stage fright and the experience factor we have is huge.”

Though Owen said he is confident his team will be one of the teams that could potentially be in the mix for a state title, he knows one of the favorites will be year-in and year-out favorite Havre. Last season, Havre dominated the Montana Class A wrestling scene and according to Owen, this year will be no exception.

“As always, Havre will be the team to beat,” Owen said. “They just have tremendous athletes. They have that tradition and nothing will be replace that tradition. They think that they are supposed to win and that winning is what they’ve set their sights on.”

The Pirates will have to face other top-tier teams in the revamped Class A District.

“Along with Havre, Columbia Falls will probably be very solid this year, Hardin will again be good and Frenchtown will also be tough,” Owen said. “I don’t know how deep Frenchtown will be but they have two of the better kids in the whole state in any weight class and should be right there.”

Of the Pirates’ seven state placers, Owen acknowledged several on his team put in a significant amount of time this off season.

Some of the more noteworthy competitors Owen said devoted time towards improving their technique include Polson wrestlers Bridger Wenzel, Parker Adler, Hunter Fritsch and Noah Humphrey. Wenzel placed third last year in his weight classification of 126-pounds and Adler finished second at the 138-pound division. Cameron Brown, at the 148-pound weight class, and Noah Humphrey, who competed at the 182-pound weight class, were other wrestlers that devoted a lot of off season time towards improving technique and focusing on improving their strength.

Other wrestlers Owen said he felt will make an early-season impact are Kedrick Baker, freshman Maysn Cowell, who captured the Little Guy Wrestling Tournament Championship, RJ Pierre, who wasn’t able to participate last season because of an injury and 103-pounder Brody Soderquist.

“If we can stay healthy, we are going to be competitive,” Owen said. “That is my biggest wish is to stay healthy and that our wrestlers are competitive, eager to learn, healthy and are progressing. Then we are going to be very competitive.”

The Pirates will begin their season hosting the 19-team wrestling tournament Friday, Dec. 1 at Linderman Elementary School. The Pirates and the other competitors involved in the tournament will have an opportunity to showcase their skills against wrestlers from all levels from Class B-C all the way up to AA teams.

“That is the one nice thing about this tournament is that we have Double-AA competition and the other competition we have coming into our tournament now is pretty stiff,” Owen said. “It is a very competitive tournament. We are going get a chance to see where our kids are at and also know what we have to work on going forward.”

The Polson Pirates will look to build on the momentum and its solid tradition and reputation as they get set to begin the season.

Last year the Polson Pirates had several players that finished the season as medalists.

The Polson Pirates team will boast a solid core of veteran and young wrestlers that will help solidify Polson’s future as one of the top-tier wrestling teams in the state.

This year they will be joined by their Mission Valley rivals Ronan, who hope to continue their wrestling tradition under the Chiefs’ new wrestling coach Dylan Kramer.

Kramer, a graduate from Western Montana, that continues Ronan’s wrestling tradition that continues to produce individual state championship wrestling contenders year after year back in Class A.