STATE A WRESTLING PREVIEW: Blue Ponies hunt for three-peat
February 13, 2009 Northwest Montana A Conference
STATE A WRESTLING PREVIEW: Blue Ponies hunt for three-peat
By NICK LOCKRIDGE of the Missoulian Scott Filius will have a bunch of figuring out to do this weekend.
The Havre coach and his troops will almost certainly run roughshod over the rest of the Class A competition at the All-Class state wrestling meet, but by how much seems to be the only question.
The top-ranked Blue Ponies seek a record-tying eighth team title as the two-day event opens Friday at Billings' MetraPark. The two-time defending state champs won last year's meet with a record 282.5 points. Three individual state champions return from that squad, who combine with the eight other Eastern A No. 1 seeds going to state this year, to give Havre a clear edge.
"That's hard to compete with," said Ronan head coach Ryan Fisher, whose team took second to the Ponies at state last year. "Beyond that ... well, I'm not going to say it's wide open, but there are about five teams that can really come in and gobble up one of the two team trophies, but a lot of things have to go right."
Sidney, which won four team titles in a row from 2003-06 and currently holds the state record for most championships at the Class A level, is one of this year's contenders. As is Belgrade, Ronan, Corvallis, Miles City and a handful of others.
But make no mistake, it's the Ponies' show and they are looking to ride off with their fifth title of the decade.
"We're all hoping they take a pretty good hit in graduation here in the coming years," said Corvallis head coach Jeff Nagel "But they'd have to screw up pretty bad, not to win it this year."
A western Montana team hasn't won the State A tourney since Corvallis did in 2002. The Blue Devils and Polson, of the Northwestern A, qualified the most wrestlers in the region with 16 apiece.
However, neither team produced as many top seeds as Havre or even Ronan for that matter. The Northwestern A champion Chiefs qualified 12 wrestlers for state, including seven No. 1 seeds.
"That definitely helps out, but again you're at state - nothing is a given," Fisher said. "It sets up a number of our guys pretty well, in terms of heading to state because you want to capture as many of those (No. 1s) as you can."
"We've got some legitimate shots for these kids to earn state titles. It should be pretty exciting."
Included in that mix are multiple state-placers Zach Robinson, who was a state runner-up at 105 pounds last year and will again be at that weight, Cameron Neiss (125), Micky Cheff (145) and Toby Cheff (160), who all finished third last year.
There are 10 returning state champions total, but just two of them are from the west, juniors Tyler Stedman of Frenchtown and Brock Picard of Polson.
Stedman wrestles at 112 pounds, the same division as Havre senior Chris Recio, who is going for his third individual title. Seniors Ethan Hinebauch (160) and Myles Mazurkiewicz (135) are the other returning champs for Havre.
Mazurkiewicz is wrestling at the same weight as Lewistown's Ryan Martin, who's seeking his third straight title.
Miles City has a trio of returning state champions in Kylan Zumpf (119), Derick Singleton (125) and Casey Makor (130) - all seniors.
Picard wrestles at 171 pounds. He is the Pirates' most decorated wrestlers and one of just three No. 1 seeds from his team.
Corvallis, the Southwestern A winner, doesn't appear to be one of state's top contenders either, because of just four divisinal winners.
Freshman Travis Davis (119) appears to be the Devils' best hope of a finals appearance.
"I don't think we're a great state team, but we have a few individuals who may do well," Nagel said. "The reason why we won divisionals is because we have good team depth."
"Frenchtown got third and they might score higher at state than us, because they might get three kids in the finals. It'd be hard for us to even come close to that."
Some of the west's other top contenders include Columbia Falls junior Kelly Houle and Hamilton junior Wes Sherman, who were both state runners-up in 2008.
Houle bumped up a weight to 215, where Libby senior Justin Graham awaits. Graham was third a year ago.
Sidney's Beau Melby is the defending champion at 189, but his stiffest competition could come in the semifinals, where he's projected to meet up with Hamilton senior Brady Anderson, who took fourth last year.
"That's the draw. Sometimes the best matchups are in the semifinals," Fisher said. "But it's the most fair way to do it. It's just, unfortunately, sometimes you get the two best kids on the same side."
Frenchtown's Clay Armstrong (105) and Brad Nordahl (140) were also fourth at state a year ago.
Class A wrestling
Defending champ: Havre
Favorite: Havre
Contenders: Belgrade, Ronan and Sidney.
Last 10 team champs (year): Havre (2008), Havre (2007), Sidney (2006), Sidney (2005), Sidney (2004), Sidney (2003), Corvallis (2002), Havre (2001), Sidney (2000), Havre (1999).
Defending individual champs (current weight): Tyler Stedman (112), Frenchtown, jr.; Chris Recio (112), Havre, sr.; Kylan Zumpf (119), Miles City, sr.; Derick Singleton (125), Miles City, sr.; Casey Makor (130), Miles City, sr.; Myles Mazurkiewicz (135), Havre, sr.; Ryan Martin (135), Lewistown, jr.; Ethan Hinebauch (160), Havre, sr.; Brock Picard (171), Polson, jr.; Beau Melby (189), Sidney, sr.
Going for three: Recio, who won at 98 in 2007 and 105 last year; Martin, who won at 125 in 2007 and 135 last year.
Other champs in the field: none. |
NATIONAL
MONTANA
