Busy weekend on the mats

Thirteen teams at today's Polson Invitational

Get ready to wrestle.

After a long offseason, wrestlers from Flathead, Glacier, Ronan, Polson, Columbia Falls, Libby and Eureka all hit the mats this weekend.

Class AA Flathead and Glacier High both opened their seasons on Friday, as did Class A Whitefish and Ronan and Class B-C Eureka.

Flathead, Glacier, Polson, Columbia Falls and Eureka are all at the 13-team Polson Invitational today.

While Class AA coaches around the state have all but crowned Flathead as the 2007-08 state champion, the Northwestern A is up in the air.

In Class A competition, Polson, Ronan and Libby all lost a plethora of state placers and the word around the conference is pretty much the same - young and green, but with numbers on the upswing.

Polson, Libby and Columbia Falls have more than 30 wrestlers in their rooms.

Columbia Falls, with three state placers returning, is high on everyone's list to finish well.

Whitefish is in the process of building it's program under first-year coach Ryan Hoffman.

Eureka, with fourth-year coach Danny Lemer at the helm, has returned to Class B-C after a one-year stint in the Northwestern A. The Lions start the season with 11 wrestlers, but figure to add more as the season moves along.

With the experience the Lions gained last year in Class A, Lemer hopes to make a run at a top five finish in Class B-C.

Columbia Falls

The Northwestern A coach most excited for wrestling to begin this weekend is probably Columbia Falls' third-year head coach Jesse Schaeffer.

"We're sitting a lot better than we have in the last three years," Schaeffer said.

Schaeffer has 30 kids in the wrestling room - and three of them are returning state placers.

Those guys are seniors Clayton Patterson, fifth last year at 105, Cody Kolodejchuk, second last year at 130, and Michael Hader, state champion at 140.

"They are kind of our horses this year. A lot will be asked of them and they are going to have to rise to the occasion. But they've all been on the mat many, many years. They know what it takes," Schaeffer said.

Patterson will start the season at 125, Kolodejchuk will start at 140 and Hader will begin at 152.

The news continues to be good for Columbia Falls after those three guys, though.

"We have a pretty solid lineup. We have our main core back," the coach said.

One of the best things for Columbia Falls is it has five or six wrestlers at each grade level - and is also close to a full lineup.

"I'm excited. We are very close to having a full lineup. We might be open in one or two weight classes," Schaeffer said.

But across the conference, almost no one can field a full lineup right now, he said.

"We didn't lose anybody and everybody else lost very important, key wrestlers. I think that's going to be huge," he said.

The only hiccup is a logjam of good wrestlers between 130 and 140 pounds.

"We have a lot of talent at that area. It's going to be a dogfight around there. It'll take a little bit of team work, some cutting, some sacrifice … there are a lot of things that go into a solid lineup," Schaeffer said.

Other returning state qualifiers for the Wildcats are senior Casey Stewart, juniors Travis Pete and Kodie Kenfield and sophomores Virgil Matt, Jarrett Smith and Kelly Houle.

Stewart will start the season at 135, Pete at 125, Kenfield at 215, Matt at 125, Smith at 135 and Houle at 189, the coach said.

The Wildcats also have some newcomers in junior Nathan Woods at heavyweight and senior Bridger Beach at 160.

Woods "is a big solid heavyweight. He seems to be really enjoying it and he's picking things up rapidly," Schaeffer said.

Beach "has been working hard and showing some progress," he added.

Schaeffer is assisted this year by Kelly Houle, Dave Caron and Ben Schaeffer.

Libby

Young … that's the best way to describe the wrestling team the Libby Loggers will be putting on the mat this year.

"This is my greenest squad in probably a dozen years," coach Jay Graham said.

In years past, Graham and the Greenchain have been able to count on a returning state champion or some other big guns.

"They're a good bunch of kids and hard working, but we're green," he said.

"They've got good attitudes."

But there are several other teams in the same boat, he added.

"It'll be interesting," Graham said. "We've got a lot of younger kids, some kids who haven't wrestled before. But we'll plug away.

"I think in the upper weights we're going to be pretty salty - from 152 on up."

The rest of the good news is the Greenchain has 33 to 34 wrestlers out this winter.

But they have just two returning state placers - senior Steve Gary was sixth last year at 152 pounds and junior Justin Graham was sixth at 189.

Gary will start the season at 171.

"He (Gary) looks good. He'll get in there and we'll see where he goes," coach Graham said.

As for Justin Graham, he actually weighed in the neighborhood of 167-168 last year.

"This year, he'll be a true 189-pounder, which will help. He looks all right," the coach - and dad - said.

The Loggers also return four wrestlers who finished in the top four at divisional last year.

Michael Roby was second and he'll be challenging at 112. Kyle Sweedman was also second and he'll be at 140. Brandon Bell, fourth last year, returns at heavyweight and Levi Edwards-Myslicki, also fourth, returns at 119.

"I think Columbia Falls has the most coming back. I'd say they're the team to beat," Graham said.

The Loggers open the season hosting Ronan tonight.

Polson

Six state placers, a divisional title, a third place trophy at the Class A state tournament.

The Polson Pirates had themselves a fine wrestling season in 2006-2007.

But five of those state placers graduated, leaving some big gaps in the Pirate lineup.

But there is plenty of good news.

The Pirates return two state placers - and one of them is the defending state champion at 135 pounds - senior Logan Torgison. He will start the season at 145.

"I'm excited about him," said longtime Pirate head coach Bob Owen.

"He's just such a great athlete. He's fun to coach. He's had a real successful cross country season again. He's got a motor on him that's just incredible. He could wrestle all day if he had to."

The other former state placer is senior Shayne Ludwick. He'll likely start the season at 130.

Owen also has high expectations for a few other kids as well.

Sophomore Brock Picard won the division at 152 pounds last year. He'll likely start the season at 160.

"He loves wrestling. He went to junior nationals this summer and got some pretty good experience under his belt," the coach said.

The Pirates also have junior Keio Salmonson (130), sophomores Trae Fouty (135) and Ty Fouty (140), freshman Sheldon Fisher (152) and seniors Skylar Knutson (215), Shawn Medland (119) and Ryley Duford (171).

Salmonson, Trae Fouty and Duford all placed at divisonal last year.

The other bit of good news for the Pirates is their turnout. They've got 30 wrestlers in the room. That's up about nine kids from the end of last season.

"That's really good for us. It's the best turnout … forever," Owen said.

"I've got a core group of kids that really like wrestling and they're dragging some more in with them," he added.

"I've just got a really good nucleus of kids that really like the sport. It's fun to coach that," Owen said.

"This is a good turnout for us, but I still don't think we're going to quite fill a lineup," he said.

Owen is assisted again this year by Bill Owen and Eric Huffine.

Whitefish

The work is cut out for Hoffman with the Bulldogs.

He has just 10 wrestlers to begin the season. Luckily, he has two returning state placers and a couple returning state qualifiers.

Seniors Phillip Murphy and Matt Starr both placed at state two years ago. Murphy placed sixth at 98 pounds and Starr was fifth at 135. Murphy will be at 135 to start this season and Starr will be at 140. Murphy is off to a good start, the coach said.

"He's looking pretty good," Hoffman said.

"He's got good stuff. We just need to polish a few things."

Starr, who qualified for state last year, is "stronger and more experienced - and he's definitely hungry. He's looking to do well this year," Hoffman said.

Others looking to do well are seniors Jake Scheel and Cody Morris and junior Caleb Prestegaard. All three are retuning state qualifiers.

"He's working hard, trying to get better. That's all you can ask of anybody," Hoffman said of Scheel.

As for Morris and Prestegaard, they're both hoping to be at 145. One of the two will take that spot while the other will jump up to 152, the coach said.

"Those guys are working hard. They're looking pretty good. Obviously, every kid has something they can work on," Hoffman said.

The only other Bulldog with experience is heavyweight Kevin McDowell, out for his second year.

"I think he's more aggressive, a little more confident," Hoffman said.

The Bulldogs also have four first-year wrestlers. They are sophomores Dalton Rice (130), Tanner Benedict (160) and Derek Crittenden (189) and freshman Erik Hanson (135).

"We're still working to get a few guys out that are capable," Hoffman said.

"But it'll take some time (to build a program). I've got to get into a Little Guy program, build it from the bottom up. I've got to get young kids interested and having fun and hopefully that will build a successful program."

Class B

Eureka

Lemer could hardly wait for this day to get here.

It's the first day of what he believes will be a terrific wrestling season for the Eureka Lions.

For one thing, the Lions are back in Class B-C, and while they don't return any state placers from their one year foray into Class A, they did gain a ton of experience and confidence.

"I'm very excited about this season. I have high expectations of this team," the coach said.

He has hopes for a Western B-C title and a good showing at the Class B-C state tournament.

"We're looking for a top five finish at state this year," he said.

The Lions have just 11 wrestlers for this opening weekend, but they expect several more in the coming weeks.

"We don't have much of a dual team. We're going to be giving up 24 to 30 points per dual, but tournament-wise, we'll be able to hold our own," he said.

The Lions have four seniors who expect to do well.

Kallan Roose (215) posted a 26-6 record last year and placed second at the Northwestern A divisional, Balin Rogers was 17-14 last year as a first year wrestler and placed third at divisional as a heavyweight. This year, he's down to 189.

Cory Greenwood was 26-6 last year and placed second at 152. Rounding out the seniors is Nick McMerril at 160.

After that come two juniors. Darik Hume is a second-year wrestler at 125 and Randy Kirkedahl, 24-8 and second at divisional, will be at 119.

Sophomores are Taylor Brown at 140 and Erik Roe at 112.

The Lions also have two freshman Lemer is excited about.

Brian Price (145) was a Little Guy state champion last year and Taylor Vaughn (135) is a "very, very solid technician.

"I'm very impressed with the team we have this year," Lemer said.

"It's the best attitude I've seen since I've been coaching. They're calling me up to do two-a-days.

"It's been a blast so far. They're very hungry. There's definitely an intensity in the wrestling room I have not seen in many, many years."

Lemer is assisted this season by Braidy Yargus, Rod Roe and Jared Savik.