Braves dominate mat action

The Daily Inter Lake

POLSON - Just too much.

Too many weapons and too much talent - the Flathead Braves steamrolled their Western Montana wrestling competition at Saturday's Polson Invitational.

Flathead captured first place with 306 1/2 points, easily outdistancing second place Missoula Sentinel at 139. Frenchtown was third at 125.5.

The highlights were many for Flathead.

All in all, the Braves had nine champions, 12 finalists and 15 placers.

"Basically, our momentum just kind of rolled over into today from yesterday," said Flathead coach Jeff Thompson.

The Braves went into the tournament hoping to improve on their 64-7 dual victory over Butte.

They got that done - and then some.

Flathead lost just two matches in Friday's dual. Those two wrestlers - Zach Reimnitz and Jeremiah Gaiser - bounced back with phenomenal performances Saturday.

Reimnitz won the tournament at 105 pounds and Gaiser placed third at 125. The only wrestler to beat Gaiser was eventual champ Jake Love of Sentinel, a two-time state finalist.

Other Flathead highlights were: Luke Fischer at 189. Fischer built a 12-0 lead over Hamilton's Brady Anderson, then pinned him.

"He wrestled so well this weekend," Thompson said of Fischer.

At 119 pounds, Joaquin Calderon was the winner, in overtime, against Thompson Falls' Matt Hoiern.

"He is the most talented young man. He's so fast and so slick, so gifted, with a gas tank that never runs out … and he just continues to improve," Thompson said of Calderon.

Other champions for Flathead were Shawn Lau (112), Tanner Beaman (130), T.C. Decker (140), Tyler Wells (160), David Lau (171) and Tyler Thomas (Hwt).

Other local champions were Polson's Logan Torgison at 145 and Kallan Roose of Eureka at 215.

Glacier coach Mark Fischer was also pleased with what he saw from the young Wolfpack.

Two Glacier wrestlers placed - freshman Stormy Day was second at 125 pounds and heavyweight John Frandsen placed third.

"We were a little bit shell-shocked at the beginning. We've just got a lot of young kids. But as the tournament progressed, the kids got better," he said.

"A lot of these kids haven't been to a tournament before, but they just kept getting better. For a first tournament, they did great," he added.

"There was some great improvement," he said.

Day "wrestled awesome," Fischer said.

He lost in the finals to Sentinel's Love, but the match was close.

"We felt pretty good about that," the coach said.

The Wolfpack is at Missoula Sentinel on Thursday, then both Glacier and the Braves head to Butte for the Mining City Duals this weekend.

"We want to just continue to build upon today and break the curse of the Mining City Duals. That's the only tournament Flathead has never won. We've taken second too many times to count," Thompson said.

Polson Invitational

Team scores: Flathead 306.5, Sentinel 139, Frenchtown 125.5, Corvallis 120.5, Polson 114.5, Eureka 88, Hamilton 77, Whitefish 68, Columbia Falls 54, Glacier 47, Thompson Falls 40, St. Ignatius 25, Superior 2.

98: 1. Tyler Stedman, Frt; 2. Caleb Piasecki, F; 3. Cliff Evans, Sent.; 4. Zach Westre, Frt. JV. 105: 1. Zach Reimnitz, F; 2. Clay Armstrong, Frt.; 3. Vlade Joyner, Corv. 112: 1. Shawn Lau, F; 2. Chad Hanson, Frt.; 3. Ryan Swelland, F-JV; 4. Stephen DuBose, Corv. 119: 1. Joaquin Calderon, F; 2. Matt Hoiern, TF; 3. Clayton Patterson, CF; 4. Curt Sprague, Frt.; 125: 1. Jake Love, Sentinel; 2. Stormy Day, Glacier; 3. Jeremiah Gaiser, F; 4. Randy Kelley, Pol.; 130: 1. Tanner Beaman, F; 2. Nick Ramsey, Sent; 3. Taylor Allan, Corv.; 4. Brad Nordahl, Frt.; 135: 1. Landon DellaSilva, Corv.; 2. Brian Ham, F; 3. Trae Fouty, Pol.; 4. Taylor Vaughan, Eur.; 140: 1. T.C. Decker, F; 2. Dan Hamilton, Sent.; 3. Matt Starr, WF; 4. Taylor Brown, Eur. 145: 1. Logan Torgison, Pol.; 2. Ryan Thiel, F; 3. Kaleb Prestegaard, WF; 4. Nathan DuBose, Corv; 152: 1. Alex Martin, Ham.; 2. Cory Greenwood, Eur.; 3. Derek Nelson, Frt.; 4. Josh Hamilton, Sent. 160: 1. Tyler Wells, F; 2. Brock Picard, Pol., 3. Scott Hickey, Sent.; 4. Trevor Capp, Ham. 171: 1. David Lau, F; 2. Cody Way, Frt.; 3. Danny Gates, Corv.; 4. Coulton Weighle, Ham.; 189: 1. Luke Fischer, F; 2. Brady Anderson, Ham; 3. Kelly Houle, CF; 4. Brennan Fischer, Frt.; 215: 1. Kallan Roose, Eur; 2. Jake Scheel, WF,; 3. Justin Waverek, F-JV; 4. Mark Svenson, F. Hwt: 1. Tyler Thomas, F; 2. Keith Brandt, Frt.; 3. John Frandsen, G; 4. Cody Albright, Ham.