Braves geared up for Mining City Duals

You better believe the Flathead Braves have been thinking about this one for a while.

As any fan of Flathead wrestling can tell you, the Braves have never won the Mining City Duals.

"We've taken second so many times. We've always been in the hunt, but we've never been able to pull it off," Flathead coach Jeff Thompson said.

"Overall, we are very excited and ready to battle this weekend for an opportunity to finally get the monkey of not winning the Mining City Duals off our back," he said.

"It's kind of been one of our missions this whole year. The men are healthy, they're ready to battle and it's time," he said.

Class A teams have won this meet the last three years. Havre won last year - it downed Flathead 44-26 in the championship. The Braves were second the year before as well, losing the championship dual to Sidney 38-32.

The Braves are in Pool 2 with Anaconda, Hardin and Billings Senior. The Glacier Wolfpack, fresh off its 72-16 win Thursday over Missoula Hellgate, is in with CMR, Huntley Project and Dillon.

"This is going to be a good test for us," Glacier coach Mark Fischer said.

"It's going to be a lot of wrestling. We'll see if we can continue to have that success," he said.

As for area Class A teams, Polson and Columbia Falls are in Pool 6 with Helena Capital, Billings Skyview and Whitefish in Pool 3 with Great Falls, Colstrip and Butte.

The Braves will have Dan Jenkins (125), Bryce Stacy (145) and Ian Damon (171/189) in their lineup for the first time this season.

"We are up to speed and we think we'll be very competitive. We're going to do the best we can to get it done this year," Thompson said.

"But we've really got to stick to our playbook and wrestle our aggressive style and dominate the third period this weekend.

"We expect the toughest competition to come from Great Falls High, CMR, Skyview and Havre.

"But we can't take anybody for granted. That second day can just wear on you," Thompson added.

If they do win this weekend, it's just the first stop in a competitive month for the Braves.

They head next weekend to Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, for the Tri-State Tournament and they follow that up with a trip Dec. 21-22 to Gillette, Wyo.

"If we want to make some noise, this is it, right here," Thompson said.

"We've been pushing them really hard early in the season. We basically run the college room in the high school and these guys have been responding really well."

Mining City Duals

Today's schedule

Round 1, 10 a.m. - Butte vs. Whitefish, Havre vs. Choteau, Sidney vs. Bozeman, Flathead vs. Hardin, Anaconda vs. Billings Senior.

Round 2, 11:30 a.m.- Great Falls vs. Colstrip, Great Falls Russell vs. Glacier, Dillon vs. Huntley Project, Conrad vs. Helena, Billongs West vs. Corvallis.

Round 3, 1 p.m. - Polson vs. Columbia Falls, Helena Capital vs. Billings Skyview, Havre vs. Bozeman, Butte vs. Colstrip, Flathead vs. Billings Senior.

Round 4, 2:30 p.m. - Hardin vs. Anaconda, Great Falls vs. Whitefish, Great Falls Russell vs. Huntley Project, Sidney vs. Choteau, Glacier vs. Dillon.

Round 5, 4 p.m. - Conrad vs. Corvallis, Helena vs. Billings West, Polson vs. Helena Capital, Columbia Falls vs. Billings Skyview, Havre vs. Sidney

Round 6, 5:30 p.m. - Choteau vs. Bozeman, Flathead vs. Anaconda, Hardin vs. Billings Senior, Colstrip vs. Whitefish, Butte vs. Great Falls.

Round 7, 7 p.m. - Great Falls Russell vs. Dillon, Glacier vs. Dillon, Conrad vs. Billings West, Helena vs. Corvallis, Polson vs. Helena Capital, Columbia Falls vs. Billings Skyview.

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Flathead wrestling

Projected varsity lineup for

Mining City Duals

Weight Name Rcrd State place Grade

98 Caleb Piasecki 3-0 9

Extra Zach Reimnitz 1-1 5th 11

105 Steel Hahn 9

112 Shawn Lau 4-0 1 10

Extra Ryan Swelland 3-1 11

119 Joaquin Calderon 4-0 4th 10

Extra Jeremiah Gaiser 4-2 9

125 Dan Jenkins 3rd 11

130 Tanner Beaman 5-0 5th 11

135 Brian Ham 4-1 1st 12

140 TC Decker 5-0 1st/2nd 12

Extra Steven Mantel 4-2

145 Ryan Thiel 4-1 4th 11

Extra Bryce Stacy 1st 11

152 Tyler Wells 2nd 12

160 David Lau 2nd 12

171 Luke Fischer 2nd 12

Extra Ian Damon 5th 11

189 Ian Damon 5th 11 215 Mark Svenson 6th 12

Extra Justin Waverek 3rd 12

275 Tyler Thomas 6th 11