Braves, Wolfpack rule tourney

POLSON - Kalispell wrestling is doing just fine, thank you very much.

The Flathead Braves and Glacier Wolfpack combined to score 355.5 points for first- and second-place finishes on Saturday at the 34th Polson Invitational.

The Braves scored 203.5 points, had three champions and six finalists.

Glacier scored 152 points with two champions and three finalists.

Flathead champions were freshman Gavyn Wilson (98), Caleb Piasecki (119) and Connor Thomas (275). Glacier champions are Christian Knopp (105) and Kaleb Mitchell (112).

Both Matt Owen of Flathead and Mark Fischer of Glacier had smiles on their faces at night's end.

"Its always nice to bring home hardware," coach Owen said as he cradled the tournament first place plaque.

"I thought it was a fantastic day. The kids went out there and everyone of them wrestled extremely hard. You win some, you lose some, but the biggest thing we took out of this weekend is we went out there and competed hard," he said.

The tournament is a terrific measuring stick, according to both coaches.

"You can start fine-tuning some things. You pick out the little mistakes they are making and then you go back to the practice room and get things fixed," Owen said.

The errors were small, though, Owen emphasized.

"It's mostly just certain situations where we aren't quite reacting like we should be reacting. Kids are going to make mistakes, especially this early in the season.

"We went out there and competed for six minutes. There's lots of little things. It' a work in progress," he smiled.

"We're not there with Flathead yet and Sentinel is going to be tough on Thursday. It's going to be a good dual on Thursday (with Sentinel), something to look forward to," said coach Fischer.

"Our kids wrestled like they should. I can't pick any matches where we did horrible," he said.

"I thought the kids went out there and battled. We did everything we really could."

"We're doing a good job of wrestling physical and wrestling six minutes. Our kids are in good condition and our kids are strong. A lot of mistakes, maybe, that we can work on, but that's good," Fischer said.

"I feel so great about everything that's going on in our program. I have an awesome group of parents, an awesome group of kids and a great coaching staff.

"I feel really good about where our program is right now," Fischer said.

Owen was pleased with the efforts of Flathead's three champions.

"He's a fantastic wrestler and this is the first time he's won this tournament. That was a huge accomplishment for him and kind of a springboard into the season," Owen said of Piasecki.

"Connor Thomas did a fantastic job," he added. "He wrestled six hard minutes and was actually a little under the weather, but he went out there and gutted it out."

Polson Invitational

Team Totals

Flathead 203.5, Glacier 152, Sentinel 149.5, Corvallis 135.5, Polson 105.5, Eureka 95, Frenchtown 93.5, Columbia Falls 70.5, Mission-Charlotte 68.5, Hamilton 63, Thompson Falls 38.5, Whitefish 8, Superior 4

Individual Results

98: 1. Gavyn Wilson, Flathead, 2. Colton Cox, Ham, 3. Morgan Schultz, Mission, 4. Kaleb Mohn, WF.

105: 1. Christian Knopp, Glacier, 2 . kale Liehr, Flat,3 . Carlos Qiinos, Pol, 4 . Taylor Martin, Pol. JV.

112: 1 . Kaleb Mitchell, Glacier, 2 .Levi Gingerich, Cor. 3. Cody Lemons, Frtown. 4. Carson Waban, Frtown.

119: 1 . Caleb Piasecki, Flat, 2. Jake Kinkel, Flat, 3. Sal Baccaro, Col.Falls, 4. Alek Mitchell, Glacier.

125: 1. Justin Whitman, Col.Falls, 2. Cody Tally, Flat, 3.Cody Isler, Frtown, 4. Zachary Barber, Glacier.

130: 1. Brandon Edwards, Sent., 2. Luke Davenport, Sent.JV, 3. Jesse Alfiero, Pol., 4. Adam Richardson, Col.Falls.

135: 1. Travis Davis, Corv., 2. Zac Westre, Frtown JV, 3. Lucas Mantel, Glacier, 4. Scotty Gilleard, Mission.

140: 1. Jacob Young, Pol. 2. Devan Williams, Corv., 3. Joey Hiett, Sent., 4. Jacob Egley, Flat.

145: 1. Sean King, Sent., 2. Riley Nagel, Corv., 3. Jeremiah Gaiser, Flat., 4. Raymond Jessop, Corv JV.

152: 1. Brad Nordahl, Frtown, 2. Shane St. Onge, Glacier, 3. Jason Peterson, Mission, 4. Quincy Jessop, Corv.

160: 1. Josh Seeberger, Sent., 2. Larry Francis, Flat., 3. Matt Iavicoli, Glacier, 4. Kyle Thomas, Corv.

171: 1.Taylor Vaughn, Eur., 2. Troy Capp, Hamilton, 3. Josh Erickson, Flat, 4. Dawson Day, Glacier.

189: 1.Michael Wilson, Eur., 2. Joel Lewis, Mission, 3. Sawyer Depee, Sent., 4. Alex Rudolph, Flat.

215: 1. Collin Gillard, Eur., 2. Billy Winsett, Ham., 3. Mack Sutherland, Glacier, 4. Tyler Alsup, Sent.

275: 1. Connor Thomas, Flat., 2. Josiah Clairmont, Polson, 3. Joel Horn, Glacier, 4. Devante Wilson, Frtown.