Glacier third in Holiday Classic

GREAT FALLS - The Glacier Wolfpack wrestlers wound up third at the CMR Holiday Classic on Saturday.

Great Falls was first at 195.5, Belgrade was second at 189 and Glacier had 185.5.

The Wolfpack had two runners-up and five fourth-place finishers.

With the exceptions of Missoula Sentinel and Flathead, who both competed at the Tri-State Tournament in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, this weekend, every Class AA team was in Great Falls.

The tightness of the finish had Glacier coach Mark Fischer smiling.

"This kind of let us know where we are at," he said.

"There's still room for improvement, but I feel really good about where we are going into Christmas break," he said.

Wolfpack runners-up were Kaleb Mitchell (105) and Joel Horn (285).

Mitchell lost a 6-5 decision to Justin Waterson of Billings Skyview while Horn was pinned in 3:44.

Other Glacier wrestlers who placed - all fourth - were Christian Knopp (98), Alek Mitchell (112), Zach Barber (125), Lucas Mantel (130) and Grant Tafoya (145).

"We could not have wrestled any better," Fischer said of Saturday's performance. "We had rounds where we had tough kids and all the kids came through," he said.

Fischer had compliments for all six placers.

Knopp "had a lot of the top kids in his weight class," Fischer said.

Kaleb Mitchell knocked off a returning state champion to get into the championship, then lost on a last-second call. Twin brother Alek also "wrestled really tough," the coach said.

Barber "had a heckuva tournament. He was wrestling tough kids the entire time and coming through with wins," the coach said.

As for Mantel "just like normal, just clawed his way through every single match," Fischer said.

The coach also had kind words for Tafoya and Horn.

Team Totals

1. Great Falls 195.5; 2. Belgrade 189; 3. Kalispell Glacier 185.5; 4. Havre 171.5; 5. Billings Senior 153.5; 6. Bozeman 149; 7. Glasgow 124.5; 8. Butte 120; 9. Billings Skyview 119.5; 10. Laurel 114; 11. Choteau 103.5; 12. Lewistown 101.5; 13. Missoula Big Sky 98; 14. Helena 97; 15. Helena Capital 93; 16. Ronan 88; 17. Billings West 87; 18. Dillon 82; 19. Townsend 77; 20. Conrad 72; 21. CMR 69.5; 22. (tie) Frenchtown 69; and Harlem 69; 24. Chinook 65; 25. Fort Benton 46; 26. (tie) Cut Bank 43 and Livingston 43; 28. Great Falls JV 37; 29. Arlee 34; 30. Missoula Hellgate 31; 31. Chester-Joplin-Inverness 29; 32. Browning 28.5; 33. Cascade/Simms 28; 34. CMR JV 19; 35. Anaconda 13.5; 36. Shelby 11; 37. Big Sandy 9; 38. Belt 7; 39. Butte Central 0; Poplar 0

1st-2nd place

98-Grant Boggs, Helena, dec. Vito Degidio, Bozeman, 4-1; 105-Justin Waterson, Billings Skyview, dec. Kaleb Mitchell, Glacier, 6-5; 112-Luke Schlosser , Conrad, dec. Cameron Alverson, Belgrade, 7-6; 119-Duell Stadel, Havre, dec. Colin Rupert, Bozeman, 8-4; 125-Jade Rauser, Townsend, dec. Clay Cathey, Billings Sky-view, 6-4; 130-Val Rauser, Townsend, dec. Cole Mendenhall, Great Falls, 10-8 OT; 135-Josh Morin, Great Falls, dec. Tanner Sprenkle, Billings Senior, 3-2; 140-Jesse Werdal , Choteau, pinned Luke Paine, Billings Senior, 2:22; 145-Dylan Mendenhall, Great Falls, dec. Rex Martin, Lewistown, 5-3 OT; 152-Brad Nordahl , Frenchtown, dec. Ben Sulser, Billings Senior, 6-4 OT; 160-Connor Malone, Lewistown, dec. Jordan Malarchick, Belgrade, 4-3; 171-Adam DeBruycker , Choteau, dec. Trent Jones, Harlem, 5-3; 189-Benjamin Stroh, Chinook, pinned Toby Cheff, Ronan, :58; 215-Jorrell Jones, Chinook, dec. Chaz Hopstad, Glasgow, 8-4; 285-Chad Sickles, Missoula Big Sky, pinned Joel Horn, Glacier, 3:44

Outsanding Wrestler-Josh Morin of Great Falls High

Quick Pin Award-Benjamin Stroh of Chinook. 5 pins in 8:49

3rd-4th place

98-Tayte Wegner, Billings Senior, dec. Christian Knopp, Glacier, 2-0; 105-Josh Smart, Great Falls, dec. Zak Harney, Butte, 5-3; 112-Gabe Schroeck, Helena, pinned Alek Mitchell, Glacier, 1:38; 119-Bryce Weatherston, Belgrade, dec. Brock Miller, Billings Skyview, 8-1; 125-Tre Yaeger, Lewistown, dec. Zach Barber, Glacier, 2-0; 130-Shawn Tezak, Dillon, dec. Lucas Mantel, Glacier, 7-5; 135-Luke Zeiger, Glasgow, dec. Colton Dirden, Harlem ; 140-Tommy Cooper , Laurel, m-dec.Tyler Christians, Helena, 10-1; 145-Cole Rice , Arlee, T-fall Grant Tafoya, Glacier, 15-0; 152-Eli Hinebauch, Havre, dec. Natty Lambert, Bozeman, 8-5; 160-Dylan Kramer , Laurel, m-dec.Cole McArthur, Ronan, 11-2; 171-Casey Schaub, Havre, pinned Justin Ricker, Belgrade, 4:55; 189-Levi Cade, Belgrade, dec. Taylor Buck , Choteau, 5-2; 215-Brock Calvi, Cut Bank, pinned Austin Rehyer, Belgrade, 3:39; 285-John Kellems, Great Falls, pinned Zach Smith, Helena Capital, 2:05

5th-6th place

98-Justin Conklin, Missoula Big Sky, dec. Bryan Armstrong, Butte ; 105-CJ Ness, Billings Senior, m-dec.Austin Lundin, Helena Capital, 14-2; 112-Jacob Bethea, Glasgow, dec. Koby Reyes, Billings West, 7-1; 119-Braden Hallock, Glasgow, dec. Austin Shupe, Great Falls, 5-2; 125-Andrew Teigan, Ronan, pinned Cody Ishler , Frenchtown, 1:42; 130-Marcus Kolp, Bozeman, dec. Jeremy Quinterro, Belgrade, 8-2; 135-Dillon Seeley, Havre, pinned Bryce Armstrong, Butte, 3:55; 140-Dexter Trask, Lewistown, dec. Ethan Sterling, Bel-grade, 12-8; 145-Sam Shelton, Billings Skyview, dec. Dilan Starkle, Dillon, 9-5; 152-Derek McGrath, Butte, pinned Ryan Bergtoll, Glasgow, 2:57; 160-Johnny Schlosser , Conrad, dec. Jake Dallaserra, Butte ; 171-Chris Yocum, Butte, dec. Jake Leinwand, Billings West, 5-4; 189-Skyler Carroll, Livingston, dec. Ryan Otto, C.M. Russell, 6-4; 215-Phil Selin, C.M. Russell, pinned Josh Salipich, Havre, 4:19; 285-Jacob Moderie, Missoula Hellgate, dec. Tyler Adams, Havre, 2-1

Consolation 5th round

98-Tayte Wegner, Billings Senior, dec. Jace Holman, Billings Skyview, 4-1; Christian Knopp, Glacier, pinned Shay Snider, Harlem, 5:39

125-Zach Barber, Glacier, pinned Anthony Zimmer, Great Falls, 2:57; Tre Yaeger, Lewistown, dec. Taylor Anderson, Bozeman, 10-9

130-Lucas Mantel, Glacier, pinned Jackson Haider, Helena Capital, 3:29; Jeremy Quinterro, Belgrade, pinned Justin Buhl, Butte, 3:59

189-Skyler Carroll, Livingston, pinned Lucas Schultz , Conrad, 2:03; Taylor Buck , Choteau, dec. Boyce Bal-lard, Glacier, 7-5

215-Josh Salipich, Havre, pinned Zeke Koslosky, Dillon, 1:59; Phil Selin, C.M. Russell, dec. Levi Nagel, Bozeman, 3-2

285-Tyler Adams, Havre, pinned Bridger Wren, Great Falls JV, 1:48; Zach Smith, Helena Capital, pinned Blake Ereaux, Fort Benton, 2:07

Championship Semifinals

105- Kaleb Mitchell, Glacier, dec. Zak Harney, Butte, 4-2

112 - Luke Schlosser, Conrad, m-dec. Alek Mitchell, Glacier, 15-2

285 - Chad Sickles, Missoula Big Sky, pinned Jacob Moderie, Missoula Hellgate, 1:31; Joel Horn, Glacier, dec. John Kellems, Great Falls, 10-3

Consolation 4th round

98 - Christian Knopp, Glacier, pinned Stephen Ferestad, Billings West, 2:18

125 - Zach Barber, Glacier, dec. Marcus Osborne, Dillon, 11-8

130 - Lucas Mantel, Glacier, dec. Tate Morgan, Billings Skyview, 14-12

152- Natty Lambert, Bozeman, dec. Shane St. Onge, Glacier, 6-4 OT