Cats pin Whitefish
<p>Columbia Falls' Miguel Garate pins Whitefish's Matt Carr at the 44-second mark of the first period of the 182-pound match at Columbia Falls on Tuesday. The Mat Cats won the dual 58-12. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
<p>Columbia Falls' Austin Nelson and Whitefish's Parker McWhirter scramble for position during the 103-pound match of the dual on Tuesday. Nelson won the match with a first-period pin. (Aaric Bryan/Daily Inter Lake)</p>
COLUMBIA FALLS — Anything can happen in a Cat-Dog wrestling dual. With just under 10 miles separating the rival schools, the intensity seems to be a bit higher when the Mat Cats and Bulldogs collide.
But Tuesday night’s Northwest A wrestling dual was anything but unpredictbale as Columbia Falls rolled to a dominating 58-12 victory over Whitefish.
Five Mat Cats recorded pins and three more won by forfeit, accounting for 48 of Columbia Falls’ 58 points.
Austin Nelson (103), Kalob Nelson (138), Colton Sweeney (145), Miguel Garate (182) and Ike Schweikert (205) won by pin for the Mat Cats. Garate earned the fastest fall of the night, pinning Matt Carr just 44 seconds into the match.
A state qualifier in 2014, Whitefish’s Matt Sampson earned one of two pins for the Bulldogs. The senior won the 170-pound match against Dale Meyer with a second-period fall in 3:46.
The Bulldogs got six more points from heavyweight junior Steven Quimby. Qumby pinned Blake Arneson in 3:15.
Three matches went the entire six minutes and all were in favor of Columbia Falls. Ben Windauer (120) won by major decision, defeating James Buckley 14-2.
A pair of narrow decisions highlighted the night and, again, Columbia Falls came out on top in both bouts. In the 132-pound weight class, freshman Nathan Hader edged senior Garret Rice 10-7. Two state qualifiers from a year ago met in the 160-pound weight class and did not disappoint. Columbia Falls’ sophomore Storm Kemppainen eked out a dramatic one-point victory over senior Judah Prestegaard, winning 7-6.
The Mat Cats will look to continue their success agaiunst conference opponents when they travel to Polson on Thursday for a 6 p.m. dual against the Pirates.
Whitefish is also back in action on Thursday with plenty of wrestling on their plate. The Bulldogs travel to Frenchtown to for a quad dual, facing Frenchtown at 5 p.m., Belgrade at 6:30, and Lake City (Washington) at 7:30.
Columbia Falls 58, Whitefish 12
103 — Austin Nelson, CF, pin Parker McWhirter, 2:44; 113 — Colby Clark, CF, win by forfeit. 120 — Ben Windauer, CF, maj. dec. James Buckley, 14-2; 126 — Brandon Thomas, CF, win by forfeit; 132 — Nathan Hader, CF, def. Garrett Rice, 10-7; 138 — Kalob Nelson, CF, pin Brooks Krause, 5:24; 145 — Colton Sweeny, CF, pin Malik Hayden, 1:06; 152 — Troy Meyer, CF, win by forfeit; 160 — Storm Kemppainen, CF, def. Judah Prestegaard, 7-6; 170 — Matt Sampson, WF, pin Dale Meyer, 3:46; 182 — Miguel Garate, CF, pin Matt Carr, :44; 205 — Ike Schweikert, CF, pin Travis Catina, 3:29; 285 — Steven Quimby, WF, pin Blake Arneson, 3:15.