MatCats’ time is right now

BILLINGS — It’s been a long time since a Northwest Montana team has captured a State A wrestling crown, and even longer for one from Columbia Falls.

Justin Windauer figured the time was now.

“I”ve known it all along,” said Windauer, who picked up the 160-pound title, his second, at First Interstate Arena Saturday. “We had the talent last year but all those injuries held us back. I knew we’d have the talent again this year, and it showed on the mat this weekend.”

While Windauer was the lone individual champion, the MatCats piled up the points — 201 in all, to 152 for Miles City and 146 for Laurel (five-time defending champion Sidney was fourth at 144.5).

Ten MatCats placed, pushing Columbia Falls to its first wrestling title since 1990 and third overall. It’s also the first for a Northwest team since Polson went back-to-back in 1995-96.

Two Columbia Falls wrestlers lost in the finals: Tyler Gilfrey at 126 pounds and Chris Rathjen at 138.

Windauer, the 138-pound champ a year ago recently moved up to 160 — Blaise Cronk beat teammate Josiah Kilman in the 152-pound third-place match, by the way — partly to help the MatCats score points. Bonus points, as it turned out.

Facing new competition, he cruised into the final with three pins. Then he needed a takedown in the last 15 seconds to subdue Hardin’s Miles Wells in the final, 7-6.

It was the toughest of his 44 on-mat wins this season.

“For sure,” Windauer said. “ I knew about him, but I’d never wrestled him before. He felt big, and strong. He had it all. He was good.”

Windauer was up to the task, and so were his teammates. Traic Fainter (103), Rowdy Crump (170) and Brandon Role (182) had third-place finishes; Matthew Reske was fifth at 132; Winslow Peters (138), Billy Gustafson (145) and Blake Hoerner (138) all placed sixth.

“Our guys wrestled super well,” Windauer said. “It’s fun watching them grow. I’ve been wrestling with most of them since, I don’t know, elementary school. Most of them are like brothers, and it’s fun to see them succeed.

“It was a great experience this weekend.”

Libby’s Jace DeShazer capped off his second straight title in impressive fashion, with a pin just 53 seconds into the 205 final. It was the junior’s fourth win by fall on the weekend, and three matches ended under a minute.

Ronan’s Ridge Cote was second at 120 pounds, dropping a 7-2 decision to Lockwood’s Brody Ketterling. Two more Chiefs lost third-place matches: Koda King at 145 and Landon Bishop at 160.

Whitefish’s 205-pound Kai Nash finished sixth.

Eureka third in B/C

The Eureka Lions made a lot happen with a small army this weekend, scoring 122 points. That was good for a third-place trophy.

Huntley Project repeated as team champion with 201 points and Three Forks was next at 154.5.

Eureka was led by Timothy Schmidt: A freshman, he beat defending state champion Brayden Linville of Three Forks for the second time in a week, winning a 5-2 decision.

The Lions also saw Blake Lancaster take third at 113 — he lost to Schmidt 5-2 in the semifinals. Caden Pecora (152) and Wes Banks (205) also took third, heavyweight Riley Hume was fourth and Colyn Johnson was fifth at 205.

Add it up and it’s a state trophy.

“I don’t think we were expected to, but we knew we could take one home,” said Schmidt, who went 43-3 this season.

Area placers include John Waterbury of Plains-Hot Springs, who was third at 132; and Eli Ratliff of Thompson Falls, who lost the 160-pound final to Huntley Project’s Wylee Lindeen, 3-2.

Thompson Falls did have a state champion: Max Hannum piled up four pins on the way to the 170-pound title.

State A boys

Team scores — Columbia Falls 201, Miles City 152, Laurel 146, Sidney/Fairview 144.5, Frenchtown 131, Havre 124.

103: Semifinal - Gordon Knapp (Sidney/Fairview) dec. Traic Fainter (Columbia Falls), 6-0; Isaac Stewart (Frenchtown) dec. August Courville (Ronan), 4-0. Cons. Semi - Fainter p. Philip Westrick (Lockwood), 0:28; Kona Fandrich (Lockwood) dec. Courville, 11-9. 5th Place Match - Westrick p. Courville, 2:53). 3rd Place - Fainter p. Fandrich, 2:32.

120: Semifinal - Ridge Cote (Ronan) dec. Brody Keysor (Sidney/Fairview), 10-3. Championship - Brody Ketterling (Lockwood) dec. Cote, 7-2.

126: Semifinal - Tyler Gilfry (Columbia Falls) dec. Dalton Hinbauch (Lockwood), 6-1. Championship - Cole Krutzfeldt (Lockwood) dec. Gilfry, 13-6.

132: Cons. Semi - Trae DeSaveur (Livingston) p. Blake Hoerner (Columbia Falls, 1:15. 5th Place Match - Matthew Reske (Glendive) p. Hoerner, 3:51.

138: Semifinal - Chris Rathjen (Columbia Falls) dec. Winslow Peters (Columbia Falls), 7-0. Cons. Semi - Owen Lonski (Sidney/Fairview) dec. Peters, 7-2. 5th Place - Gage McGillvray (Livingston) p. Peters, 4:02. Championship - Tristan Stygles (Havre) p. Rathjen, 1:00.

145: Semifinal - Tahj Wells (Browning) dec. Billy Gustafson (Columbia Falls), 5-4. Cons. Semi - Koda King (Ronan) p. Gustafson, 2:44. 5th Place - Aden Winder (Laurel) p. Gustafson, 2:26. Championship - Zander Dean (Sidney/Fairview) dec. Wells, 8-3.

152: Semifinal - Reinhard Bold (Havre) maj. dec. Josiah Kilman (Columbia Falls), 10-1. Cons. Semi - Kilman p. Kade Wersland (Laurel), 2:27; Blaise Cronk (Columbia Falls) p. Deegan Tvedt (Miles City), 2:45. 3rd Place - Cronk p. Kilman, 2:41.

160: Semifinal - Justin Windauer (Columbia Falls) p. Espyn Hostetler (Glendive), 4:40; Miles Wells (Hardin) dec. Landon Bishop (Ronan), 10-6. Cons. Semi - Bishop maj. dec. Beau Mares (Laurel), 15-7. 3rd Place - Hostetler dec. Bishop, 10-9) Championship - Windauer dec. Miles Wells (Hardin), 7-6).

170: Cons. Semi - Rowdy Crump (Columbia Falls) maj. dec. Andrew Frederick (Hamilton), 20-9; Kadin Wise (Sidney/Fairview) dec. James Warner (Libby/Troy), 7-5. 5th Place - Andrew Frederick (Hamilton) inj. def. Warner, 1:49. 3rd Place - Crump won in sudden victory over Kadin Wise (Sidney/Fairview), 4-2.

182: Semifinal - Kale VanCampen (Havre) dec. Brandon Role (Columbia Falls), 8-3. Cons. Semi - Role dec. Nathan Hansen (Frenchtown), 8-1. 3rd Place - Role dec. Easton DeJong (Miles City), 4-3.

205: Semifinal - Jace DeShazer (Libby/Troy) p. Bryce Weidow (Corvallis), 0:28. Cons. Semi - Derrick Saltzman (Hamilton) dec. Kai Nash (Whitefish), 7-3. 5th Place - Bryce Weidow (Corvallis) p. Nash (Whitefish), 2:25. Championship - DeShazer p. Jett Boyce (Lewistown), 0:53.

285: Semifinal - Brendyn Whiteman (Browning) p. Jackson Miller (Miles City), 0:54. 1st Place Match - Holden Meged (Miles City) maj. dec. Whiteman, 11-3.

State B/C boys

Team scores — Huntley Project 201, Three Forks 154.5, Eureka 122, Boulder 101, Cut Bank 95, Whitehall 90.

Individual results

113: Semifinal - Timothy Schmidt (Eureka) dec. Blake Lancaster (Eureka), 5-2. Cons. Semi - Lancaster dec. Isaac Skogen (Whitehall), 2-0. 3rd Place - Lancaster p. Trevor O’Hara (Fort Benton), 4:53. Championship - Schmidt dec. Brayden Linville (Three Forks), 5-2.

170: Semifinal - Max Hannum (Thompson Falls/Noxon) p. Mason Donaldson (Glasgow), 3:05. Championship - Hannum p. Miles Hoerauf (Whitehall), 3:40.

205: Cons. Semi - Connor Sawyer (Cascade) dec. Colyn Johnson (Eureka), 9-5; Wes Banks (Eureka) dec. Jeyden Sullivan (Boulder), 8-2). 3rd Place Match - Banks dec. Sawyer, 4-2. 5th Place - Johnson dec. Sullivan, 6-2.

285: Cons. Semi - Riley Hume (Eureka) p. Arie McLaughlin (Florence-Carlton), 1:14. 3rd Place - Aidan Miller (Anaconda) p. Hume, 2:42.