Flathead, Glacier head to wrestling divisionals
Glacier can say the same thing: The Wolfpack girls are in fact No. 6 in the latest state-wide rankings, while a young Flathead squad sits outside the top 10.
Flathead’s boys, meanwhile, are No. 2 in the AA rankings, which remain unchanged from last week, heading into action Friday and Saturday at Helena Capital High School.
Coach Jeff Thompson is taking 25 wrestlers to the meet. Two of them, son Anders Thompson at 205 and heavyweight Sawyer Troupe, are unbeaten.
Many more, like Anders’ twin Gunnar Thompson (18-2 at 182) and freshman Kellan Downing (33-4 at 103), are pretty close.
"It's going to be one heck of a tight race this year and we need to wrestle lights out tough this weekend at divisionals to be able to challenge Billing West and Great Falls High at State,” the elder Thompson said. “The hay is in the barn and now we just need to let it fly.”
Glacier’s boys are led by junior Mark Ahner, who is 20-7 at 170, and Kaleb Shine, who is 27-2 at 145. At 152 Nikola Coles has gone 7-1 in limited action.
Sophomore Kaura Coles leads Wolfpack girls with a 10-0 mark; she’s a returning state champion while teammate Brooke Yeadon (8-3 at 107) was second at State a year ago.
Beyond that Kylie Shine has the fastest pin, 27 seconds, and has 17 wins besides for Glacier.
Divisionals are different for the girls; the MHSA is applying a distribution equation to the results, designed to keep the AA schools from getting significantly more qualifiers to state than the schools from Class A.
It may affect how many girls Glacier and Flathead get into State, which will again wrestle as one class. The Wolfpack are taking nine wrestlers to Helena; Flathead is taking 21 Bravettes.
“I’d love to see over 50 percent of them qualify for state but our team is super young,” said Flathead coach Amber Downing. “The state is incredibly talented in girls wrestling right now, and it’s been fun to watch them grow. No matter how it falls out it will be amazing for them to see that great potential.”
Ten of the Bravettes are sophomores or freshman, though sophomore Bella Downing (no relation to Amber) has one of the better records: 26-3 at 120.
Divisional Lineups
Flathead Boys
103: Kellen Downing 15-4 in AA matches, 33-4 overall.
113: Dayton Naldrett 8-7, 18-12; Dawson Hamland 0-0, 15-6.
120: Hunter Arriaga 16-2, 31-8; David Naldrett 0-0, 8-7.
126: Diesel Thompson 11-1, 22-5; Will Barnes 5-4, 22-9.
132: Aiden Downing 14-2, 31-8; Coy Miller 0-0, 14-7.
138: Daniel Evert 17-7, 31-8; Cory Tappen 0-0, 14-9.
145: Dane Lake 14-5, 26-5; Brett Chivers 2-4, 20-8.
152: Lane Chivers 15-6, 28-9; Korbin Baldwin 0-0, 21-8.
160: Colton Kuka 6-4, 22-9; Joey Pardue-Bernabe 0-0, 12-10.
170: Logan Stansberry 9-4, 13-5; Cliff Nance 5-2, 16-8.
182: Gunnar Thompson 12-2, 18-2; Kohen Riley 7-0, 25-8.
205: Anders Thompson 19-0, 38-0; Conor LeDuce 5-2, 19-7.
285: Sawyer Troupe 16-0, 34-0; Xander Winter 0-0, 18-10.
Glacier Boys
103: Aiden Sweat 13-4, 15-4.
120: Garrett Bosch 7-4, 11-5; Dillion Sams 0-3, 0-5.
126: Payton Steward 5-12, 11-16.
132: Emery Bergstedt 3-11, 3-13; Jaden Beston 0-0, 0-0.
138: Welcome Chapman 4-9, 8-13; Cole Opre 1-4, 1-6.
145: Kaleb Shine 17-1, 27-2; Riley Sinclaire 1-4, 2-6.
152: Nikola Coles 4-0, 7-1; McKayde Clevenger 5-3, 6-3.
160: Shannon Hughes 9-6, 11-12; Matthew Ahner 5-3, 9-6.
170: Mark Ahner 13-3, 20-7.
182: Tristan Hall 2-7, 2-7; Daniel Pederson 0-0, 2-2.
205: Noah Horn 11-5, 19-10.
Glacier Girls
100: Katelyn Sphuler 9-7 record; Abbie McClatchey 10-7.
107: Brooke Yeadon 8-3.
114: Kaura Coles 10-0.
120: Temree Payne-Taylor 16-9; Ella Labrum 0-2.
126: Mikaela Julius 10-12; Kirilynn Johnson 2-9.
132: Kylie Shine 18-5.
Flathead Girls
100: Mykel Lee 4-4.
107: Dania Hennel 7-7; Harloe Reyes 0-0.
114: Adi Siegel 25-7; Kaiya Nelson 4-4.
120: Bella Downing 26-3; Jessa Morris 11-6.
126: Brady Boll 13-2; Brynn Mailman 5-8.
132: Kiera Lackey 19-8; Autumn Thompson 13-10.
138: Kylie Amundson 8-6; Haley Wilson 18-10.
152: Kaydence Edwards 9-7; Aspen Smart 2-8.
165: Bridget Smith 19-13; Reese Conley 6-5.
185: Josie Olzewski 2-8.
235: Lucie Libby 20-7.