ST. IGNATIUS — Arlee wrestler Cole Rice and Mission/Charlo wrestler Jame Petersen have seen a lot of each other lately.

They competed against each other twice in three days last week and both took home first place in their respective weight classes last Sunday at the same tournament.

When the Warriors faced Mission/Charlo last Tuesday, Rice and Petersen faced off again, as Rice moved up to the 145-weight class. On Jan. 9, the two competed against each other in the Ronan tournament where Petersen won 6-3.

This time, Petersen once again won the close match 5-3 in the meet’s most exciting event.

“That one came down to the wire,” Mission/Charlo head coach Lyle Cronk said. “I was really glad to have that match. When we have  good wrestlers sometimes it can be hard to get good competition for them.”

Petersen is ranked third at 145, while Rice is first in 140 and Hill said, off the mat, the two are good friends.

“They are two of the toughest kids on the mat around here,” he said. “But there is no animosity between them after the match. That’s the neat part.”

At the dual, Mission/Charlo won 51-25. Eight of the matches ended with a pin. Warriors Austin Rubel and Damon Cordier earned two for Arlee. The Bulldogs saw six pins in their favor from Casey Nitschke, Scotty Gilleard, Dakota Matt, Travis DuMont, Barrett Sargent and Nick Dinnell.

Cronk said the dual featured a lot of the same match-ups but some had different results.

In the 189-pound match, Arlee’s Curt Seidel won a close 15-12 decision over Bulldog Juel Lewis. Last time, Lewis was pinned.

In Choteau, Rice and Petersen were the only two Lake County wrestlers to take home first. Rice dropped down to the 140 weight class and pinned Huntley Project’s Loren Walker in 75 seconds.

“He’s just wrestling tough,” Hill said of Rice’s tournament.

Also placing for Arlee was freshman Austin Rubel, who took fifth at 105.

“He is making strides to be a good wrestler,” Hill said.

Damon Cordier was one match away from placing, Hill said.

For the Bulldogs, Gilleard finished second after he was pinned in his 125 match and Dillion Edwards and Russell Schultz each took sixth.

As teams, Arlee finished 36 and Mission/Charlo ended 11 out of 32 teams. most of which will wrestle at the B-C level for state.

“We got a good look at the teams from Eastern Montana,” Hill said.

Arlee will travel to the Ted Kato tournament, where most teams are western B-C teams.

“It will be more of the same tough competition,” Hill said. “Its a good meet for our younger guys to beat some one and get ranked for divisionals.”

Al Plant, Leif Rova, Shane Gillette, Cody North and Cordier each have a shot at getting ranked.

“They have lots of ability,” Hill said. “It’s all mental confidence.”

For Mission/Charlo, Petersen competed at 145 pounds and won a 6-4 decision over Conrad’s John Schlosser.

Cronk said he knew Petersen would win, but he had to overcome the distractions that come with a bigger stage.

“I expected him to win that tournament,” Cronk said. “But sometimes, things can get hairy. He saw a lot of adversity.”

Teammate Gilleard took second after he was pinned by Townsnd’s Cal Rauser.

“He stepped it up and wrestled outstanding,” Cronk said. “I was really excited about that. He completely dominated his semifinal match.”

Dilon Edwards and Russell Schultz both took sixth place.

At the JV tournament, the Bulldogs had five wrestlers place.

Sargent took first in 171, Matt took second at 140, Lewis took second at 189, Dallin Torrell took third at 152 and Trevor Warsonic took third at heavyweight.

As a team, Mission/Charlo was one point shy of cracking the top-ten teams.

“All-in-all, I’m pretty proud,” Cronk said. 

Mission/Charlo will join Arlee at the Ted Kato this weekend.