The wrestling season is officially over, with Lake County wrestlers from four different programs shining at the Montana High School Association State All-Class Wrestling Tournament from Feb. 19-21 in Billings.

From Ronan’s Cooper Wayman being runner-up to the Ronan girls top five finish, here is a look at the stars from last week’s high school wrestling finale.

Wayman, Ronan girls have standout results

It was a remarkable weekend for the Ronan wrestling team, with four wrestlers placing combined between both the boys and girls sides.

First, the boys had two wrestlers place. The first was Cooper Wayman at 215, who had an unbelievable run to the Class A 215 title match.

He didn’t drop a point in his first two matches before fighting a close 9-8 victory over Fergus’s Jack Pallett. Wayman had to fight his way back into it in the second and third periods, taking the win and heading to the championship. He fell to Hardin’s Bruno Pallone on a takedown, making him the runner-up for 215. 

The other Ronan boy to place was Luc Cheff, who earned third at 132. Cheff fought through his first four matches, winning out with some high point totals. He lost to Billings Central/Joliet’s Xander McCann but locked up third place against Columbia Falls’s Bradley Beck.

On the girls side, two wrestlers earned third-place finishes. Leona Dodson Howe took third in 155. She didn’t drop a point in her first two matches before dropping a close decision to Conrad’s Lucy Armstrong. Dodson Howe finished out the tournament with two wins, beating Butte’s Mattle Stepan for the third-place win.

River Cote was the other third-place finisher, this time at 105. Cote only dropped one point before her loss to Billings Central/Joliet’s Emma Hernandez in the semifinal. She rebounded for third place with a bronze clinching match over Billings Senior’s Serina Catt.

The girls earned a fifth-place finish in the girls bracket while the boys finished their season at 16th in the Class A boys championship.

Polson gets two wrestlers in the places

Polson had two wrestlers place in the state tournament, with one each on the boys and girls side.

Levi Atkins earned a fourth-place finish in the 138 weight class. After dropping his first match to Custer County’s Rafe Wilson, he won out all the way to the third-place match. He ended up dropping his final match against Stevensville’s Benjamin White, ending the tournament at fourth place.

On the girls side, Kaiah Dumont got seventh place in 135. After winning her first match, she lost to Dawson County’s Kinley Liles. Dumont won, then lost, to put her in the seventh-place match. She won that one over Lockwood’s Arya Hernandez.

The Polson boys finished 17th in the standings in Class A, while the Polson girls finished 28th.

Mission/Charlo sees three wrestlers place in B/C tourney

Mission/Charlo had the second most wrestlers of all Lake County schools to place with two boys and one girl. 

On the girls side, Olivia Carnell earned fourth place in the 170 weight class. Carnell dropped her second match of the tournament before winning three straight to head to the third-place match. She dropped that one to Browning’s Hayden Edwards, securing her fourth-place finish.

Donovan Daniels and Dakota Zeiler each earned sixth place. Daniels earned it in the 190 weight class where he dropped his second match to head to consolation. He lost his last two matches of the tournament but still earned sixth. 

Zeiler earned sixth in the 157 weight class. After winning his first match, he dropped his second to go to the consolation bracket. He went on to win his third match before dropping his last two to seal his sixth place spot.

The Mission/Charlo boys earned 14th in the B/C tournament and the Mission/Charlo girls earned 35th in the team championship.

Haynes, Naugle place as only two Arlee wrestlers

Arlee had a successful weekend at state as their only two listed wrestlers earned places.

Dominick Haynes earned a third-place finish on the B/C boys side at 138. Haynes dropped his second match of the tournament to Conrad’s Blaine VanDyke to head over to the consolation bracket. Haynes rebounded, winning three straight matches to get to the third-place match.

Who else but VanDyke was waiting for him for a rematch. Haynes battled and ultimately came out on top with a decision victory.

Anola Naugle earned fifth place at 130 for the girls. She dropped a match early to Belgrade’s Charlee Lund but won two in a row with a chance to head to the third-place match. 

She dropped that match but, much like her teammate on the other side, she got a rematch. Lund was there but Naugle stepped up. She won in the rematch and earned a fifth-place finish.

Arlee boys earned 29th in the boys and 56th in the girls.