Brawlers 2nd, Bravettes 3rd at Missoula tourneys

MISSOULA — Brett Chivers and Hunter Arriaga won individual championships, five more Flathead wrestlers placed in the top four and the Brave Brawlers finished second at the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic that concluded Saturday at Sentinel High School.

Chivers won the quick-pin award for the tournament, racking up four falls in a total of 5 minutes, 20 seconds at 157 pounds. He beat a pair of Spokane wrestlers on the way to the title, edging Evan Urann of Mead 5-4 in the semifinals before he pinned Isaiah Ramirez of University High in 1:33. 

Arriaga won all of his five matches at 144 pounds in technical fall, all but one before the first period was over. His toughest match came with Mead’s Trandyn Lundquist; it ended in 3:05 with the score 22-7. 

“Hunter Arriaga and Brett Chivers are really improving and wrestling hard for six minutes,” said Flathead coach Jeff Thompson, who noted Arriaga beat returning Jug Beck champion Kade Wallace in the 144-pound final. 

Mead scored 267.5 points for the team title; Flathead was next at 212, followed by Butte High at 196. 

Glacier scored 112 points and finished 10th. Matthew Ahner lost to Mead’s Duane Leslie in the 175-pound final, while teammate Aidan Sweat finished third at 118, getting a pin of Flathead’s Caleb Poe-Hatten in the consolation final. 

Noah Horn placed sixth at 285 for the Wolfpack as well. 

Poe-Hatten, Liam LeDuc (165), Colten Conover (175) and Kohen Rilley (215) were fourth for Flathead, while Connor LeDuc shook off an 8-3 semifinal loss to Mead’s Ehtan Harvey to win two matches. He pinned Libby’s Ian Thom in the third-fourth match. 

“Connor LeDuc and Kohen Riley ... had a great tournament coming back in the consolation bracket,” Thompson said. “Colton Conover beat a few wrestlers that he lost to early in the season. 

“Dayton Naldrett (110) and Aidan Lake (126) both lost absolute barn-burners in the blood round. Close matches are what these boys right now to get better.” 

A pair of Columbia Falls wrestlers also fared well at the 34-team tournament, starting with Blaise Cronk, who lost a 4-3 decision to Tyson Rice of Williston, N.D. in the 165 final. Teammate Fisher Whitaker won five of eight matches to place sixth at 144. 

Maidens win Hellgate Invite; Bravettes 3rd 

MISSOULA — Behind 105-pound champion River Cote and two runner-up finishers — Marie Cheff at 105 and Leona Dodson at 155 — the Ronan Maidens narrowly won the team title at the Missoula Hellgate Wrestling Invitational Saturday. 

Ronan edged Butte 169-168.5 for the team title, with Flathead not far back at 160. 

Glacier, behind 100-pound champion Katelyn Spuhler, scored 93 points to place 14th out of 32 teams. 

Ronan put six on the podium, with Judasha Ellsworth (235), Finley Taylor (190) and Sierra McGreevey (130) all placing fourth. Cote squared off with her teammate Cheff in the 105-pound final, getting the pin in 38 seconds. 

Flathead had five get to the podium, led by Bella Downing’s second at 120 pounds; she was an injury default out of the final. 

Kiera Lackey was third at 135, while Bravettes Kyra McMahon (120) and Eilisa Bernable (135) were fourth and Samantha Bennetts (130) took sixth. 

“After scoring an early lead in Day 1, the girls had a rough first round on Day 2, dropping a few close winnable matches,” Flathead coach Amber Downing said. 

Spuhler and Butte’s Peyton Liva wrestled into the third period of the 100-pound final, before the Glacier standout got the pin in 5:29. 

Her teammate Keira Oftedahl was fourth at 100; she fell to Liva in the quarters, then to Kricket Bridges of Eureka in the third-fourth match. 

Kylie Shine was third at 130 for the Pack, pinning Ronan’s McGreevey. 

“I am looking forward to getting four girls back into our starting lineup over the next two weeks and finishing the season strong,” Wolfpack girls coach Chris Leck said. 

Other area wrestlers who fared well include Kellyn Nelson of Polson, who won the 140-pound bracket; the Lady Pirates’ Venessa Wheeler, third at 145; Columbia Falls’ Hailey Littlefield, sixth at 235; Libby’s Meghan Connelley, fifth at 155; and Meadow Ragen (fourth at 155) and Olivia Carnell (fifth at 170) for Mission. 

Whitefish’s Taylor Dorvall was second at 130 pounds, and teammate Orla Sullivan was third at 190. 

Full results from both tournaments can be found at trackwrestling.com.