Folkstyle wrestlers at State

The Malta Wrestling Club participated in the 2018 Montana State AAU Folkstyle Tournament held Friday, March 9 through Sunday, March 11 in Great Falls. The event included wrestlers of all ages.

Malta had one champion, Midget 112-pound class Kenan LaBrie of Whitewater, who won his championship by way of 11-8 decision over James Mills of the Stars N Stripes Wrestling Club. He scored a total of 24 points, leading Malta who finished 38th overall as a team.

"County-wide, those guys continue to wrestle and keep growing the sport of wrestling in our whole community," Malta Wrestling Club Coach Ryan LaBrie said. "Any time you get ten kids down there to state against quality wrestlers, it is fun to see them have success."

LaBrie reached the title match by winning his first two matches of the tournament. Those victories included a pinfall win over Kade Blythe of Stars N Stripes Wrestling Club in 1:41 in the opening round and a pinfall over East Helena Wrestling Club's Jamison Waeckerlin at :40.

"We have been pretty successful at all levels and that's fun for those kids and fun for our program," Coach LaBrie said.

Laytin Erickson of Saco, of the Midget 90-pound class, scored 15 points and placed fifth, winning the fifth-place match over Blitzkrieg's Ryder Zamberg by a 6-3 decision.

Erickson had previously lost his quarterfinal match against Zamburg but managed to pick up two wins in the elimination round. He would lose the consolation semi-finals to Noah Dionne of the Havre Wrestling Club due to an injury at :23.

Callan Mears scored eight points and took fifth place in the Elite 160-pound class. Mears lost the quarterfinal round to Kyler Alm on the Sudden Death Wrestling Club but won his first elimination match over Norton Chavis of Project Wrestling by pinfall at 2:45.

Mears lost his consolation semi-final match to Matthew Middleton of Project Wrestling by pinfall at 2:42, but won the fifth-place match over Nathan Avoy of Miles City Wrestling Club by a 6-2 decision.

Schoolboy 105-pounder Cameron Mikesell scored 13 points for Malta and took sixth place, losing the fifth-place match to Reinhard Bold of North Montana Wrestling Club by pinfall at :54.

Mikesell opened the event with a first-round bye, then he proceeded to win the next round by pinning Rustler Wrestling Club's Cayden Doran at 3:51. Mikesell won his second match, a quarterfinal bout with Maddox Ruffalto of Team Champs by pinfall at 2:18.

Mikesell would go on to lose his semi-final match to Elijah Ratliff by pinfall at 2:42 and his consolation semi-final match to Reinhard.

Colby Wright, a Bantam 45-pounder scored 7.50 points for Malta, going 2-2. He picked up wins in his first two rounds, pinning Gannon Slade of Stars and Stripes at 2:42 and defeating Bozeman Wrestling Club's Tucker Buckley by pin Technical Fall (15-0).

Novice 80-pounder Straud Sims scored six points for Malta, going 2-2, picking up a win over Laurel Mattburners' Logan Knaub by 9-0 Major Decision in the first round and a win over Travis Alston of the Stillwater Wrestling Club by pinfall at 3:34.

Cadet 145-pounder RC Skiff scored three points for Malta, picking up a win in the first round of elimination over Benjamin Schreher of the Argo Wrestling Club by pinfall at 1:00.

The Malta Middle School wrestlers saw action in Chinook last Friday, March 9.

"We tried to get everyone matches from fifth to eighth grade in Chinook," Coach LaBrie said. "There were a lot of quality matches. Our more seasoned eighth graders like Oren (Mackey) and Cash (Salsbery) continued to do good things, wrestle well and a lot of it is attributed to the way those guys work and continue to work."

Oren Mackey is headed to the Rocky Mountain Nationals in Denver, Colo. on Saturday, March 17.

Malta Middle School will be holding their home meet at the Old Gym on Thursday, March 15, starting at 4:30 p.m.

The Little Guy Wrestlers will head to Great Falls for the Central Little Guy State event on Saturday, March 17. 6U and 8U will begin at 9 a.m. and conclude at 12:30 p.m. 10U, 12U, and 14U is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. and conclude at 4 p.m.