Malta third at home tourney

The Malta-Whitewater Mustangs wrestling team took third place in the Malta Athletic Club Wrestling Invitational last Saturday at Malta High School on Saturday, January 27.

The Invitational capped a two-day event, which included the Malta-Glasgow duals on Friday, January 26, as well as the Senior Night for Malta's four seniors, which included Whitewater High School's Trey Simanton, and Malta High School's Kaden Moore, Ceaton Mears, and Travis Epperson.

Havre, a perennial Class A powerhouse, won the Invitational with 184.52, Glasgow took second with 151, Malta-Whitewater had 130 and took third, Poplar was fourth with 79, and Circle was fifth with 73.

Malta was led by Simanton, who went 3-0, scored a total of 24 points, and won the 138 title over Wolf Point's Quinn Whitmus by pin fall at 1:32.

Simanton was appreciative of the crowd at his home meet.

"It feels good," Simanton said. "I'm excited and the intensity should be much better since we are at home."

Though the team consensus was that they wrestled well at the invitational, a few wrestlers knew that their efforts Friday could've gone better.

"We just didn't come out with much intensity and lost matches that we should have won," Simanton said. "We weren't on our toes and we were pretty flat."

On the morning of the event, Malta made sure to focus.

"We got a good warm-up and did some sprints and everyone is feeling a lot better," Simanton said.

Mears took first place in the 152 class by going 2-0, scoring a total of 22 points, and won the 152 title over JT Hauer of Chinook with less than one minute left in regulation (5:04).

Upon hearing his sideline yell, "We need a pin," which would give Malta more points, Mears was able to seal his championship win.

"I almost had him pinned in the second round but the ro-und was up," Mears said. "we need points because Havre and Glasgow are going for it, so it was good that I was able to get it. I just outworked him and he got tired."

Mears was glad to get a championship win in front of his home crowd.

"It's good to get a win, especially for some of the people that can't come because their other kids are playing in to basketball games," Mears said. "It's good to have the hometown crowd here."

Mears earned the Kevin Salsbery Memorial Award, which is given to the tournament's most outstanding wrestler. It is an award voted on by coaches at the event.

Epperson went 2-1 and took second place in the 182 class after losing the 182 champ match to Glasgow's Dylan Nieskins by way of 5-0 decision.

Earlier, Epperson defeated Poplar's Tyson Sutherland by pin fall at 5:48 in the semifinals.

"I kept going after it and kept trying to get shots and get up on points," Epperson said.

Epperson was appreciative of the opportunity to wrestle in Malta for two consecutive meets, including divisionals on Saturday, February 3.

"It feels good to have a home meet and to have divisionals in Malta again," Epperson said. "I look forward to divisionals next week. And I look forward to finish out the season the best I can."

Moore took second in the 145 class losing the championship match to Havre's Martin Wilkie by 16-4 Major Decision.

Andres Lopez went 2-1 and took second place in the 170 class after losing the championship match to Mason Dionne of Havre by pin fall at 2:58.

"In the beginning of the season, I wasn't in that good of shape," Lopez said. "But now I am and I can actually last all three rounds now."

Callan Mears took fourth place in the 132 class, going 2-2 that day. Luke Lawless also took fourth after going 2-2 in the 205 class.

Frankie Werk went 2-2 in the heavyweight class but did not place. Werk won his first match in consolation over Harlem's Xavier Walker by pin fall as time expired in the first round.

"I just tripped him up and I was on top of him," Werk said.

Werk was happy to get a win in front of the home crowd.

"It's pretty sweet," Werk said. "I could hear my dad sometimes yelling for me to get up. I wasn't on the bottom this time, so he didn't say anything."