Mustangs place five at state

The Malta-Whitewater Mustangs Wrestling team placed five of ten of their wrestlers that participated in the 2018 State B-C Wrestling tournament held at the MetraPark Arena in Billings on Friday, February 9 through Saturday, February 10.

“We had five of our ten wrestlers place, so it was a pretty decent weekend overall,” Mustangs Head Coach Ryan LaBrie told the PCN.

The Mustangs took seventh overall with a total of 88 points, led by seniors Kaden Moore (145-pounds) and Trey Simanton (138-pounds), who both took third place in their respective weight classes. Senior Ceaton Mears (152-pounds) took fifth place. Senior Travis Epperson (182-pounds) and sophomore Luke Lawless (205-pounder) both took sixth place.

“We have been wrestling our butts off all year,” Coach LaBrie said. “We had a fantastic divisional and a fantastic state tournament. Maybe not the place that we could of and should have finished but the effort level was maxed out.”

The Colstrip Rams won the Class B title for the third time in the past five years with a total of 196 points. Eureka took second with 127.5, Glasgow took third with 120.5, Huntley was fourth with 101.5.

Malta was one point from tying for fifth place with Forsyth, who had 89 points and a half point from tying Thompson Falls, who took sixth with 88.5 points.

Malta's Moore fought back to win third place in the 145 consolation finals, despite losing his opening match to Sam Schmidt of Huntley by a 7-4 decision. Though Schmidt would eventually be eliminated in a consolation round, Moore would go on to win five straight, racking up a team-high 21 points. Moore defeated Wolf Point's Quinn Whitmus by pin fall at 3:03.

“It was just a fantastic effort to be able to come back from that far,” Coach LaBrie said. “Very rarely does that ever happen with anybody.”

It was the third time Moore had placed at the State Tourney.

Simanton became a four-time placer at State, taking third place in the 138 consolation final, after defeating Avery Meinzen of Florence-Carlton by 6-0 decision. He scored 20 points for the Mustangs.

Simanton won his first two rounds, pinning his first opponent Kaelen Smith of Poplar at 1:04 and pinning his second opponent Darwin Adams of (Saint-Ignatius – Charlo) at 4:33.

Simanton would lose to Jackson Currier of Colstip in the semifinal round by a 11-9 sudden victory in overtime. Currier would eventually win the 138 title over Trey Taylor of Circle, the third title of his high school career.

“If anyone was going to knock off Currier, it probably would have been Trey,” Coach LaBrie said. “It was one of the best matches this year for both of them. It could have went our way and it didn't. You are never okay with losing, but if you are going to lose, lose to the best other than some kid you feel like you should have beaten for the rest of your life.”

Simanton would win the consolation semi-finals over Jefferson's Jacob Travis by pin fall at 2:13, which set him up for the third place match with Meinzen.

Mears, would take fifth place in the 152 class over James Fehr of Lincoln County by pin fall at :56.

“He stayed focused and wrestled well throughout,” Coach LaBrie said.

Epperson took sixth in the 182 class after losing the fifth place math to Bus Bosley of Saint Ignatius – Charlo by 14-6 Major Decision.

“He is the stereotypical, works for everything he's got; that's Travis,” Coach LaBrie said, noting he was proud of the growth and effort he had seen from Epperson.

Lawless took sixth place in the 205 pound class after losing the fifth place match to Nick Workman of Jefferson by pin fall at 1:18.

Andres Lopez would go 2-2, Callan Mears would go 1-2, Miles Bunk would go 0-2 and heavyweight Frankie Werk would go 0-2.

The Mustangs have seen their last action of the year and the team will have a new look next season. Coach LaBrie expressed pride in this year's senior class, but he is optimistic that the team will be competitive for years to come.

“We have got a good class of seniors with Trey, Kaden, Ceaton and Travis on the way out of the door,” Coach LaBrie said. “We have got a great bunch of eighth-graders who are continuing to develop and could be in those guys' same shoes as juniors and seniors. We are fortunate that even with the four we graduate, we are still a young team.”