Three wrestlers place at State

The Malta Wrestling team saw its first State B championship bout since 2014, as senior Callan Mears qualified and wrestling for the 160-pound title on Saturday, February 15, in Billings at the Rimrock Arena.

Mears would fall in the championship to Rylin Burns of Colstrip, taking second place in his weight class, while freshman Cameron Mikesell took third place in the 113 class and freshman Camryn "Reggie" Mears took sixth in the 145 class.

"Between divisionals and state, I think we wrestled our best the whole year, so I couldn't really be happier," Malta Head Coach Steve French said.

As a team the Mustangs took 11th place with a total of 60 points with a total of five wrestlers. Their total was second amongst Northern B teams, despite Malta taking fifth at the Northern B Divisional.

The Glasgow Scotties won the Class B Title with 154 points. Huntley Project was second with 134, Lincoln County was third with 126, Whitehall was fourth with 117, and Circle was fifth. Cut Bank was the highest placing team from the Northern B, taking 10th with a total of 66 points.

In Cal. Mears' championship match against Burns (who won a state title in 2019), Mears was caught in a shrug move and was pinned at the 28 second mark.

"He just turned us with a half-nelson, which is unusual at this level," Coach French said of Burns. "So he must be incredibly strong. I wish we had wrestled him prior to that time. He was at 170 earlier this year and dropped down, so we didn't have a chance to wrestle him."

Prior to his championship match, Cal. Mears defeated Florence-Carlton's Avery Meinzen the champion of the Western Divisional in the semi-finals. Meinzen wrestled despite having a knee injury but ultimately was pinned by Mears with one minute and 15 seconds left in the third period. To reach the semi-finals Mears defeated Townsend's Ty Henry Steele by 15-4 Major Decision in the quarter-finals and Arlee's Demetrix Austin in the opening round by pinfall at 1:31.

Mears title match run nearly came to an end against Steele. Despite leading throughout the match, Mears nearly got pinned at the conclusion of the second round. He escaped.

"I was scared and I didn't want to get pinned, I can tell you that," Mears said also mentioning Steele beat him in Choteau. "It feels good. I just wrestled tough, didn't give him many opportunities, and I tried to stay as offensive as I could."

Mikesell, who ended up 5-1 at state, started the first day off with a bang, pinning Spur Owens of Broadwater in 2:43. Mikesell would go on to lose his next match in the quarterfinals against Krayle Stormer of Circle by 9-3 decision. Mikesell attempted a defensive pin and seemed to have Stormer stuck, but the move was set with three seconds remaining and the pin was not awarded to Mikesell.

"He came really close to pinning the eventual state champion," Coach French said. "Time just ran out. We just needed to be a little quicker but I think that it showed (Mikesell) that he is capable of being on top of the podium."

Mikesell, who was named Malta's Wrestler of the Week, bounced back in the second round of the consolation bracket by pinning Brady Schrenk of Plains / Hot Springs in 28 seconds (Malta's Quick Pin of the Week) and then Cut Bank's Hunter Kennedy in 55 seconds, guaranteeing Mikesell a placing.

"I have beaten him before, but I knew I couldn't go out there with too much confidence," Mikesell said.

Mikesell continued his roll, pinning Huntley Project's Cooper Lane in the consolation semifinal at the 4:52 mark. Mikesell went on to win third by 3-1 decision over Poplar's Jase Frederick.

Mikesell talked about the experience of being at State, an event that he had been to for many years of his life.

"It's cool," Mikesell said. "I would've liked to have been in the finals but it's alright. I'm placing, so, next year."

Cam. Mears - also called "Reggie," a nickname given to him by his cousin and Saco graduate Christian Menge - was sixth place in the 145 class.

Cam. Mears was the only Northern B athlete at 145 to place. He did so by defeating Cut Bank's Colten Barsness in the consolation semifinals. The match was dubbed the team's Match of the Week by Malta's Coaches. Mears pinned Barsness by cradle thirty-three seconds into the second round.

Cam. Mears would go 4-3 on the weekend. He lost to Colt Crawford of Arlee by 15-6 Major Decision. He grabbed his first win against Colstrip's Dawson Buckalew by forfeit in the opening round of consolations, but his first pin came in the next round as he pinned Wesley Buchannen of Superior-Alberton at the 3:40 mark.

"It feels good winning in this big of a stadium," Cam. Mears said after the match. "I did the shoulder dip to knock him over. I took good shots and kept him inbounds."

He went on to pin Barness next, but then ran out of steam losing the consolation semifinals match to Manhattan's Coltin Siphakis by 8-0 decision and then the fifth place match to Crawford by 6-3 decision.

Though he did not place at state, senior Kendall Moore was able to pick up a win a state, an event that he had seen his older brother Kaden (MHS graduate in 2018) perform at.

"I have been here as a fan and I have worked at the event a couple of times and it is definitely different as a wrestler," Moore said. "You kind of gotta lock your head in, listen to your coach and on the mat, you can't hear anything."

Moore, who went 1-2 at state, pinned Superior-Alberton's Silas Acker in 1:39.

"That match was definitely a confidence booster, I pinned him and now I have to focus on the next guy," Moore said.

Prior to his match with Acker, Moore had lost his opening match to Huntley Project's William Loveridge by pinfall at 2:51.

"He had control in the beginning," Moore said. "I had him in a head and arm, I was going to throw him and I sat too far forward and he caught me."

After his win over Acker, Moore lost in the second round of consolation to Townsend's Will Lane by pin fall at 1:47.

138- pound sophomore Shane Soul was pinned in the opening round by Conrad Vanderwall with thirty seconds left in the third round. Soul would go on to lose his next match in the opening round of the consolation bracket by pinfall to John Armstrong of Jefferson County at 2:07.

"He went 0-2 but he showed a lot just to get here but the experience of being here at the Metra and wrestling is going to really benefit him for next year," Coach French said. "He made a lot of strides this year. This is just another step up and I think he will be ready to take another step next year. "