We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Junior Tate Niederegger, center, was the CMR Holiday Class Champion at 138 lbs. Senior Kenny Pruttis, left, finished fifth at 172 lbs. Senior Jesse Dannels, right, took home a sixth place finish at 180 lbs.
The Chinook Sugarbeeter wrestling team enters the holiday break following an outstanding performance over the weekend in Great Falls at the CMR Holiday Classic and Great Falls High Junior Varsity wrestling tournaments.
The 'Beeters entered six wrestlers in the classic and scored 71 points in the field of 48 teams to finish 16th in the team standings.
The tournament features teams from all four classifications and is considered one of the premier tournaments in the region,. For some it may be their toughest competition of the entire season.
The 'Beeters didn't back down from the field and placed three wrestlers on the podium including junior Tate Niederegger in the top spot at 138 pounds.
Niederegger is the defending state champion in the Class B/C ranks at 138 and is the top ranked wrestler in the class again.
Niederegger wrestled hard for eight minutes in a epic overtime championship match against Caleb Gravelin of Columbia Falls with him pulling out a thrilling 7-4 victory in the end.
Senior Kenny Pruttis turned in an outstanding effort as well at 172 pounds finishing fifth in the weight class.
Pruttis earned a 10-3 decision over Brady Needles of Missoula Hellgate in the 5th/6th place match.
Senior Jesse Dannels earned a spot in the placing rounds following a Major Decision over James Slaughter of Fairfield/Simms in the consolation fifth round.
Dannels fell in the 5th/6th place match to Logan Wilson of Flathead by a narrow 4-1 margin to finish sixth.
Senior Derek Bell wrestled his way to 3-2 finish finishing just out of the placing rounds for the 'Beeters.
Freshman Ross Ried earned a Friday win at the Classic but really shined Saturday going 5-1 to finish third at the Bison Junior Varsity tournament.
Senior Bubba Rimkus wrestled hard as well for Chinook at the Classic.
Freshman James Buffington and sophomore Colton Liddle continue to improve and turned in a strong effort Saturday at Great Falls High.
The 'Beeters will enter the break in position to all the things they want to do come February, but still have some concerns moving forward.
"The injury bug still has us a bit," commented head coach Perry Miller. "We still have a few wrestlers trying to heal up. Kevin's (Young) still got a shoulder and Garrett's (Lowham) got some rib issues and Norby (Jake) is dealing with a shoulder as well."
"The kids are wrestling hard. Tate was on the mat for eight minutes. We still need to work on some conditioning but we're hading into the break in good shape," added Miller.
"Reid won a match at CMR and took third at Great Falls High Saturday, that's a great effort for a freshman. Bell was tough. He wrestled extremely well at 152," said Miller.
"Jesse, Kenny and Tate are bringing their 'A' game to the mat and our younger guys (Buffington and Liddle) and Bubba (Rimkus) are improving each time out," concluded Miller.
Chinook will return to the mat January 2 when they travel to Shelby
