We've Got The County Covered
We've Got The County Covered
Seven wrestlers from Blaine County competed at the Montana State B/C Wrestling Tournament in Billings
Chinook senior Tate Niederegger controls his opponent at the 2017 All Class State Wrestling Tournament at the Billings Metra this past weekend. Niederegger earned a third place finish in the 145 pound weight class finishing on the podium for the fourth time.
Niederegger and Harlem senior Reece Hutton have certainly left their mark on Blaine County wrestling the past four years.
Chinook senior Tate Niederegger on the podium at the All Class State Wrestling Tournament in Billings this past weekend.
The contingent of seven Blaine County Wrestlers gather together at the Metra in Billings
For his final show at the METRA, Tate Niederegger exhibited to everyone what he is made of. Tate dominated his final opponent, Ty Bradley of Colstrip, with an 8-3 victory in the consolation match Saturday afternoon. Capping his senior season with a 39-4 record and his high school career with a record of 169-16 along with an undefeated junior year of 46-0. Tate has multiple tournament titles including, four divisional titles, two state titles, a second-place, and a third-place finish at state this year.
Tate sealed his third-place ranking on the podium just 24 hours after losing a very close match 1-2 to none other than Ty Bradley. After the setback on Friday, Tate came back Friday night and Saturday morning to dominate his next three opponents 8-1, 5-0, and an 18-2 tech fall at 4:49 into the match. (Tech Fall is when a wrestler outscores their opponent by 15 or more points and that ends the match) This is when he earned the opportunity to meet Ty for a rematch. This time, Tate came out the victor. It was a rare opportunity for the fans to see a rematch that was not as close as it was just 24 hours earlier. In a strange twist of fate, the rematch took place on the very same mat that just the day before these two had wrestled.
By taking control of the next four matches and dominating them. Tate showed us what he is made of, and gave the younger wrestlers an example to follow. He dug deep and stepped up his game instead of letting the one loss ruin his whole season. The focus, speed, and constant pressure he put on shows the rest of us what kind of a champion he has become. There is little doubt that he will continue to excel into the future.
This year the competition was strong and the fans witnessed several upsets, overtimes, and last second wins. Of the seven wrestlers from Blaine County that started the tournament, Tate was the only one what worked his way onto the podium Saturday night. Two of the seven from Blaine County were seniors making their final drive at State, Tate Niederegger (Chinook) and Reece Hutton (Harlem).
For his sophomore, junior, and senior year Reece joined the Harlem wrestlers. This being his third year of wrestling Reece made a strong showing for Harlem all year. He ended the regular season 27-6. From second place at Divisional's Reece went on to a 1-2 record at state this year. This was Reece's third year for going to the big show in Billings, qualifying each year he wrestled in high school.
Gavin Horn and Curtis Humphreys made their presence known for Harlem as they both added to Harlem's team points of 13.5 with wins, Gavin had two wins and Curtis had one. JT Hauer made his debut at state this year as a freshman and contributed a win to add points towards Chinook's final point total of 18.5. Just two points shy of third place for the C division.
The Metra is Electric
at the All Class State Wrestling Tournament
Welcome to State wrestling at the METRA; 622 athletes all placing in the top at their respective divisional tournaments they all come together on 12 mats to figure out who is the best in the State of Montana. The energy you feel when you step into the building is almost electrifying it would be hard for anyone to not be affected by it. From the first match until the last match the energy is palpable. Over the last three years that I have attended the crowning event in high school wrestling this second weekend of February. Each year you see more spectators throughout the whole event. It has been fun to see the support for Chinook wrestling grow at the big event as our cheering/support section gets bigger each year.
On Saturday afternoon those 622 get riddled down to 234 placers. Early in the afternoon you can see the 5/6 matches alongside of the 3/4 matches. Then they take nine of the twelve mats down so there are only three left one for B/C, one for A, and one for AA. Then you see the final 78 wrestlers face off and the wrestling final event starts. Each year the wrestling starts at a randomly drawn weight class, this year was the 170-weight class. The METRA holds 12,000 people for a wrestling event and there were not many seats left open for the crowning event with most everyone staying to watch the last of the
