'Beeters Continue To Improve as a Team, Schoen, Klingaman Win Titles

The Chinook Sugarbeeters performed very well at the Scottie Invitational in Glasgow this past weekend.

Senior Tyler Schoen and freshman Emma Klingaman led the way with each winning individual titles. Chinook took 10 boys and 3 girls to Glasgow. Seven wrestlers in addition to Klingaman and Schoen won matches and all 13 have earned wins through two weeks of the season.

Schoen went 4-0 in the tournament winning his first three matches by pin and then defeating Malta's Camryn Mears in a 3-1 decision. Schoen defeated Nathan Dunham (Fort Benton), Kendon Young (Harlem), and Gus Lee (Choteau) on his way to the title match.

Klingaman won all five of her matches by pinfall in claiming the 120 pound title. Klingaman's quickest pin came against Circle's Cierra Norton in :33, her longest match was against Alora Parshall of Poplar (3:56)

Throughout the tournament the 'Beeters picked up wins from sophomore Grace Buck, sophomore Oliver Standiford, freshman Wyatt Olmstead, sophomore Gauge Chapman, freshman Griffen Crowley, freshman Bailey Billmayer and freshman Kegan Green.

Head Coach, Ben Stroh was all smiles after witnessing the effort his team put forward in Glasgow, "Tyler and Emma wrestled really well. Tyler, he did what he had to do and took care of business, and that was a big win for Emma. For her to get to wrestle under the lights and all. Beyond that though I was happy with how the team wrestled as a whole. They did well and were fun to watch."

The coaching staff has really been working hard to get the kids where they want to be and are seeing some early success, "Lane had some big matches. He went in unseeded and got drawn into the bracket and wrestled well. It was great to see him have that success and hopefully we can keep that trend going and turn it into something bigger.

Stroh is happy with his younger kids, "One thing that may be hard for some to understand is that we have gotten everybody on the team a win. We have so many incoming freshman and young wrestlers and they are often competing against kids with 2-3 years experience on them, and they have won some big matches. To see them get wins early in their careers is a big accomplishment for them and the team, it brings the room together."

Stroh says the proof is obvious, "It's really a big deal for them, you can see it on their face, especially after that first win. We want to keep that energy with them the whole way through. We want them to be as excited for a win at the end of their career as that first one. If that's who you have for a teammate, man what a fun season."

With youth comes a learning curve, "They have their ups and downs and that's part of the process and it's our job to keep them focused and looking at the big picture, if we can do that, we can get them places. "

The CMR Holiday Classic is undoubtedly one of the biggest tournaments of the year across the state for all classifications. Everyone wrestles together, Class AA, A, B and C in addition to entry into the tournament being closely monitored, "We can only take one wrestler in each weight class to the Holiday Classic so we will have to have some wrestle-offs. Then who doesn't make the Holiday Classic line up will wrestle in the Great Falls High Tournament at the Bison Fieldhouse as well as everyone that loses out on Friday at the Classic."

Heading into the Classic Chinook will get just one seeded wrestler, "Tyler will be our only wrestler that has seeding criteria for the Classic. To be seeded a wrestler has to have placed at the State Tournament or at the Holiday Classic in the past."

The Bison Tournament is a very talented and deep field as well that will surely feature some of the best wrestlers in each weight class. The strength of the field is a direct result to only allowing one wrestler from each team in each weight class. As an example, the Class A Heavyweight state champion and runner up are both from Miles City but only one can be entered in the Holiday Classic meaning the State A runner up wrestler will be at the Bison Tournament and not the Classic.

Heading into the holiday break Stroh will keep the kids focused until they get back into competition in the new year, "We'll give them 3-4 days off during the break, but we will need to stay on top of things. We wrestle right away in the new year, so we'll get after it in the wrestling room. It's a great time to be able to really focus on practice and being there to learn. They don't have any competition that is immediately on their mind so it's easier to keep them focused on improving techniques and skills."

Chinook will return to the mat on January 5 in Chester and January 6-7 at the Cut Bank Invitational.