Moore takes third at State Tourney; Simanton fifth

The Malta-Whitewater Mustangs placed fifteenth overall in the State B/C Wrestling Tournament in Billings after seeing action last Friday and Saturday at the MetraPark Arena.

The team placed two wrestlers by the end of the event and scored a total of 45 points. Colstrip won the B title for the second time in three years with a total of 217.5 points. Lincoln County (Eureka) took second with 127.5 points.

Sophomore Kaden Moore finished third in the 132 pound weight class after pinning Circle's Trey Taylor with three seconds remaining in the third round of the consolation finals.

Sophomore Trey Simanton took fifth place in the 126 pound weight class after defeating Broadwater's Tyler Groh by a 10-0 Major Decision.

Moore (39-14) finished the tournament 5-1, Simanton (42-9) had a 4-2 record at state, 132 pounder Ceaton Mears (38-21) had a 2-2 record at state, 120 pounder Kolter Schipman (32-21) went 1-2 at state and 170 pounder Jordan Pierce (17-16) went 0-2 at state.

At the midway point of the tournament, Malta Head Coach Ryan LaBrie was pleased with his team, though two were sent home that day.

"It's a tough day, to see that we are down two pretty important guys," he said. "Not a great day overall but there has been a lot of good wrestling (from our guys) and there's nothing to be ashamed of."

Moore would lose his first match against Shepherd's Michael Wark by 8-3 decision, but Moore would fight from the bottom to eventually overcome Wark in the consolation semi-finals and send Wark to the fifth-sixth place match.

Moore knew what he would have to do in order to finish his second state tournament strong.

"I just have to wrestle smart, with my head straight and have no distractions throughout the day," Moore said.

Moore's first match in consolation ended with Moore pinning Colombus' Nate Palmer in 1:44. His second opponent in consolation was Bigfork's Connor Meyer, who he pinned in 3:26.

He then defeated his teammate Mears in extra rounds. The match could've gone either way and ended at 7:20 by pin fall.

Then Moore defeated Wark by a 10-8 decision to put himself in the consolation finals.

He shared what it meant for his family to be there cheering him on during the event.

"It means a lot," Moore said. "My dad was my wrestling coach since I was three. When he comes to watch me, he gives me more purpose to why I wrestle."

Simanton's first match was against Arlee's Skyler Titsworth, an opponent he has met before in the Choteau Classic.

He pinned Titsworth pretty fast in Choteau and the state matchup would be no different as Simanton pinned him in 47 seconds by arm bar.

Last year Simanton lost his first match, but fought back to take third place. Hungry to finish better, early in the first day he shared his tactic.

"I just gotta wrestle my butt off," he said. "I've got to be on my toes and moving the whole time. I need to wrestle the way I wrestled at divisionals and I'll be fine."

Simanton would again find himself fighting in consolation after his quarterfinal loss to Colstrip's Ty Bradley. Bradley would win by majority decision; the score was 16-4.

Simanton would rebound with a win against Huntley's Matthew Middleton by pin fall at 2:07. He would then defeat Columbus' Dylan Raihl by pin fall at 4:59.

Simanton would meet a familiar opponent in the consolation semi-finals as he took on Choteau's Trevor Moore but lost by a 13-3 major decision.

He wouldn't end his state journey on a bad note as he defeated his last opponent Groh by a 10-0 major decision.

"I feel pretty good," Simanton said after his fifth place finish. "I ended on a win. I just had to stay solid and not give my hips in like I did the other matches."

Simanton is one of the few Mustangs that wrestle in AAU wrestling, but he admits the atmosphere at the state tournament is much more intense.

"Everybody is wrestling good and it seems the ones you have beaten before wrestle amazing and you just think it's going to go by easy and it's not."

Simanton has enjoyed the jump from the 133 class to 126 in his second season. He believes he could've done better at 120 but is proud of his 2015-16 outing.

Jordan Pierce has had a solid year considering he took the 2014-15 season off. Before the state tourney he was 17-14 in his class.

Pierce nearly pinned his first opponent, Shiloh Rainey of Drummond in the first thirty seconds of the first round. With his arm in between Rainey's shoulder he tried to reset to gain position, however Rainey would eventually gain position and win the match in the last ten seconds of the first round.

Pierce would earn two points by takedown in the second round but would lose by pin fall thirty-three seconds into the round.

He would also lose his next match to Huntley's Wyatt Selman in 1:33.

Mears finished his 2015-16 outing with a record a 37-21 record and has shown much improvement in the 132 class.

His first match at the tourney ended in a loss to Shepherd's James Spence by pin fall at 2:37.

Mears would put forth a tremendous effort as he would eliminate Florence-Carlton's Jethro Thorne by pin fall at 2:45.

In his match against Jefferson's Jacob Travis, it looked like Mears would be eliminated by decision in the third, but with less than a minute remaining Mears flipped the tides, pulling a five point move and he won the match by 8-5 decision.

"I just kept working hard," Mears said. "I just kept thinking I'm going to win."

The move that won the match was a move his father taught him.

"I've been learning the Granby Roll lately," Mears said noting that he knew he would use it that day. "It's a five point move. My dad taught me."

The move would inspire his teammates, including Moore who wrestled and defeated Meyer by pin fall minutes after Mears' win.

"Ceaton's win pumped me up for my match," Moore said. "Just watching my buddies win just pumps me up and makes me want to be just like them."

Moore would ride the momentum and eventually defeat Mears by pin fall at 7:20 in a bout that could've went either way.

Schipman won his first match against MIC's Cole Gilleard by pin fall with 42 seconds left in the third round.

"I feel good," Schipman said after the match. "It's a good feeling to at least win my first match at state. I just gotta do the best I can."

Schipman's father, Coach Jesse Schipman had words of advice after the win.

"He told me that there are more matches to win; I just gotta keep my head forward and I know I have tougher matches than the kid I wrestled ahead."

The match against Gilleard went to the third round. Schipman won the flip and chose the bottom position.

Up until the third, Schipman had been in control of the match, but was unable to pin his opponent.

Midway through the match, Schipman did pin his opponent with a move he called "a double-under hook honeymoon type move."

He would meet up with Wolf Point's Quinn Whitmus, who he had trouble with earlier in the season.

Before the match, Schipman knew he would need to put more effort forth than he did in previous matches.

"I just gotta give it my all," he said. "I've gotta work off my feet, I think I can beat him off my feet but he's a little more technical than I am and stronger."

The match wouldn't go his way as he fell to Whitmus by pin fall at 3:05.

He then lost in the consolation bracket to Broadwater's Jack Dolan by 11-4 decision.