Malta Grapplers against Glasgow, Fergus

The Malta Mustangs Wrestling team saw plenty of action last week, as the team hosted their first home meet of the season in the Malta High School Gymnasium on Friday, January 15.

The team also competed in Cut Bank on Saturday, January 16.

The Mustangs are short-handed as far as competing in a dual format, missing weights 103 and 113, but the team was able to pick up a few wins in their match against Glasgow and their match against Class A's Fergus County last Friday.

"They are tough and have a full roster," Malta Coach Jake French said. "It's good going against tough teams because it shows us what we need to work on and I like that."

In their first round of matches, against Fergus, Camryn Mears was able to pin fellow 160-pounder Fergus' Jett Boyce in 1:06. Tye Jones won his match against Christian Wolfe by pinfall at 1:16 in the 205 weight class and heavyweight Jaden Keeling pinned Carson Lotan in 12 seconds. The final score was 54-18 Fergus.

"Mears had a good pin," Coach French said. "He had a deep headlock, changed it to a cradle, and put him on his back with lots of good pressure, so I was pretty happy about that."

During an exhibition match, 205 pounder Parker Mortenson pinned heavyweight Lotan six seconds into the second round.

"That was exciting for Parker," Coach French said. "He has been battling a knee injury. He has been toughing it out and showing a lot of heart."

In their second set of matches against Glasgow, the Scotties won with a final score of 48-9. Malta was without a 170-pound wrestler, due to an arm injury sustained by Spencer Gibbs against Fergus.

132-pounder Cameron Mikesell was able to pin Shaylynn Pederson in 1:14. Gilkerson won by 4-3 decision over Alex Ost in the 138-matchup.

In Malta's clash with Thompson Falls in Cut Bank last Saturday, Malta lost 35-22. The team was able to pick up a pair of victories in the match. Gilkerson won his 138-pound match against Walker Morefield by pin in 42 seconds and Cam. Mears won his 160-pound bout against Max Hannum by 10-2 major decision.

Malta would later face Cut Bank and fall 42-24.

Mikesell was able to win his match against Caleb Simpson by 10-8 decision. Colton Mears won his matchup against Raice Strand 8-2. Cam. Mears pinned Austin Vanick in 52 seconds and Keeling pinned Jeremy Gallagher in 1:02.

Jones was able to win a pair of exhibition matches against Fairfield, pinning Cole Troy of Fairfield in 3:07 and later Luke Sourmen in 1:15.

In the team's exhibition matches against Cut Bank, Keeling pinned Haylee Fetter in 10 seconds and Mortenson pinned Nick Grey in 1:32.

The Mustangs are scheduled to wrestle in Chinook with Choteau and CJI at 4:30 p.m. on Friday, January 22.

Malta will then travel to Harlem to wrestle on Saturday, January 23, at 1 p.m.