One Nation, Under God
One Nation, Under God
Malta Senior Spencer Gibbs earned the 205 Class Championship as well as the Quick Pin Award at the 2023 Eastern B/C Tournament in Columbus. Photos by Alisha Gibbs.
Senior Camryn Mears was second in the 182 Class.
Senior Isabel Hansen was fifth in the Girls 126 Class.
Sophomore Colton Mears was fith in the 170 Class.
Junior Kohner Schipman was sixth in the 132 Class.
The Malta-Whitewater Wrestling teams will be sending a total of four wrestlers to the 2023 MHSA State Wrestling Championships in Billings this weekend.
Those wrestlers are senior Camryn Mears, sophomore Colton Mears, junior Kohner Schipman, and senior Spencer Gibbs. All four wrestlers competed in the 2022 MHSA State Wrestling Championships.
The Mustang wrestlers took sixth place as a team, scoring 77 points amongst their seven wrestlers at the Eastern B/C Divisional last weekend in Columbus.
Huntley Project, a team with the most wrestlers (16), took first place with 331 points. Glasgow took second place with 188 amongst their 13 wrestlers. Fort Benton was fourth with 104 points (eight wrestlers), and Forsyth was fifth with 77.5 points (seven wrestlers). Chinook was seventh with 75 points (12 wrestlers).
Malta was led by Gibbs who won the 205 Championship, and racked up a perfect 30 point tournament by pinning all four of his opponents. He also won the Eastern B/C's Quick Pin Award for pinning all four of his opponents in a cumulative time of 5:11.
"Spencer had a pretty dominating tournament," Malta Head Coach Jake French said. "It was pretty exciting for him."
Gibbs won the 205 Championship Match over Huntley Project's Spencer Higareda by pin fall at 2:50.
"I am proud of Spencer," Coach French said. "He wrestled to his abilities and I hope he can keep it going. He is not done yet. He can mark Divisional Champ off of his goal list and he has one more weekend to knock off another goal."
Ca. Mears, who was second at the 2022 State B/C in the 182 class, will get his chance to compete at state for the fourth year in his career.
Ca. Mears scored 20 points and took second place in the Eastern B/C 182 Championship last Saturday, losing to Chinook's Tyler Schoen by 9-1 Major Decision. Schoen is 37-0 this year.
"He is undefeated, but I think that might work in our favor," Coach French said.
Schoen has beaten Malta wrestlers seven times this season.
"But we are the underdog," Coach French said. "And the underdog is hungry."
Coach French believes that they can fix a few things before this weekend's event, that will help in case Mears meets up with Scheon again.
Co. Mears placed fifth in the 170 class and scored nine points in the 170 class. He defeated Poplar's Craig Berg by 7-5 decision in the fifth place match.
"He had some ups and downs in the tournament because everyone wants to be in the finals, but he bounced back, and ended with a win," Coach French said. "Little victories are huge."
Schipman placed sixth in the 132 class, racking up 11 points along the way. Schipman was 3-3 last weekend and earned the last spot in the 132 class for state.
"It was sad because he had to wrestle Straud," Coach French said. "Whoever won got to go to state."
Schipman won by 2-0 decision in a head to head with Sims in the third round of consolation matches.
Though Straud Sims took eighth in the 132 weight class, a seeding change dictated that the Eastern B/C would only take six in the 132 class.
The rule change was revealed to the Eastern B/C coaches last Friday morning during the seeding meeting, hours before the tournament. Two spots from nearly each class were awarded to the Western B/C division.
"Since there are more kids technically in the west per capita, they think that they deserve more placings," Coach French said. "So, instead of it being like last year, when both sides took eight wrestlers, we only get to take eight and they can take ten."
Coach French said that upon finding out about the changes, the coaches at the Eastern B/C Tournament were not pleased.
Another Malta wrestler left out because of seeding issues was Isabel Hansen, who took fifth place in the Girls event.
This is because the girls state tournament is an All-Class tournament, which meant that they only took the top three in Hansen's weight class from the Eastern B/C, whereas a more crowded Class, like Class AA, would provide more placers for the event.
"It's not fair, because it is not going off of quality, it's going off of quantity," Coach French said. "It's not my favorite system. This is something that the coaches will have to come together and talk to make it a better system."
Despite some of the placing issues, Coach French told the team to control what they could control.
"I wasn't happy about it but I can't control that," Coach French said.
The following are results from the Eastern B/C Divisional Via Trackwrestling.com.
126: Isabel Hansen (21-19) placed 5th and scored 10.0 team points. Quarterfinal - Keely Heaton (Baker) 18-13 won by fall over Isabel Hansen (Malta / Whitewater) 21-19 (Fall 1:49). Cons. Round 1 - Isabel Hansen (Malta / Whitewater) 21-19 won by fall over Braelyn Bartelson (Circle) 1-29 (Fall 1:29). Cons. Semi - Savannah Riggin (Chester-Joplin-Inverness) 28-9 won by fall over Isabel Hansen (Malta / Whitewater) 21-19 (Fall 2:30). 5th Place Match - Isabel Hansen (Malta / Whitewater) 21-19 won by fall over Avery Pedersen (Glasgow) 4-14 (Fall 1:47).
132: Straud Sims (28-22) placed 8th and scored 5.0 team points. Champ. Round 1 - Jesse Reed (Wolf Point) 33-17 won by major decision over Straud Sims (Malta / Whitewater) 28-22 (MD 15-3). Cons. Round 1 - Straud Sims (Malta / Whitewater) 28-22 received a bye () (Bye). Cons. Round 2 - Straud Sims (Malta / Whitewater) 28-22 won by fall over Jake Ellison (Columbus / Absarokee) 15-16 (Fall 4:02). Cons. Round 3 - Kohner Shipman (Malta / Whitewater) 37-16 won by decision over Straud Sims (Malta / Whitewater) 28-22 (Dec 2-0). 7th Place Match - Wesley Cox (Big Sandy) 25-13 won by fall over Straud Sims (Malta / Whitewater) 28-22 (Fall 5:32).
132: Kohner Shipman (37-16) placed 6th and scored 11.0 team points. Champ. Round 1 - Kohner Shipman (Malta / Whitewater) 37-16 won by fall over Delane Lamere (Harlem) 1-8 (Fall 1:00). Quarterfinal - Riley Davis (Baker) 34-9 won by decision over Kohner Shipman (Malta / Whitewater) 37-16 (Dec 6-1). Cons. Round 2 - Kohner Shipman (Malta / Whitewater) 37-16 won by fall over Aiden Black (Circle) 12-21 (Fall 2:29). Cons. Round 3 - Kohner Shipman (Malta / Whitewater) 37-16 won by decision over Straud Sims (Malta / Whitewater) 28-22 (Dec 2-0). Cons. Semi - Stran Lytton (Red Lodge HS) 28-10 won by fall over Kohner Shipman (Malta / Whitewater) 37-16 (Fall 0:57). 5th Place Match - Jesse Reed (Wolf Point) 33-17 won by fall over Kohner Shipman (Malta / Whitewater) 37-16 (Fall 2:02).
145: Taylin Johannesen (6-19) place is unknown and scored 0.0 team points. Champ. Round 1 - Riggin Schaffer (Powder River Co. (Broadus)) 25-16 won by fall over Taylin Johannesen (Malta / Whitewater) 6-19 (Fall 3:55). Cons. Round 1 - Taylin Johannesen (Malta / Whitewater) 6-19 received a bye () (Bye). Cons. Round 2 - Jack Cornwell (Glasgow) 29-21 won by fall over Taylin Johannesen (Malta / Whitewater) 6-19 (Fall 1:39).
160: Colton Honey (12-23) place is unknown and scored 2.0 team points. Champ. Round 1 - Cade Ball (Fort Benton) 30-10 won by fall over Colton Honey (Malta / Whitewater) 12-23 (Fall 1:02). Cons. Round 1 - Colton Honey (Malta / Whitewater) 12-23 won by major decision over Kolton Turnbough (Powder River Co. (Broadus)) 4-11 (MD 12-4). Cons. Round 2 - Hayden Vonolnhausen (Huntley Project) 33-15 won by fall over Colton Honey (Malta / Whitewater) 12-23 (Fall 2:37).
170: Colton Mears (26-20) placed 5th and scored 9.0 team points. Champ. Round 1 - Colton Mears (Malta / Whitewater) 26-20 received a bye () (Bye). Quarterfinal - Trevin Bradley (Colstrip) 26-14 won by fall over Colton Mears (Malta / Whitewater) 26-20 (Fall 3:55). Cons. Round 2 - Colton Mears (Malta / Whitewater) 26-20 won by fall over Sebastian Rutherford (Harlem) 1-9 (Fall 2:52). Cons. Round 3 - Colton Mears (Malta / Whitewater) 26-20 won by decision over Wyatt Beddes (Shepherd) 18-23 (Dec 7-6). Cons. Semi - Chancy Segeberg (Columbus / Absarokee) 18-13 won by decision over Colton Mears (Malta / Whitewater) 26-20 (Dec 5-2). 5th Place Match - Colton Mears (Malta / Whitewater) 26-20 won by decision over Craig Berg (Poplar) 23-24 (Dec 7-5).
182: Camryn Mears (29-12) placed 2nd and scored 20.0 team points. Quarterfinal - Camryn Mears (Malta / Whitewater) 29-12 won by fall over Kiiw Windy boy (Harlem) 4-11 (Fall 1:01). Semifinal - Camryn Mears (Malta / Whitewater) 29-12 won by fall over Sam Mycke (Red Lodge HS) 26-10 (Fall 1:55). 1st Place Match - Tyler Schoen (Chinook) 37-0 won by major decision over Camryn Mears (Malta / Whitewater) 29-12 (MD 9-1).
205: Spencer Gibbs (48-4) placed 1st and scored 30.0 team points. Champ. Round 1 - Spencer Gibbs (Malta / Whitewater) 48-4 won by fall over Jon Wood (Powder River Co. (Broadus)) 2-23 (Fall 0:22). Quarterfinal - Spencer Gibbs (Malta / Whitewater) 48-4 won by fall over Sam Cox (Big Sandy) 7-22 (Fall 0:39). Semifinal - Spencer Gibbs (Malta / Whitewater) 48-4 won by fall over Gavin Schmele (Fort Benton) 18-17 (Fall 1:20). 1st Place Match - Spencer Gibbs (Malta / Whitewater) 48-4 won by fall over Spencer Higareda (Huntley Project) 35-16 (Fall 2:50).
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