Eight Malta Middle School Wrestlers Place First in Williston

Twenty Malta Middle School wrestlers competed in the H.L. Pederson MS Wrestling Tournament in Williston, N.D. on Saturday, Nov 11. Montana teams competing at the tournament were Circle, Glasgow, Glendive, Malta, Poplar and Wolf Point. North Dakota teams were Alexander, Dickinson, Killdeer, Minot, Watford City and Williston. The tournament was broken up into two groups: 5th and 6th graders competed against each other and 7th and 8th graders were in the other group. As usual, wrestlers are grouped according to weight and experience.

Wrestlers receiving 4th place were Amus Blunt, Kaiden Tharp, Colby Wright, Hayden Roberts, Steeler Blunt and Beckett Squires. Amus, Kaiden and Colby went 0-3 on the tournament and lost by pin each time. Hayden and Steeler were 0-3 for their first tournament of the year but both of them were competitive in each of their matches. Beckett's record was 1-2, yet wrestled well in each match. His weight class was very competitive, with his only win coming over his teammate, Karsten Davis, who placed first in that bracket.

Keavin Simser wrestled in his first tournament of the year and his record was 1-2. Keavin was 3rd place in his weight. He lost two matches by pin and won by major decision by a 16-6 score.

Five wrestlers placed 2nd in the tournament. Blake Tharp had only one other wrestler in his weight class and wrestled him twice. Blake lost by pin each time. Lyla Warren and Zander Fuller had a 1-1 record for the day. Both of them won by pin and lost by pin. Zander receives the Quick Pin Award for the week with a :12 pin. Trent Blunt's record was 2-1. He won two matches by decision and lost by pin. Trent did have an impressive come-from-behind win in one of his victories. Beau Nelson continues to impress as a 5th grader as he did well despite being moved up to the more experienced group. He won two matches by pin and lost by pin.

Malta had eight champions in the Williston Middle School tournament. Kallie LaBrie had only one other wrestler in her bracket. Kallie wrestled her twice and won by major decision each match. Lane Spencer won two matches by pin and another in overtime over a Glasgow opponent. Kallie and Lane are undefeated on the year. Cameron Spencer, Braun Sims and Corby Mears dominated with three pins in three matches. Karsten Davis lost to teammate Beckett Squires but pulled out two come-from-behind wins. In his last win versus a Killdeer opponent, he was behind 7-0 and came back to pull ahead in points, then pin him. The extra points that Karsten gained by pinning him put him in first place. Karsten wins the Most Exciting Match for the week with that final win. Cord Newman won all of his matches by decision and won the last match in overtime. All his matches were very close and exciting. Beau Merriman had two wins by pin and had a come-from-behind win in his last match. Beau's pressure in the top position is winning him a lot of matches.

The Wrestler of the Week Award is based on performance, improvement and the competition for that opponent. The wrestlers have made it a very tough decision this week with 8 champions. It is like too much rain for farmers and ranchers, it's a good thing. Two wrestlers will share the Wrestler of the Week Award. Cord Newman was 0-4 in Miles City last week and 3-0 this week. Cord had to battle to win every match this week to the last second. He has had a huge improvement in technique and attitude from last week's tournament. Corby Mears was 1-3 in Miles City and 3-0 in Williston. Corby was losing his last match in the closing seconds and took his opponent down to pull ahead by one point. Corby ended the match with a statement, pinning his opponent. Corby is one of the few wrestlers on the Malta squad that has not been pinned this year.

The Malta Middle School wrestlers will see action again on Tuesday, Nov 14 in Lewistown. We will see a lot of new schools that we haven't seen yet. Teams planning to compete in the Lewistown meet are Colstrip, Columbus, Fergus, Forsyth, Hardin, Huntley, Laurel, Livingston, Lockwood, Malta, Roundup, Shepherd and St. Francis.