MMS Wrestlers Compete in Sidney, Heading to Glasgow

The Malta Middle School wrestling team competed at the Sidney Middle School Eagle Invitational on Saturday, December 14. The wrestlers were grouped together by weight and ability in groups of 3 to 5 and wrestled everyone in their group. Thirteen teams were there to compete and team scores were as follows: Dickinson ND 222, Williston ND 160, Miles City 158, Glasgow 133, Glendive 132, Sidney 128, Malta 113, Bowman ND 69, Wolf Point 62, Plentywood 59, Baker 53, Terry 49 and Poplar 42. Nineteen boys and three girls competed for Malta.

Five wrestlers for Malta were able to go undefeated on Saturday and take home 1st place in their bracket. Rio Oxarart (3-0) recorded two pins and won another match 3 to 0 in a hard fought battle to earn 1st place. One of Rio’s pins was a 10 second pin to earn him the Quick Pin Award for the week. Calvin Squires (3-0) had another great weekend of wrestling and dominated his competition with two pins and a technical fall in his third match. Cameron Spencer (3-0) had his best weekend of the season in Sidney and dominated his competition. He had two technical falls (20 to 3 and 23 to 5) and won another match with a major decision 14 to 4. Cameron wrestled well in all phases of the sport. One area he really excelled in was his takedowns. He recorded 13 takedowns in three matches (five in his first match and 4 in each of the other two matches). Cameron earned the Wrestler of the Week Award for his efforts. Corby Mears (3-0) had another great weekend of wrestling and pinned all three of his opponents and earned 1st place. Kallie LaBrie (2-0) won a tough battle 5 to 4 over a Glasgow opponent and won by fall in 22 seconds in her other match to take home 1st place. Kallie continues to work hard in practice and her hard work is paying off at the tournaments.

Three wrestlers earned 2nd place. Julian Hilliard (2-1) recorded two pins and his only loss was in sudden victory (overtime). Julian nearly got the takedown in overtime but couldn’t quite execute it for the win. He continues to gain valuable experience each time he steps on the mat. Cooper Pankratz (2-2) won by fall in two of his matches and lost one of his matches in overtime. Cooper was down 5 to 12 after the first period in his second match of the day against a Dickinson opponent, but in the second round he executed a takedown and then pinned his opponent to earn the come from behind victory. This match earned Cooper the Most Exciting Match Award. Lyla Warren (2-1) pinned two of her opponents and lost to a tough Glasgow opponent to earn 2nd place.

Seventh graders, Karsten Davis and Braun Sims, both had tough competition and wrestled well and continue to do great things on the wrestling mat. They each went 2–2 on the day. Karsten earned third place and Braun earned fourth place in each of their respective brackets. Karsten is a dynamic wrestler and continues to work hard on each phase of the sport. His progress is fun to watch. Braun won in double overtime in one of his matches to earn him a tie for the Most Exciting Match Award. His match was tied 3 to 3 at the end of regulation and neither he nor his opponent were able to get a takedown in Sudden Victory (first overtime), so the match went into a Tie Breaker second overtime. Braun scored a reversal in the first part of the second overtime and then was able to ride out his opponent in the second part of the second overtime to earn him a hard earned victory. Kasen Jones (1-2) pinned one opponent and lost by pin in his other two matches to earn him third place.

Five wrestlers were able to get a victory in Sidney and earn 4th place. Titus Carnahan (1-3) was outweighed by at least 10 pounds in all of his matches but he was able to execute a nice cradle and pin one of his opponents. Colby Wright (1-3) faced some stiff competition but was still able to find the win column. Beckett Squires (1-3) also faced some very good wrestlers and battled hard. One of Beckett’s losses was 6-5, and he was very close to getting a takedown at the end of the match for the win. Trax Simanton (1-3) and Beau Merriman (1-2) both earned pins on the day and took home 4th place.

Six wrestlers were unable to earn a victory in Sidney but gained valuable experience. They learned lessons and discovered what they need to work on and focus on this week in practice. Cord Newman (0-3, 4th place), Gunner Stenberg (0-3, 4th place), Nathan Domire (0-3, 4th place), Trent Blunt (0-2), Blake Tharp (0-4, 5th place), and Mira Tharp (0-3, 4th place).

The Malta Middle School Wrestlers will wrap up their season at their next competition in Glasgow at the Glasgow Middle School Invitational at 11:00 am on Friday, December 20.