Three Loggers place at Rocky Mountain Tournament

Of the 11 Loggers who represented Libby at the 32-man-bracket Rocky Mountain Tournament last weekend, 3 placed in the top 6 of their weight class, but one stood out as the "the talk of the tournament," according to coach Jay Graham.

Junior Brandin "Tank" Mills upset the #1 seated Tyler Cochran of Central Valley in a stunning 1:58 seconds.

Cochran, who is favored to be the next Hwt WA State champion, had recently beaten Japan's Hwt Champion when their visiting national team wrestled the U.S.'s All-Star team.

"This kid was 240 and very athletic," said coach Jay Graham. "He looked like a Greek god."

But Cochran was in for a surprise, along with the rest of the arena, when 8th seated Mills pinned him in the first period, going on to take 6th overall.

"The guy came out firing and pushing hard and Tank launched him," said Graham. "Tank pinned him with two seconds left in the round. It was the talk of the tournament."

Assistant coach Mort Curtiss said Cochran underestimated Mills, who is currently 4-5.

"He uses his tools to the very limit," he said of Mills. "It's a lesson in never underestimating anyone you wrestle."

"Anybody can get beat," said Graham. "It just reminds you - you may be down by 14 points, but if you can make a throw, you can pin.

It made the whole weekend worth it," he added.

Junior Seth Wright placed 5th in the 152 weight class, winning 6 of his 8 matches, 4 of which were pins.

Junior Justin Graham placed 6th in the 189 weight class, making 3 of his 4 wins out of 7 by pin.

Senior Steve Gary (160) won 2 of his 4 matches, pinning them in under a minute.

Despite last Thursday's loss to an undefeated Ronan, 48-12, Graham was pleased with the Greenchains' improvement.

"The first time they pinned us in a lot of places," he said. "This time there were 8 matches that could have gone either way."

Graham (189) had the only pin for Libby, defeating Justin Hall in 1:14.

In the WessHines JV Wrestling meet in Kalispell, senior Shadow LeMay nailed 2nd and junior Ben Elliot took 4th, both in the 135 weight class.

Freshman Dean Willey clinched second in the 145 weight and senior Pat Wood nabbed 3rd in the 215 weight class.

Libby v. Ronan results:

112 - Cameron Neiss, R, pinned Dakota Bassett, 1:16; 119 - Levi Edwards-Myslicki dec. Tyson Noyes, 6-4; 125 - Nate Templer, R, dec. Cody Elliott, 6-2; 130 - Micky Cheff, R, pinned Skyler Dilley, 1:41; 135 - Cole McArrthur, R, dec. Kyle Sweedman, 11-9; 140 - Toby Cheff, R, dec. Charlie Burget, 6-1; 145 - Max Lacey, R, dec. Cody Burget, 7-5; 152 - Weston Khein, R, dec. Seth Wright 7-4; 160 - Libby's Steve Gary dec. Ricky Luchau, 11-7; 171 - Marcus Schele, R. dec. Derek Silva, 4-3; 189 - Libby's Justin Graham pinned Justin Hall, 1:14; 215 - Frank Swan, R, dec. Pat Wood, 8-6; Hwt - Tommy Parker, R, dec. Brandin Mills, 6-2. Ronan won 98 and 105 by forfeit.