Wrestling: LHS finishes 3rd at divisional tournament

The Libby High School wrestling team qualified 13 athletes out of the 15 weight classes for the Class A state tournament.

Mike Roby (125 pounds) and Dylan Berget (145) each claimed individual championships. Kyle Sweedman (171) finished runner-up with a 5-4 loss to rival Brock Picard of Polson.

“Mike’s a senior and he’s wrestling as well as he’s ever wrestled in his life going into the state tournament,” LHS coach Todd Schatz said. “Dylan put in a bunch of time in the offseason and wrestled extra matches. He works hard so it’s nice for him to get back what he’s put into it.”

Roby pinned Polson’s Nick Howell in just 37 seconds to claim first at 125. Dylan Berget pulled out a close 5-4 decision over Polson’s Brock Bleazard.

Libby finished third overall with 176.5 points. Polson won the meet with 232 points, followed by Ronan, LHS, Columbia Falls and Whitefish.

Besides Roby and Dylan Berget, six other Greenchain wrestlers qualified for the finals. Sweedman lost another close one to Picard, who is a two-time state champion.

“It was a close match all the way. That’s the way those matches are going to go,” Schatz said. “It would be nice at the state tournament if it went Kyle’s way once. He only has to win once.”

Isaac King (105), Mitch Haugen (130), Kyle Leir (135), Kody Berget (189) and Lucas Puckett (Hwt) also had runner-up showings.

Also qualifiying for the Greenchain were Ian Edwards-Myslicki (98), Aaron Seefeldt (119), Cody Elliott (140), Austin Bailey (160) and Rigo Ibarra (215). Out of that group, Leir had one of the more exciting matches but came up short against Polson’s Jacob Young, 7-3.

Cody Elliott wrestled to a third-place finish with a broken finger at 140 pounds. He injured the finger on Friday during a light workout session.

Ian Edwards-Myslicki (98), Aaron Seefeldt (119), Austin Bailey (160) and Rigo Ibarra (215) each had fourth-place finishes to also earn a trip to state.

The state meet is coming up Friday and Saturday in Billings.

“I’d like to finish in the top five. We know we don’t have a bunch of kids that are going to be state champs but a lot of our kids are good enough to win a couple of matches and get in there for third and fourth,” Schatz said. “We should have a few in the finals – Sweedman can make it and Roby can make it.”

As for the overall team race, Schatz mentioned schools like Corvallis, Frenchtown, Havre, Belgrade, Sidney, Polson and Glendive as frontrunners.

Northwestern A Divisionals

Saturday at Polson

Team Scoring

1, Polson 232; 2, Ronan 180; 3, Libby 176.5; 4, Columbia Falls 136.5; 5, Whitefish 38.

Championship Matches

98–Craig Feistner, P, pinned Lucas Conklin, R, 1:49.

105–Seth McCall, CF, pinned Isaac King, L, 1:43.

112–Sal Baccaro, CF, pinned Andrew Tiegan, R, 1:43.

119–Justin Whitman, CF, dec. Jesse Alfiero, P, 6-3.

125–Mike Roby, L, pinned Nick Howell, P, 0:37.

130–Cameron Neiss, R, pinned Mitch Haugen, L, 1:48.

135–Jacob Young, P, dec. Kyle Leir, L, 7-3.

140–Shawn Whitman, CF, dec. Mike Devlin, P, 10-6.

145–Dylan Berget, L, dec. Brock Bleazard, P, 5-4.

152–Micky Cheff, R, m. dec. Ty Fouty, P, 13-4.

160–Cole McArthur, R, dec. Tanner Benedict, W, NA

171–Brock Picard, P, dec. Kyle Sweedman, L, 5-4.

189–Toby Cheff, R, pinned Kody Berget, L, 3:03.

215–Kelly Houle, CF, pinned Josiah Clairmont, P, 1:51.

Hwt–Kaden Thomas, P, pinned Lucas Puckett, L, 1:39.

Third-Place Matches

(Results Not Available)

98–Pat Sumner, P, def. Ian Edwards-Myslicki, L

105–Lucas Polk, P, bye

112–Razz Walhood, P, bye

119–Drew Fouty, P, def. Aaron Seefeldt, L

125–Adam Richardson, CF, def. Kyle Lawson, R

130–Shelby Grant, R, def. Dalton Rice, W

135–Cody Hader, CF, def. Kohl Thompson, CF

140–Cody Elliott, L, def. Randy Kelley, P

145–Nick O’Dell, W, def. Dustin Goldsby, R

152–Billy Gross, CF, def. Quenton Denton, R

160–Joe Gross, CF, def. Austin Bailey, L

171–Tyler Wheeler, R, def. Geoff Streeter, W

189–Devin Kamarainen, P, def. Jacob Babcock, CF

215–Colby Roberts, R, def. Rigo Ibarra, L

Hwt–Aaron Yazzi-Whitworth, R, def. Wolf Zinke, W