Greenchain finishes strong in Superior

The Greenchain wrestling team finished seventh in the Bob Kinney Invitational Wrestling Tournament in Superior on Saturday, Dec. 12. Libby wrestling coach Kelly Morford said the team is improving as they continue through the season.

Libby High School freshman Buddy Doolin finished in first in the 103-lb. weight class.

“Buddy has had a great start to his high school career and the Superior Tournament was no exception,” said Morford. “He wrestled really solid and was never really challenged all weekend. He is going to go to Tri-State this weekend, so that will be a major test for him and will give us an understanding of where he is really at.”

Clancy Gout reached the final match in the 205-lb. weight class, but was pinned at 1:18 by Travis Catina of Whitefish.

Laine Young came in third in the 138-lb. weight class by a major decision of 9-4 against Sam Ostwald of Thompson Falls.

Mason Sams placed fourth in the 113-lb. weight class, with Parker McWhirter beating him by a major decision of 9-1, while Colten Clemons came in fourth in the 103-lb. class by a 4-1 decision against Zack Blanchard of Frenchtown.

The Greenchain’s finish in the tournament suggests an improvement from their performance in the Havre Invitational Tournament from Friday, Dec. 4 to Saturday, Dec. 5.

“We continue to improve every week and that is what our goal is,” said Morford. “We have been talking a lot about starting to focus on the small details with our technique and that is still a work in progress. Once we learn to do that, we will find ourselves wrestling at the next level. They are working hard to make that happen.”

In contrast to their ninth-place finish in the Havre Invitational, the Greenchain placed seventh in the tournament among the 12 competing teams, scoring 80 points, which put them behind Thompson Falls with 144, Whitefish with 141, Frenchtown with 121, Plains with 97.5, Cut Bank with 94 and Browning with 84, but ahead of hosting Superior with 76.5, Mission-Charlo with 72, Arlee with 60.5, Drummond-Phillipsburg with 24 and Kalispell Glacier with 13.

The Greenchain will compete at Noxon on Thursday, Dec. 17 at a currently undetermined time, before going on to the Tri-State Tournament in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho from Friday, Dec. 18 to Saturday, Dec. 19. Morford said his team should improve more by the times of those tournaments.

“Hopefully, we can keep taking steps forward as we go,” said Morford. “We have a few big challenges coming up this weekend with Tri-State, the Buzz Lucey and a Polson dual next Tuesday. If we continue to compete and improve, we can go into the break with some momentum and really set ourselves up for a solid second half of the season.”