Greenchain wins two

Even though Greenchain wrestlers won two of their dual matches and lost one, they didn’t advance to the second day of competition at the Western Montana Duals in Ronan on Jan. 2. The team didn’t place in the top two of their pool, which would have allowed them to compete in the Saturday matches.

The Greenchain blanked Flint Creek in their first dual 48 to 0.

In their second dual they battled Flathead’s junior varsity team.

“Ironically, the one dual we lost against Flathead was probably the best performance for us as a team. We had a chance to win that in the last match and didn’t get the job done but the only reason we were in that position is because we wrestled so well leading up to that. Dylan Parrish and Cody Kessel both had great wins for us in that dual. I was proud of their effort,” said Greenchain coach Kelly Morford. Flathead won the dual 42 to 30.

In their third dual, Greenchain beat Butte Central 39 to 9.

Zach Crace, Dylan Roby and Cody Kessel went 3-0 in their matches on Friday. Defending state champion Garret Chapel had two matches and won both.

Other Greenchain wrestlers notching wins were Laine Young, Reed Christenen, Michael Miller, Dylan Parrish, Mason Sams and Alex Yeadon.

Morford said, “I was pleased with the way we wrestled in those dual matches. Technically, we wrestled the best we have all year. What I liked most though, was that we were competing at a much high level mentally. We had some tough, close matches that we were able to gut out and win. That is something we didn’t do well before Christmas and I was happy to see improvement in that area.”

With Greenchain wrestlers now past the halfway point of the season, Morford sees reasons to be optimistic. “All in all, we are seeing some steps in the right direction as a team. We just need to keep improving and see where we are at the end of the year,” he said.

“I feel like we’re still getting in shape, we’ve had a few breaks that have gotten us out of shape, but we’ll continue to work on that,” Morford said.

The Greenchain returns to the mat at 6 p.m. on Tuesday Jan. 6 at the Ralph Tate Gym in Libby.