Greenchain advances to state tournament

The Libby Greenchain came home with third place in the Divisional Seeding Tournament and seven of their wrestlers are going to state.

The Lions took first at the tournament, with 232 points, while Ronan was second with 140 and Libby third with 118.

Head Greenchain coach Kelly Morford calls the tourney a success and is hoping to bring some all-state wrestlers back to Libby.

“We were proud of the way we wrestled at Divisionals,” Morford said. “We knew it would be a battle to get into the top three in team points so it was great to be able to bring home a trophy.”

Morford said the division is tough, with four of the top six-ranked teams in the state.

Compared with most other teams around the state, Morford said that having seven going to state is an accomplishment in itself

Buddy Doolin placed first in his weight class and scored 24 team points. Reed Christensen placed second with 19.5 team points, as did Laine Young who scored 20. Clancy Gout placed second as well with 16 points. Tim Carvey placed fourth, Dylan Yeadon placed fourth, Dylan Parrish took fourth, Mason Sams placed fifth in his weight class, Trey Thompson placed fifth, Cyrus Sweedman took fifth. Tanner Wood and Michael Diller’s places are unknown.

“There are a few others that just missed out and I wish we could have got them through as well but it didn’t work out that way,” Morford said.

Individually Trey Thompson and Cyrus Sweedman both performed well as freshmen, finishing just out of the top-four at fifth place. A tough weight class also put Mason Sams in fifth place, Morford said in any other division, Sams would have easily had a shot at placing at state.

Buddy Doolin is ranked first in the division, but has found a rival in Shepherd’s Tanner Cook, who’s in second-place. Cook beat Doolin during his first weekend in Havre, but Doolin won in the finals in Cut Bank.

“That will be a key match for Buddy,” Morford said. “He has been focused on his ultimate goal of being a state champion and I am excited to watch him go after it.”

Morford also thinks that Reed Christensen, Laine Young and Clancy Gout have a shot at placing at state. At the tournament, all three of the wrestlers made the finals.

“They took care of business when they had to and I think all three of them have a good shot at placing at state,” Morford said. “They are going to have to keep wrestling well and not have any letdowns but they can definitely go and place.”

The highlight of the weekend, Morford said, was watching Tim Carvey wrestle a great match against Ronan’s Happy Cheff for the win.

“We knew how big of a match that was for Timmy,” Morford said.

“It should be an exciting weekend with a lot of tough matches and hopefully we bring some All-State wrestlers back to Libby,” Morford said.