Winters sports begins for south Lincoln Co. teams

Winter high school sports has kicked off for one south Lincoln County team and will for others this weekend in Libby and Troy.

On the wrestling mats, the Greenchain began their season last weekend at Polson in the Owen Invitational.

Eight placewinners, which included champion Jace DeShazer, propelled the Libby varsity wrestling team to a third place finish Saturday at the Owen Invitational Tournament in Polson.

The Greenchain scored 159.5 points. Columbia Falls was first with 247.5 while Frenchtown was second with 175.5.

DeShazer, a Class A state champ at 182 pounds last season, won the 205-pound class.

Cael Schwindt was second at 145 pounds and Riley Orsborn was third at 103. Matthew Niemi was fourth at 182.

The Greenchain also had two wrestlers each place fifth and sixth. At 120, Sami Jocks was fifth, and at 285, Tyler Smith was also fifth.

Placing sixth were 132-pounder Gabe Kosters and 285-pounder Drew Munro.

The Greenchain will be in Corvallis on Friday for a quad meet with Stevensville and Whitefish.

The Greenchain’s first home match is scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 10, when they host Eureka in the Battle of the Kootenai.

For the boys and girls basketball varsity teams at Libby, they will open their seasons at the Frenchtown Tipoff Tournament on Friday, Dec. 9.

The boys will tip off at 1:30 p.m. against East Helena. The girls will get going at 3 p.m., also against East Helena.

The t0urnament will conclude on Saturday as Libby faces Stevensville. The girls begin at noon and the boys will play at 3 p.m.

Libby hosts its first home games against Ronan on Thursday, Dec. 15. Both girls games will be played at the elementary school.

For Troy, the girls and boys basketball teams tip off on Saturday, Dec. 10 against Noxon at the Activity Center.

The varsity girls game begins at 4 p.m. while the boys will play at 5:30 p.m.