Scottie Wrestlers Get Five To Finals

Former state champions and state placers were all over the Glasgow High School gymnasium floor on Saturday during the Scottie Wrestling Invitational.

Wolf Point's Maestro Martinez has won two state championships – both in the 98-pound class. Teague Jones was the state champion in the 112-pound weight class in 2011 and placed third earlier in 2012 out of Harlem. Austin Burshia out of Poplar placed in state the last two years. The list goes on for the talented wrestlers that descended on Glasgow for the small but experienced meet.

For the Scotties, who hope to get a few of their wrestlers in the upper echelon at state, the Scottie Invitational was a good test.

"I was hoping to get five in the finals and that's what we got," said Head Coach Byron Hallock. "We really hope for more but I thought if we had five in there, it would be a good day."

The Scottie Invitational was set up as a tournament based on two groups in each weight class with each wrestler participating in a round robin within their group. After that, the best wrestler from each group would face off against their counterpart in the final. So to get five wrestlers in the finals out of 15 weight classes is a step forward for the Scotties.

The Scotties were hoping that their five finalists might fare a bit better than they did in the finals, though. Only one wrestler, Jake Shawver, won their final bout to claim first place.

Shawver, wrestling in the 119-pound weight class, defeated a Harlem opponent by pin at the 2:39 mark.

Shawver was obviously a high point for the Scotties during the meet. However, the biggest highlight might have come from freshman Mick Reyling in a losing effort. Reyling had the unfortunate task of facing Wolf Point's Martinez twice on Saturday.

Martinez beat Reyling both times, including the final match, but it didn't keep Reyling from impressing rival coaches.

"At 105, we know Mick Reyling's tough, but I had a couple of coaches from other towns come up and say they really liked how Mick wrestled," said Hallock. "Reyling gave [Martinez] all he wanted."

Reyling was not pinned in the final but lost the decision by a 9-1 mark. Reyling was one of four Scotties to make it to the final but ultimately fall.

Ben Kountz lost to Nolan Simanton of Malta in the 145-pound weight class final. Simanton outscored Kountz 7-2 in the decision.

Kevin Frigon was pinned at the 1:30 mark in the 152-pound weight class and Killion Gregg lost by pin at the 2:55 mark in the 189 class.

It was a good showing during a tough tournament for the Scotties. But the biggest test of the season is right around the corner.

The Scotties will travel to the CMR Invitational on Friday for the biggest in-state meet of the year before the penultimate state tournament in February.

The majority of Class AA schools are there, a lot of Class A teams and many Class B/C teams will be in attendance for the two-day tournament.

"Hopefully we've got some guys alive on Saturday. It's a grueling tournament," said Hallock.

Only varsity wrestlers are allowed to enter the tournament that is set up with the standard 32-man bracket. In some cases, a 48-man bracket is used.

"It's pretty much the only time we get to see [schools] from the West," said Hallock.

In other words, this is the type of tournament that will highlight the real contenders to watch for this year in certain weight classes.

The Scotties won't be coming home on Saturday even if they don't have a kid still in the CMR tournament. Wrestlers out of the tournament will head to the Great Falls JV tournament on Saturday. Hallock noted that they call the tournament JV but there is actually quite a few talented wrestlers every year and it challenges kids all day with six mats going. Kids could get five to six matches in a short period of time.

This would be a good week for the Scottie wrestlers to step up and show how well they can wrestle heading into the rest of the wrestling schedule. A good showing in CMR can drastically change the rankings for the rest of the season.