Uli wins title, Vanderwalls medal in State B-C

 

February 15, 2018

Angela Lovell Frank

WINNING SMILE - Plains-Hot Springs senior Daniel Uli allows himself a small smile on the victory stand in Billings Saturday night after winning the 126 pound State B-C championship.

The secret is out, and all of Montana should know it by now – the Plains-Hot Springs Savage Horsemen have one of the best wrestling programs out there in the Big Sky Country, and continue proving it every February in the State B-C portion of the Montana All-Class Tournament at Metra Park in Billings.

And they did it again last week, crowning yet another individual State B-C champion in senior Daniel Uli at 126 pounds, and placing the Vanderwall brothers, Conrad and Josiah, both in sixth place, Conrad at 120 and Josiah at 132.

Additionally, Peter Carey (113), Austin Stafford (145) and Luke Lile (160) all also competed well in Billings, and all three won matches before being eliminated from medal consideration.

Coach Jeff Kujala, who took over the program under difficult circumstances this season after the untimely passing of former coach Kenny Marjerrison, was hoping for another top 10 team performance (the Savage Horsemen finished fifth in 2017) going in, but was happy with what his team gave him in Billings.

"We have no qualms about how anything went, we are extremely happy with how the kids wrestled in Billings," he said. "Everyone ended up winning matches and contributing to the team effort, and everyone that went down, went down fighting hard."

The Savage Horsemen scored 56.5 team points and finished a very respectable 14th overall in team scoring in the 39-team meet.

Uli was fairly well dominant in his run to his first State B-C title, in spite of being on what was perceived as the tough side of the draw in Billings. Uli pinned Shelby's Tabris Correa in 49 seconds of his first round match, and then won by fall over Circle's Lincoln Stormer in 3:42 of that quarterfinal match.

"Stormer had been ranked ahead of Daniel all season, so we were really looking forward to that match," Kujala said, "and Daniel was in control from start to finish."

Uli then fell behind early in his semifinal match with Kaden Zimmerman of Glasgow Saturday morning before coming back to win by 10-5 decision, sending him into the championship finals against Oden Hallock, also of Glasgow.

Uli used his patented "heel pick" takedown move early on Hallock and dominated the action again, winning his long-awaited championship with a 7-1 decision victory.

Kujala said Uli's work ethic is what set him apart this season. "Daniel worked very hard for this, and not just during wrestling season," Kujala said. "He was in the weight room every morning, five days a week all school year, and did a lot of work off-season otherwise.

"I hope the other kids seeing this appreciate that," he added. "If you are dedicated and put in all the necessary work, you really can help make yourself into a champion."

The dynamic Vanderwall brothers, who undoubtedly benefitted from going around with Uli in practice every day, both advanced to the semifinals in Billings before having their title hopes derailed.

A sophomore, Conrad won a technical fall from Garrett Prutiss of Chinook in the first round and then scored a major decision win from Dalton Amsden of Powder County in the quarterfinals.

After losing by fall to Sanders County rival Kaleb Frank in the semis Saturday morning, Conrad eventually fell into the fifth-sixth place match, which he lost to Keegan Thompson of Glasgow.

Older brother Josiah's State B-C path was similar to Conrad's. Josiah won his first two matches by pin in 1:29 and 2:45 before falling to eventual champion Nathan Weber of Forsyth in the semis. Josiah then lost two close decisions to end up in sixth place.

Stafford and Lile also enjoyed fine State B-C tourney appearances and comported themselves well in the biggest show of any B-C wrestling season.

Stafford won his first match to gain the quarterfinals before he lost to another wrestling Weber from Forsyth, falling to Michael Weber. Stafford was then eliminated in the wrestleback round.

Lile, after losing a tough 14-11 decision in the first round, battled back with a pin win and then a decision victory before running into Western B-C nemesis Jonathan Schmidt of Eureka in the match to get in for a medal, losing a tight 9-7 decision to Schmidt.

"I am proud of how Austin and Luke competed," Kujala said. "I took them aside and told them that I thought their weight classes were two of the toughest in the tournament."

Kujala, who indicated he is interested in returning as P-HS head coach next year, said he will miss his seniors – Uli, Stafford, Lile and Robert Mathers – next year.

"Our seniors are a really good group, we will miss them," he said. "They put it all on the line, went 110% every time out there."

 

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