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Fifteen Sanders County wrestlers are headed to state after qualifying at the Western B/C Divisional Wrestling Tournament last weekend in Pablo.

Five Thompson Falls boys and two girls, along with six boys and one girl from Plains/Hot Springs, will compete at the Montana wrestling championships in Billings Friday and Saturday.

The first round matches of the Western B/C Divisional Wrestling Tournament were held all day at Salish Kootenai College in Pablo on Friday with nearly 400 high school wrestlers, which includes almost 50 girls, from 24 Montana schools. Whitehall had the most grapplers at the tournament with 28 boys, followed by Eureka with 27. Darby had only six wrestlers at the divisional tournament and Arlee had only eight at divisionals.

The Blue Hawks sent nine boys and two girls to divisional competition and all but four qualified for state by placing in the top 10 spots, according to head coach Michael Thilmony. The Savage Horsemen sent one girl and 11 boys to Pablo, but five were unable to qualify for finals, which were held on Saturday, according to head coach Jesse Jermyn.

Blue Hawk Eli Ratliff nabbed the top spot in the 160-pound weight class in the final match of the tournament Saturday evening by defeating sophomore Chris Graham of the Conrad Cowboys in an 8-4 decision. The senior went undefeated at the tournament, first pinning Daniel Velasco of Cascade in a minute and 20 seconds. He had a 16-0 decision against Joseph Ramos of the Valier Panthers, and pinned Kyle Denny of the Whitehall Trojans in 3:12.

Ratliff has placed at state twice and three times has been the divisional champ, said Thilmony, the Blue Hawks head coach for the last four years. "He is aiming to meet his goal of being a state champion and we have great confidence that he can meet that goal," said Thilmony, who's been part of the Thompson Falls coaching staff for 12 years. Ratliff chalked up 38 wins and had only two losses this season.

Top gun at the tournament in the boys division for the Savage Horsemen was John Waterbury, who went undefeated throughout the tourney. Competing in the 132-pound weight class, Waterbury beat Chase Kirkland of the Three Fork Wolves in a 7-4 decision for the championship. Waterbury, a Hot Springs junior, had 39 victories and just four losses this year. In his first face off, he pinned Zach Blodnick of the Anaconda Copperheads in 2:50. He pinned Wyatt Hart-Barker of the Three Forks Wolves in 3:06. To get to the championship, Waterbury then had to defeat teammate Drew Carey, which he did in the semifinals with a 6-5 decision.

Senior Lillian MacDonald of Plains took the championship in the 138-pound class by pinning Aubrey Sharbono of Charlo in 32 seconds, possibly the fastest pin for the girls in the tournament. MacDonald went undefeated, first pinning Hailey HeavyRunner of the Cut Bank Wolves in 2:12.

Carey finished third in the 132-pound weight class by defeating Ivar Radcliffe of Whitehall in a 54-second pin. All four of Carey's victories came in the form of pins. He first pinned Devin Victor of Bigfork in 46 seconds, followed by a 49-second pin of Tommy King of Conrad and had a 1:55 pin against Max Giles of the Fairfield Eagles.

Savage Horseman Jacob Schulze finished fifth in the 126-pound weight class with two losses and five wins, including four pins with a 43-second pin against Evan Flores of Shelby to secure fifth place.

Brady Schrenk finished in sixth place in the 160-pound class with four wins, including two pins, and three losses. Levi Blood nabbed ninth in the 182-pound class with two pins and a 9-5 decision against teammate Gabe Rasmussen. Competing in the 170-pound class, Brenden Vanderwall qualified in tenth place with two wins, both pins, including a 27-second pin against Hunter Steele, and three losses.

Also in the competition for the Savage Horsemen were Beau Crabb, Mason Elliott, Donny Nelson, and David Chapman. Crabb, competing in the 138 class, had three losses and three wins, including two pins. Elliott wrestled in the 145 class and had three wins and three losses, with a 46-second pin against Tate Bosker of Thompson Falls. Nelson, wrestling in the 145-pound class, lost twice, once in the consolation round, and chalked up three wins, all pins, including a 54-second pin against Grady O'Connor of Arlee. Rasmussen had two losses and a 1:35 pin win against Daniel Lemer of Eureka. Chapman lost both his matches.

"Wrestlers did a great job. It's a long and difficult tournament and they wrestled well all the way through," said Jermyn, who took over as head coach this year. Jermyn said he knew that Blood and Vanderwall would be on the edge of qualifying, along with Crabb, wrestling in the 132 class, Rasmussen in the 182 class, and Elliott of the 145 class. He thought that it would come down to a narrow victory or loss for them.

For the Blue Hawks, Max Hannum, competing in the 170-pound weight class, finished in second place after defeating Canyon Sargent of the Mission-Charlo Bulldogs 9-4 in overtime. Hannum had 28 wins and seven losses in the regular season. In his first match at Pablo, he pinned Trevor Volk of Conrad in 1:33, followed by pinning Colby Crowell of Cascade in 1:55. His only loss was a 9-4 decision against Whitehall's Miles Hoerauf.

Thompson Falls had three eighth place finishers - freshman Brock Ryan in the 138-pound class, junior Diego Long in the 126-pound class, and sophomore Noa Stevens in the 152-pound class. Ryan lost his first match, won his next two, including a 2:14 pin against Colman Thornton, but lost the next two. Long won his first round with a 2:39 pin against Evan Flores of Shelby, followed by one more win and three losses. Stevens had six matches, losing his first two. He came back to claim three consecutive victories, including a 16-second pin against teammate Mason Park and a 4:03 pin against Superior Bobcat Turner Milender. However, he was pinned in the consolation bracket.

For the Thompson Falls girls, sisters, both competing in the 100-pound weight class, Jaden Bewick finished fourth and Desani Bewick finished fifth.

Also competing for the Blue Hawks, but did not qualify were Westin Brown in the 132-pound class, Trevor Peterson, also in 132, Tate Bosker in the 145-pound class, and Mason Park in the 152-pound class.

Thilmony felt his team did great at the divisional level overall. "This is a tough division so I felt good about Diego, Brock, and Noa fighting through tough matches to earn their way to the state tournament," he said, adding that Ratliff and Hannum had competed at divisionals before and expected they'd be at the top.

Ed Moreth

Lillian MacDonald of Plains takes Hailey HeavyRunner of Cut Bank to the mat during the Western B/C Divisional Wrestling Tournament championship in Pablo. MacDonald pinned HeavyRunner in 2:12.

"The competition at state is always tough, but we know we are very well prepared and we are battle tested from our tough schedule," said Thilmony. He added that Hannum took fourth place at divisional as a freshman and as a junior is aiming to win his first state title. "We are ready to compete. Our focus this week will be one match at a time and really focused on our performance each time we step on the mat."

As a team, Three Forks took first place with 335 points for the boys. Lincoln County took second with 236 points, followed by Whitehall at 230 points. Plains-Hot Springs placed ninth with 145 points. Thompson Falls finished 12th with 101.5 points. For the girls, first went to Anaconda with 100 points with Simms in second with 91 points and Lincoln County in third with 87 points. Even with only one girl, Plains-Hot Springs finished 12th with 24 points. With two girls, Thompson Falls finished in 15th place with 12 points.