Windauer, Betram lead MatCats at Holiday Classic

Justin Windauer earned a seventh-place finish and Josh Bertram was eighth in his weight class over the weekend as the MatCats were in action at the CM Russell Holiday Classic in Great Falls.

Columbia Falls went 19-27 overall to finish 22nd at the large tournament, collecting 71.5 points. Class AA Missoula Big Sky won the tournament with 204.5 points and Havre had the top score among Class A teams with 114.5.

Windauer accounted for 16.5 of the MatCat points, going 4-2, including pins of Helena’s Nathon Elmose, Glendive’s Austin Berry and CM Russell’s Nate Preston in the 113 pound weight class. Windauer pinned Preston in the seventh-place match in 1:24. With the wins, Windauer improves to 13-8 this season.

Bertram pinned the first three opponents he faced in Great Falls before falling to Colstrip’s Rylin Burns in the 170-pound quarterfinals. He bounced back by pinning Ronan’s Daniel Collins Bishop in 1:56 in his next match but fell to Glendive’s Nelson Crisafulli in the seventh round of the consolation bracket before conceding the seventh place match to Fergus’s Keaton Potter due to injury.

Orion Barta earned 10 points in the 120-pound division, going 3-2 with pins of Florence-Carlton’s Kyler Bates and Laurel’s Johnathan Herr. Barta’s other victory was a 16-5 major decision win over Jase Frederick of Poplar.

Isiah Roth went 2-2 for the Cats in the 145-pound weight class, pinning Browning’s Aaron Wells and Fort Benton’s Braden Evans while Lucas Thacker pinned Colstrip’s Ian Willoughby and took down Whitefish’s Camren Ross via 11-7 decision to finish 2-2 in the 160-pound division.

Also picking up wins for the Cats were Ty Allen, Trey Torpen, Cole Karlin and Tommy Phelps.

The MatCats will be back in action Jan. 3-4 at the Western Montana Duals in Ronan.