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Columbia Falls' Orion Barta wrestles Browning's Ashton Flamand at 120 lbs. at the Western Montana Duals at Ronan High School on Saturday. (Casey Kreider/Daily Inter Lake)
The MatCat wrestlers went 7-1 to finish third at the Western Montana Duals in Ronan over the weekend, picking up wins over Bigfork, Superior, Hamilton, Browning and Polson while also defeating the host Chiefs twice.
The Cats breezed through the first four rounds before slipping past Browning in the opening round of the championship bracket, 36-35. Columbia Falls fell to Frenchtown 48-30 in the next round, but bounced back with convincing wins over Ronan and Polson to finish third.
The Cats went 35-41 at the tournament, with an additional 27 wins via forfeit, pinning their opponents for 32 of their 35 victories.
Freshman Justin Windauer led the way for the MatCats, pinning all six of his opponents to go undefeated in the tournament while Orion Barta and Lucas Thacker picked up off their wins via pin as they each went 5-1. Josh Bertram pinned four of his opponents on his way to a 5-2 record for the weekend while Tommy Phelps won four and Josiah Kilman went 2-0.
Trey Torpen had the fastest pin of the weekend for the Cats, taking down Hamilton’s Kooper Harmon in 17 seconds in the fourth round.
The Cats were at home Tuesday as they hosted Hamilton and Corvallis. The Columbia Falls squad will be on the road Friday as the Cats travel to Stevensville to take on the Yellowjackets and Hamilton before returning home to celebrate senior night against Glacier Tuesday, Jan. 14 at 7 p.m.