MatCats take crown in Lewistown
On floor, from left, Dyan DeLorme and Blake Hoerner, then front row, from left, Cale Schaeffer, Ben Schaeffer, Cash Byrd, Billy Gustafson, Jaxson Sterling, Winslow Peters, Blaise Cronk, Tucker Gonzalez. Traic Fainter, Josiah Kilman, head coach Jessie Schaeffer, Zakary Gray, Eddie Clark, Michael Hader, Gunnar Rathjen, Justin Windauer, Rowdy Crump, Trey Torpen, Chris Rathjen, Branden Torpen, Brandon Role. (Bob Windauer photo)
Chris Rathjen, top, had a great tourney at Lewistown, beating three-time state champion Owen Lonski of Sidney. (Bob Windauer photo)
The Columbia Falls wrestling team won the Class A duals in Lewistown over the weekend.
The MatCats now head to the Whitefish duals Friday and then the divisional tourney the following weekend.
In Lewistown, the the squad beat Butte Central, Sidney/Fairview, Corvallis, Billings Central and Browning in pool play.
In the finals Saturday they beat Libby 63-12 and then Frenchtown 45-27 in the semifinals.
They then beat Havre, 43-23 in the final.
It was a good tournament, coach Jessie Schaeffer said. They had lost to Havre and Sidney in duals earlier this season, so it was nice to bounce back against them.
“This weekend we showed we can wrestle with the rest of the state,” he said.
Justin Windauer kept his winning streak alive, but there was a tense moment in one match where his opponent got him on his back. Windauer was able to get the reversal and the win.
Chris Rathjen also had a great tourney, beating the three-time state champion Owen Lonski of Sidney.
The MatCats will look to keep the momentum going heading into the divisional tourney in two weeks in Polson.
“We have to go in and wrestle well and win matches we’re not expected to,” Schaeffer said.
