Clairmont takes 2nd at Jug Beck tourney
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The Polson Pirate wrestling team sent 13 wrestlers to the Jug Beck Rocky Mountain Classic in Missoula last weekend. Heavyweight and No. 2 seed Josiah Clairmont won second place, while Craig Feistner took fifth in the 125-pound category. Carlos Quinones took eighth place in the 112-pound category. Overall, the Pirates fared well at the tournament, taking 15th out of 30 teams from Washington, Idaho and Montana.
“We competed pretty well,” head coach Bob Owen said. “It was a much tougher tournament than last year.
Clairmont got all pins before he was defeated by the top ranked AA grappler, Alex Markle of Helena Capital. Clairmont advanced from the first round with a bye and defeated Austin Porter of Lake City, Idaho, in 27 seconds in round two. With the win, Clairmont advanced to grapple against Bridger Wren of Great Falls High, who he pinned in 25 seconds.
Clairmont then defeated Mack Sutherland of Glacier in the semifinals by pin in 55 seconds. The win advanced Clairmont to the championship finals, where he was matched up with Tucker Erickson of Helena High. Clairmont took second place when he lost to Erickson in a 5-2 decision.
“Clairmont’s having an outstanding season,” Owen noted. “But we need to get him better conditioned. I think (Erickson) was a little more conditioned than Clairmont.”
Feistner entered the tournament as the No. 1 seed in his 125-pound bracket after finishing third in the tournament one year ago.
Feistner began his tournament with a win over Aaron Seefeldt of Libby via pin in 3:15. With the win, Feistner took on Kalieb Liehr of Flathead, winning by pin in only 39 seconds. He then defeated Tim Allsop of Corvallis, where Feistner won in a 9-2 decision. The victory brought Feistner within one match of the championship, taking on Alex Markle of Helena Capital. Markle advanced with a 2-1 decision win over Feistner.
The loss moved Feistner to the wrestle-back bracket, where fell to Jordan Hegel of Mead in a 2-1 decision. Feistner secured fifth place by defeating Levi Renz of Butte in an 8-0 major decision.
Carlos Quinones picked up three wins at the tournament, first defeating Coltin Cox of Hamilton by pin in 55 seconds. Quinones then beat Trevor Ball of Helena Capital by pinning him in 1:38. Quinones was sent to the wrestle back bracket after falling to Glenn Hensley of Frenchtown via pin in 5:19.
In the wrestle-back bracket, Quinones beat Ronan’s Chase Rhine and fell to Tylor Olsen of Corvallis, ending his tournament run in eighth place.
Taylor Martin (105), Dylan Moll (119), Drew Fouty (130), Skylar Anderson (135), Alex Nystrom (140), Jared Young (145), Mike Devlin (152), Marlin Burke (189), Kaleb Auld (215), and Alex Helgeson (98) also participated in the tournament.
Earlier in the week, Polson hosted Columbia Falls, where the Wildcats earned four wins by pin to pace Columbia Falls past Polson, 42-36.
Quinones picked up an early win for the Pirates after he pinned Harland Jordan in 23 seconds, while Dylan Moll (119) won over Seth McCall with a 5-1 decision.
Feistner (125) locked in points for Polson by pinning Cody Hader in 3:24. Nystrom (140) pinned Bryan Shaffer in 5:38, while Mike Devlin (152) edged Kohl Thompson in a 5-2 decision. Clairmont pinned Wade Motichka in 16 seconds in the heavyweight category. Polson won the 105-weight division by forfeit.
“We need to refine some of our techniques and fill up the kids’ gas tanks up,” Owen said. “Several need to be better conditioned.”
With the majority of the team doing well with technique, Owen said the team will be doing a little more live wrestling during practice to improve stamina.
Polson takes on Flathead on the road Jan. 19 and hosts Frenchtown Jan. 20.
“Frenchtown is very competitive,” Owen said. “It should be a really good meet. Seeding for divisional will be (done) at that meet.”
