The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

he Chinook Sugarbeeter wrestling team has been working hard in practice as a new season is about to get underway. Head Coach, Ben Stroh returns to lead the ‘Beeters for the third year. Kenny Pruttis and Robin Stroh will assist him once again. The ‘Beeter boys and girls are anxious to wrestle somebody other than each other. They will get that chance this weekend in Havre on Friday and Saturday.

Stroh talks about this year’s teams’ grade by grade. For the boys’ junior Gage Chapman returns. “I’m expecting bigger things out of Gage this year. We would like to see him kind of take over a leadership role on the team. He is one of our few returning qualifiers from State. We don’t have any seniors this year, so him playing a bigger role in the room will really help our young team.” The girls roster includes Grace Buck. “Grace is honestly one of our toughest wrestlers, comparatively. She is one of our stronger wrestlers and is really doing a good job leading by example. She is always ready to take on anyone in the room, always shows up with a good attitude and really enjoys practice. Sometimes it’s hard for her to find a similar sized partner, but that doesn’t really matter to her. She wrestles everyone with the same toughness and grit.”

Sophomores on the girl’s roster are Bailey Billmayer and Emma Klingaman. “Bailey ended last year on a high note, wrestling tough. This year we want to keep going in the same direction and by no means do we think she has plateaued, keep her growing every day, every week, every month throughout the season. Bailey continues to work hard and really has a toughness about her.” Stroh added, “Emma has that farm girl mentality which is nice to have in the room. As she gets more experience, we want her to keep bringing it every time she steps on the mat. If we can keep her growing with experience, I think we all will be amazed at where she finishes up at by the end of the year.”

Sophomore boys out this season are Keagan Green, Fletcher Anderson, Owen Davies and Wyatt Olmstead. “Keagan is always a hard nose wrestler, as coaches we want to slow him down a bit and keep his mind set throughout the match. The biggest thing we’ve got to do is to keep his mind going and get him to not over wrestle. Stroh continued, “Fletcher has really matured a lot. He learned a lot last year and has the right mindset. We plan to keep him improving from match to match. Fletcher has really learned to love the sport and is working hard to get better.

“Owen is really growing to his tall body, putting on weight and becoming a solid athlete. He is all the way up to 160 which is where we expect to wrestle him at. He is an excellent partner for Walter (Schoen) in the room, and they are really our team’s two Belgium horses,” said Stroh. “Wyatt has to spend time in the wrestling room and start picking up on some of the things that would have helped him win close matches last year.”

The freshman class includes Eyan Hofeldt, Walter Schoen and Julian Powell. “Eyan is hungry to get on the wrestling mat and compete, he has a good attitude every day. We got to really focus on maximizing his technique and form. Eyan is a bit undersized, but you could never tell with his approach to each match.” Stroh also returns a freshman from last year’s squad, “Walter was thrilled the way last season ended after he qualified for state as an eighth grader. He really worked hard in the off season. We really need to utilize his drive and leadership attributes in the room.” Stroh added, “Julian has a really good mentality about him. We need to work on him learning and getting used to his size. It’s going to be tough on him as a freshman wrestling at that weight because the majority of his opponents are going to be juniors and seniors. If we can keep him moving forward and learning, he has the potential to win some big matches this season. We

This year’s team also includes eighth graders Hayden Berreth and Sam Sanders. “Hayden is young and ambitious; he is ready to compete at the high school level, so we are anxious to see what he can get done. We are really excited to have Sam in the room with us this year. It will be a really good year for him to experience the difference in the level of competition from junior high to high school.”

The season is essentially broken into two parts with the holidays mixed in the middle, but Stroh has a plan as the season gets underway, “I want to see our team come out and battle this first week and wrestle hard, not give up any free points and just compete. It’s early in the season and I know we haven’t really got into technique, but we can still develop the correct mindset these first few weeks. We expect to get better each week and then after the holidays we will be in position to really address where we are at and start preparing for state.”