Wrestlers head to Malta for last meet of regular season

The Glasgow wrestling team will be rounding up the regular season this week after successful meets in Chinook and Harlem last weekend.

The winter weather kept some teams from showing up Saturday to the Harlem Invitational, most notably Malta. Yet, despite the small roster, the Scotties still got in some good matches, said co-head coach Byron Hallock.

“For the weekend we wrestled pretty well,” Hallock said. “We're pretty fortunate for the teams that did show up. All in all it was a pretty good weekend. Everybody got in at least two matches."

The Scotties had their usual strong showing from Luke Zeiger, Parker Miller and Tyrel Shumway, all of whom still sit atop their weight classes in the latest Class B-C poll.

The Scotties also got first place finishes from Zeb Shawver and Braden Hallock and a near win from Chaz Hopstad at 189 pounds, who was winning the match until he got caught in a bad position and pinned. All 13 Scotties placed on Saturday.

This weekend the Scotties compete in their last meet before Divisionals, wrestling at the Malta Mixer and Invitational. Most of the top teams in Class B-C will be at the event including No. 2 Huntley Project and No. 5 Forsyth, giving the Scotties some competitive matches as they head into the postseason.

Glasgow has yet to wrestle in a tournament with Huntley this season and the Invitational on Saturday should prove as a good measuring stick for the State Tournament in two weeks.

“It'll be nice seeing Huntley,” Hallock said. “They wrestled well at Choteau. It's nice that in a small tournament we get to see some matchups we haven't seen yet.”

Everybody on the Scotties is now wrestling at the weight they will be competing at at Divisionals and State. This weekend either Braden Hallock or Shawver, who both wrestle at 119 pounds, will move up to 125 pounds to gain team points. This is the last week the Scotties will need to worry about wrestling Braden Hallock and Shawver at different weights, with both able to score at Divisionals; the two are ranked No. 2 and No.  4, respectively, at 119 pounds in Class B-C.

This could also be the last weekend that the Scotties have to wrestle without Jacob Bethea, who earlier this month went out with a dislocated elbow. Bethea, one of the top wrestlers at 112 pounds when healthy, has been cleared to practice with a brace and will be a go for Divisionals.

In other news, two Scotties were ranked No. 1 in their weight class in a new All-Class Poll. Glasgow had four wrestlers in total on the new poll that combines wrestlers from Class AA, A and B-C.

Zeiger was ranked No. 1 at 130 pounds and Shumway was ranked No. 1 at heavyweight in the poll compiled by Hoyt and Blewett Law Firm in Great Falls, the same company that sponsors the Montana Tournament of Champions. In addtion to them, Miller was ranked No. 2 at 215 pounds, behind only Columbia Falls' Kelly Houle, the top wrestler in Class A. Hopstad was the only other Scotty ranked in the poll, ranked No. 5 at 189 pounds. Hopstad, who is currently ranked No. 3 in Class B-C is behind the two other wrestlers in Class B-C and Ronan's Toby Cheff , ranked No. 1, and Senitnel's Jace Prideaux, ranked No. 2.