Four Bulldog wrestlers make quarterfinals in Cut Bank

by David ERICKSON<br
| January 15, 2009 11:00 PM

The Whitefish mat ‘Dogs finished in 20th place with 35 points at the annual Cut Bank Booster Club Invitational wrestling tournament over the weekend. Havre took top honors with 283 points. Twenty-three teams competed in the two-day event.

Four Bulldogs wrestlers made it to the quarterfinal round: Dalton Rice, 130, Tanner Benedict, 145, Kaleb Prestegaard, 152, and Geoff Streeter, 160.

Rice, Benedict and Preste-gaard lost by pins, while Streeter went down by technical fall to Adam Moore of Noxon, although it took 5:48.

“It was a really good competition,” Benedict said. “It was nice to see some different kids. I think as a team we just need to keep working on technique.”

On Tuesday, Polson won five matches by pins to go along with five forfeits to down Whitefish 60-26 in a Northwestern A wrestling dual. Polson's top wrestler, Brock Picard (19-2 at 171 pounds), sat out the match.

Claiming pins for Whitefish were Zach Berger, 112, Kaleb Prestegaard, 152, and Geoff Streeter, 160. Tanner Benedict, 145, and Derek Crittenden, 215, both won by major decision.

The wrestling team travels to Frenchtown on Thursday night, then they will head to Glacier on Saturday.

98 Dakotah Jensen, P, won by forfeit; 105 Jesse Alfiero, P, won by forfeit; 112Zach Berger, W, pinned Nick Howell, 1:59; 119 Alex Nystrom, P, won by forfeit; 125Jacob Young, P, pinned Andrew Timmons, :24; 130Keio Salmonson, P, pinned Dalton Rice, 1:46; 135Randy Kelley, P, pinned Steven Vail, 1:33; 140Ty Fouty, P, pinned Nick ODell, :38; 145Tanner Benedict, W, maj. dec. Chris Cote, 13-0; 152Kaleb Prestegaard, W, pinned Logan Clay, 5:03; 160Goeff Streeter, W, pinned Zax Martin, 3:43; 171 Jose Quinonnes, P, won by forfeit; 189 Josh Rostad, P, won by forfeit; 215Derek Crittenden, W, maj. dec. Josiah Clairmont, 14-0; HwtKaden Thomas, P, pinned Jacob Washer, :13.