Poplar Advances Seven Wrestlers To State Meet

The Poplar Indians qualified an impressive seven wrestlers for the state meet during the divisional tournament held in Glasgow on Friday, Feb. 26, and Saturday, Feb. 27.

Poplar Coach Jason Frederick said seven is the the most that the Indians have qualified for state in many years.

“I’m proud of how we wrestled this weekend,” Frederick said. “We showed up to wrestle.”

The Class B state meet starts this Friday, March 5, in Shelby. The championship rounds are on Saturday, March 6.

“I am extremely excited for this week,” Frederick said. “We have a lot of work to do before we head to Shelby.”

Huntley Project topped the team standings at the divisional meet with 260 points. Glasgow was right behind with 255.5 points.

Circle took third with 115 followed by Colstrip with 111 and Columbus/Absarokee/ Park City with 108.

Poplar placed sixth with 98.5 points. The Indians were making a strong run for third place during wrestle-backs on Saturday morning.

Top individuals for the Indians included Jacob Berger with a second-place showing at heavyweight and Jase Frederick with a third-place showing at 120 pounds.

In the semi-final round, Berger earned a sudden victory over Chinook’s Wyatt Dunbar. Berger lost on a pin against Glasgow’s Mayson Phipps in the championship match.

After dropping a decision in the semi-final round, Frederick pinned Shepher’s Seth Dennis in 4:08 for the thirdplace match. Placing for the Indians were Kaelen Smith at 145 and Marcus Genia at 152 pounds.

Earning sixth were Mitchell Youngman at 126, Kameron Reum at 132 and Tyler Pribbernow at heavyweight.