By Breeanna Runyan
Libby High School’s winter sport season has started off well this year. Many students are participating in one of the winter sports LHS has to offer. When a wrestling tournament occurs on the same day as boy’s and girl’s basketball games, the hallways and classes at LHS seem bare.
The Greenchain Wrestling team has eleven boys, with half of them experienced wrestlers and the other half new to the sport. Head coach Kelly Morford, when speaking with the Montanian, said, “Our upper level kids have wrestled tough opponents, and have gotten some good matches in. For our new kids, the most important thing is getting mat time. Also, learning from our mistakes and getting better.”
The Greenchain has participated in various tournaments so far. In the Polson Tournament, wrestlers Trey Thompson, Zack Morrison, and Buddy Doolin took second place, and the team as a whole took sixth place. In Superior, MT, Morrison and Thompson took first. At the Owen Invitational, the team took eighth place out of twenty teams, only falling two and a half points behind Belgrade. Wrestler Trey Thompson said, “The team is short on members this year, so we are making the most out of what we have available. Even though we are short in numbers, we have been putting up team points against big schools at big tournaments. We may not win every duel with our small numbers, but there will be individuals that show success.”
The boys varsity basketball team currently is 2-2. Their first game was interesting according to head coach Josh Bean. “The first half we didn’t play well, the second half we played well and ended up winning.” At the Tip-Off Tournament in Missoula, MT, the boys played Dillion and Corvallis. Against Dillon, the team lost by six points. “They played really well against a quality team”, said Bean. In the last six seconds of the game against Corvallis, Keith Johnson scored and the team won by one point. Player Ryggs Johnston told the Montanian, “It’s early in the season. We still have room for improvement. We have a lot of potential.” Bean also added, “We’ve shown moments of being a good team, we just need more consistency over the course of four quarters. Rebounding and taking care of the ball are the most important factors going on in the season.” The team has only played a few conference teams, and just now the team is getting into their conference season.
The girl’s varsity basketball team has started off extremely well, with a record of 4-0. Varsity coach Wally Winslow said that he doesn’t have any expectations regarding wins or losses at the beginning of the season. “The girls are having fun and working hard”, Winslow said. Apparently, the try-out numbers were lower than in the past, but the program has enough for the three girl’s teams, and they have started the season off well.