Lehi’s Riley Sullivan presently stands a good chance of competing at the state wrestling meet at Utah Valley State College’s McKay Events Center next month. A 140-pounder senior, he presently sports a 20-10 season record.

This wrestling season started out on a good note for him.

He said, “I picked up my first win of the year when I wrestled my first match up in Evanston (Wyo.) last month. The kid I beat was from Colorado. I went on to finish third in the tournament.”

A few weeks afterwards, Sullivan said he earned his toughest win of the year at the Sky View Bobcat Brawl up in Smithfield.

The Pioneer recalled, “At the Bobcat Brawl, I went against a guy from Viewmont. He and I wrestled into triple overtime. I beat him by one point.”

Sullivan has had his share of heartbreaking losses as well. Two of them occurred within four days of each other earlier this month.

Sullivan said, “At the Rocky Mountain Rumble, my toughest match was against a kid from Wasatch (Steve Bonnett). I didn’t have my head in the match. Five minutes into the match, I got onto my back and he pinned me.

“After that loss, I won my next three matches until I was one match away from wrestling for third place. I got eliminated in that match.”

On the Wednesday after the Rocky Mountain Rumble, Sullivan wrestled Springville’s top-ranked Jason Chamberlain in a Region 7 dual meet at Springville. Their match lasted less than a minute. No sooner had a referee whistled the start of the contest when Chamberlain took Sullivan down and pinned him.

Sullivan doesn’t let moments like his loss to Chamberlain discourage him from continuing to wrestle.

The Pioneer said, “You learn lessons from losses. You can’t be frustrated with yourself, because you can’t win every time.”

Lehi head coach Dan Rice said, “He’s a team captain, and he shows good leadership in the wrestling room. He’s turning into quite a wrestler. He’s very coachable.”

Sullivan has done well in retaining his 140 weight class position.

The Pioneer said, “At the start of this year, a freshman challenged me for my varsity spot. I pinned him in a wrestle-off at practice. Neither he nor anyone else has challenged me for my spot since then.”

Sullivan agreed that while that selection of starting varsity players can sometimes become political in other sports, guys have to use their athletic skills to become varsity wrestlers. The Pioneer said, “There is no politics in knowing who’ll be on the varsity team. You either have the skills to win a spot on it or you don’t.”

One fellow wrestler he knows won’t be challenging him for his position is his little brother Kasey, a member of the Pioneer wrestling team.

The older Sullivan said, “He and I rarely wrestle together at practice. More often, we wrestle at home. Mom always tells us to do it down in the basement.”

Besides wrestling, Sullivan has played as a linebacker on Lehi’s football team. This past season, he was also one of that team’s captains and a two-way player who was relied on to give his team a lift wherever he played.

He said he has been doing a lot of running to keep in shape for football and wrestling. Next weekend will show how much his running will pay off for him as the Region 7 championships are held at Lehi.

Sullivan hopes to earn a berth to the state meet.

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