It was the first big weekend of the wrestling season and several area teams and individual wrestlers showed their mettle.

Wrestling expert Brian E. Preece examines what happened and notes the top performances:

Boys wrestling

The Layton Invitational Tournament (L.I.T.) provided some great wrestling action this weekend as wrestling powers from Utah, Idaho and Wyoming met at Layton High School to test their wares.

Payson staked itself as the team to beat in 5A, placing second in the tournament just ahead of Uintah. But the difference between the two teams was just 8.5 points (250.5 for the Lions and 242 for the returning 5A champion Utes).

Layton, the 6A runner-up in 2022 and tabbed as the team to beat in that classification this season, won the tournament with 254 points.

The key match that delivered the title for the Lancers came at 190 pounds in a battle between two returning state champions. But Layton’s Kael Bennie bested Payson’s Landen Shurtleff with a surprising first period pin and that provided the needed points for the host team to win the tourney.

Payson’s Kelton Smith (150 pounds) and Trevor Frank (157) earned gold medals for the Lions.

In perhaps the tournament’s deepest weight, Frank won the tournament from his sixth seed and upset on his way to the title third-seed Logan Hancey from Fremont, second-seed Andrew Crowther of Layton and then knocked off top-seed and two-time returning state champion Keegan Boyce of Desert Hills 6-3 in the championship final.

Smith won the tournament from his ninth seed defeating the No. 10 seed from Union, Tucker Roybal, in a 14-12 sudden victory overtime thriller.

Freshman Kael Theobald (120) placed second in his weight, and all total, the Lions placed 11 wrestlers in one of the toughest tournaments in the Beehive State.

Wasatch placed fourth in the rugged 33-team field bolstered by a second place finish by Ryder Robinson (138). Robinson was knocked off by 2-time state champion Kysion Garcia of Mountain Ridge, 9-3 in the championship match..

Lehi placed 13th as a team but went without returning state champion Isaac Terrell. Uintah’s Gage Howard, who Terrell defeated last year to win the 5A state title, won the 285-pound title at the L.I.T.

At the Skyhawk Showdown, Spanish Fork was the top local boys team placing fourth out of 32-teams. Karson Shelley (113) and Alex Koyle (157) won their weight classes to spur the Don attack.

Springville placed sixth as a team led by the gold medal performance of Tevita Valeti (215). Other local champions included Salem Hills’ Breyton Banks (106), American Leadership Academy’s (ALA) Andrew Fox (132), and Maple Mountain’s Joshua Biesenger (190).

South Summit won the tournament with Beaver in second and Caldwell, Idaho third.

In a dual meet tournament, Pleasant Grove placed fourth overall at the Millard Ironman tourney going 6-3 in its matches, while Mountain View was 4-5 and finished 10th overall out of 16 teams.

Pleasant Grove had Bradlee Farrer (150) and Trevyn Gates (190/215) go undefeated while Jacob Carson went 8-1 in his duals losing a match by injury default. Samuel Burr (144) and Tyler Blevins (157) went 8-1 for the Bruins.

Juab won the tournament while host Millard was second. SLAM! Academy out of Las Vegas placed third.

American Fork went 3-6 in its duals at the Syracuse scuffle but Tege Kelley went 9-0 wrestling at both 132 and 138 pounds. Host Syracuse won the tournament and Mountain Crest was second.

In dual meet action Payson pinned Cedar Valley 65-10, Timpanogos toppled Timpview 66-9, Mountain View mauled Jordan 57-16, Skyline slipped past Provo 42-39, Millard whipped Wasatch 36-24, Salem Hills stopped Copper Hills 62-15, Alta toppled Orem 60-24, and Westlake roughed up Riverton 62-15.

Girls wrestling

Westlake hosted and won the Thor Classic, while Mountain View was ninth in the 19-team event.

Celeste DeToles (135) and Lizzie Raleigh (155) won individual titles while Ella Arnold (120), Chloe Shumway (140) and Keilikki Rarick (285) were runners-up to lead the Thunder attack. Isla Baeza (135) placed second for Mountain View.

The Springville and Pleasant Grove girls teams placed third and ninth respectively at the Skyhawk Showdown while ALA and Pleasant Grove tied for tenth. The defending 5A champions Maple Mountain were 12th. A total of 31 teams took to the mats at Salem Hills last Friday and Saturday with Grantsville and Riverton finishing first and second in the event.

Valery Ethington (125) and Izzy Clements (135) won titles while Emeri Mortimer (105) and Hotaia Valeti (170) finished second for the Red Devils. Ava Krebs (140) climbed to the top of the podium for Pleasant Grove.

Other local champions included Salem Hills’ Addie Brindley (100) and Jocelyn Hepler (190), ALA’s Rachel Camacho (115), Cedar Valley’s Alexia Woods (130), and Maple Mountain’s Aurelia Ramos (170).

In girls dual meet action Jordan topped Mountain View 48-34.

Coaching changes

There have been a number of coaching changes for many Utah County schools including one at a traditional juggernaut program. Pleasant Grove’s legendary coach Brock Moore retired after winning ten state titles and was replaced by another Viking alumnus in Korbin Levin.

Provo will also turn to former alumni in Gerrit Greer and Schafer Heiner to head the boys and girls programs respectively. Spencer Reynolds takes over for Tucker Ray at ALA and will lead both the boy and girl programs as will Erik Gonzalez at Cedar Valley. And former Orem head coach Cole Kelley will take the helm at American Fork replacing longtime coach Eric Spencer as the boys coach, while Josiah Cazier will coach the girls team.

Brian E. Preece, Herald correspondent

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