It was absolutely a huge weekend in wrestling for Utah and it wasn’t just at the prep level as four former Utah girl wrestling stars took to the mats at the USA Wrestling Senior Nationals in an attempt to earn a trip to the Olympic Trials this upcoming spring.

Here are the biggest storylines from mid-December:

Girls Wrestling

The Christmas Clash brought together 749 female wrestling competitors to the Real Salt Lake Training Academy and Practice facility in Herriman this past weekend. They combined with 1172 male wrestlers as over 1900 total athletes donned their singlets for a wild weekend of competition held over two days on 20 mats.

The event is organized by USA Wrestling Utah with Jeff Newby, currently the head coach for the Westlake boys program, serving as tournament director.

“We look to continue to grow this event into the premier girls event in the state,” said Newby. “We have big goals for this event and we hope to get it over the 1,000 mark for the girls (competition) in the very near future.”

But the growth of this event alone has been staggering as participation in 2021 was 370 girls and 550 last season.

The girls tournament was highly competitive as 65 schools sent representatives to compete in the varsity tournament. When the dust settled Uintah had earned the gold trophy with 171 points while Canyon View (165.5) edged out Grand Junction, Colorado (164) for second. Cedar Valley was the top local team as the Aviators were fifth at 138 points just behind Copper Hills who pointed 141.

The tournament had every returning state champion team in the field and featured weight classes that had several individual state champions and placers. This was truly a marquee event for girls wrestling.

One of the leading proponents of girls wrestling is Juab head coach Billy Cox whose daughter Hailey Corona, often faced derision during her competing days prior to the sport being sanctioned by the Utah High School Activities Association and USA Wrestling. Except at certain national and international events, the only option Corona had to wrestle was to compete against males. So seeing over 700 female competitors at a single tournament was extremely satisfying for Cox.

“It’s kind of awe inspiring to walk into an arena where a sport is going on that not very long ago was deemed a man’s sport and see a place for girls being held,” Cox said. “The growth of girls wrestling that is going on now is a vision that I, and many parents and supporters, had for our own daughters and the community of girls.

“Now as over 700 girls compete (at the Christmas Clash) you are now seeing it pay off as the quality of wrestling is leaping year after year as the open support of these girls increases. Future Olympians and national champions are walking around (among these competitors).”

Westlake head coach Cody Burdett is also a huge proponent of girls wrestling and has led Westlake to the first three 6A state titles.

“It was really fun to see how big Jeff (Newby) has grown the girls portion of the event,” Burdett said. “Many nationally ranked girls were there. Also, guys like Billy Cox and Craig Dart (who assists his wife Susan at Mountain Crest which boasts the most participation by any program in the state) have been instrumental in the growth of girls wrestling in Utah.”

Four local women compete in the USA Senior Nationals: The strength and growth of female wrestling in the state was also on full display at the Senior Nationals held in Fort Worth, Texas over the weekend. Those placing in the top five earned a right to compete in the 2024 Olympic Trials in April.

Sage Mortimer, who prepped at ALA, won her weight class at 50 kilograms while Marlynne Deede, who competed at Springville, placed second at 76 kilograms. Former Pleasant Grove wrestler Brooklyn Hays placed fourth, also at 76 kilograms.

Corona, who is also busy being the head coach at Wasatch High School, threw her hat in the ring and competed at 57 kilograms going 0-2.

Big Time Performance of the Week: Springville’s Hotai Valeti (170 pounds) missed some action early in the season, but the Red Devil senior was back on the mat at the Christmas Clash winning her weight class with five pins, four of them coming in the first round.

Match of the Week: Westlake’s Keilikki Rarick and Murray’s Cheyenne Ruiz have five state titles between them. Rarick is a junior going for her third title while Ruiz, a senior, is looking to become a 4-time state champion. Ruiz transferred from Taylorsville to Murray, but when at Taylorsville, Ruiz won 6A state titles at 190 pounds while Rarick was winning titles at 235 pounds.

With Ruiz up a weight class for this tourney, two of the very best in Utah girls wrestling met up at the championship final of the Christmas Clash.

This epic match-up provided a dramatic finish. Ruiz was dominating the match early with a takedown and 3-point nearfall to take a 5-0 lead after the first period. Then the Spartan grappler added to her lead with a takedown to go up 7-0. But this is when the tables turned.

Rarick got an escape, and then took down Ruiz to her back and secured a pin with just four seconds left in the second round.

Westlake siblings win titles at the Christmas Clash: Siblings Celeste and Kaizen Detoles dominated their competition over the weekend at the Christmas Clash.

Celeste, a senior, won the 135-pound weight class in the girls tournament with five pins, four coming in the first round. Celeste Detoles is going for her fourth state title for the Thunder and moved her record to an impressive 18-0 this season.

Meanwhile, her younger brother Kaizen climbed to the top of the podium at 165 pounds in the boys tournament. His championship final versus Alex Koyle of Spanish Fork was a wild one, but Kaizen came out on top, 17-13. Kaizen took fourth in 6A state last year as a freshman and won the Christmas Clash for the Thunder from his third seed.

The Valeti siblings for Springville also had good tournaments. While Hotai was winning a title, her older brother Tevita placed third at 215 pounds while younger brother Lisate placed fifth at 175 pounds. In fact, Lisiate met up with Kaizen Detoles in the semifinals, but lost 15-8.

Boys Wrestling

Westlake (349 points) crushed the competition at the Christmas Clash by more than doubling up second place Canyon View (161). Spanish Fork, missing some wrestlers competing at the Reno Tournament of Champions, finished a strong third with 148 points in a field that featured 50 teams.

The Thunder crackled loudly as Westlake crowned seven individual champions with Kaden Oldroyd (106), Trey Thompson (120), Jamyne Xoumphonph (126), Curtis Bjorge (138), Korbin Chuchran (144), Josh Fish 150) and Brayden Robison (157). Parker Ballantyne (132) also made the championship finals and finished second place.

Thompson was named as one of the Outstanding Wrestlers of the tournament and was also recognized with a special award by the U.S. Marines called, “The Will to Fight”.

This weekend several teams did travel to compete in the Reno Tournament of Champions. The field of teams and wrestlers is considered so deep that any wrestler that places in the top three earns All-American status.

Pleasant Grove’s Bradlee Farrer (157) was the top finisher among local wrestlers as the Viking grappler placed second losing to a wrestler from Saint John Bosco, California. Farrer’s teammate Trevyn Gates (190) placed seventh.

Landen Shurtleff of Payson finished sixth in the same weight class and beat Gates by a point in the consolation placing round. By the way, Leimana Fager of Corner Canyon actually finished second, while Layton’s Elijah Hawes eighth place finish gave the State of Utah four of the eight placers in this weight division.

Meanwhile, Shurtleff’s Lion teammate Quayde Beck placed eighth at 165 pounds.

Another weight class where Utah County and Utah wrestlers in general shined was at 144 pounds. Spanish Fork’s Junior Wetzel placed fifth while American Fork’s Tege Kelley was seventh. But two other Beehive State grapplers placed in the weight class as well as Layton’s Noah Bull placed fourth and Morgan’s Drew Korth finished sixth.

Wasatch placed two wrestlers at Reno as Austin McNaughton earned All-American status by placing third at 285 pounds while Hank Hannsen placed seventh at 157 pounds.

Preece’s Top Ten Boys Programs: 1. Layton (6A) 2. Uintah (4A) 3. Millard (2A) 4. Pleasant Grove (6A) 5. Westlake (6A) 6. Corner Canyon (6A) 7. Spanish Fork (5A) 8. Payson (5A) 9. Wasatch (5A) 10. Juab (3A).

Preece’s Top Ten Girls Programs: 1. Uintah (4A) 2. Canyon View (3A) 3. Salem Hills (5A) 4. Syracuse (6A) 5. Copper Hills (6A) 6. Cedar Valley (5A) 7. Mountain Crest (4A) 8. Juab (3A) 9. Ridgeline (4A) 10. Northridge (6A).

Preece’s Top Ten Beehive State Boy Wrestlers: 1. Cash Henderson (Woods Cross, 215/285 pounds) 2. Leimana Fager (190, Corner Canyon) 3. Austin Paris (Grand County, 138) 4. Layne Kleinman (Mountain Ridge, 132/138) 5. Geronimo Rivera (Layton, 126) 6. Brad Farrer (Pleasant Grove, 157) 7. Landen Shurtleff (Payson 190) 8. Trevyn Gates (Pleasant Grove, 190) 9. Michael Alexander (Uintah, 126) 10. Mason Carlson (Syracuse, 126/132); Honorable Mention: Travyn Boger (South Summit, 285), Noah Bull, Layton, 144), Dillon Ivie (Altamont, 132), Tege Kelley (American Fork, 144), Drew Korth (Morgan, 144), Brayden Robison (Westlake, 157), Tucker Roybal (Union, 165), Cayean Smith (Pleasant Grove, 215), Colton Theobald, (Payson, 144) Junior Wetzel (Spanish Fork, 144).

Preece’s Top Ten Beehive State Girl State Wrestlers: 1. Keilikki Rarick (Westlake, 235) 2. Cheyenne Ruiz (Murray, 235) 3. Celeste Detoles (Westlake, 135) 4. Julia Kay (Canyon View, 115) 5. Chanley Green (Uintah, 115) 6. Aurelia Ramos (Maple Mountain, 190) 7. Hotai Valeti (Springville, 170) 8. Sadie Rhodes (Uintah, 105) 9. Katie Law (Herriman, 155) 10. Aleena Navarette (Weber, 120); Honorable Mention: Isla Baeza (Mountain View, 130), Rachel Camacho (ALA, 120),, Kimberly Fowers (Copper Hills, 145), Keegan Grange (Ridgeline, 110), Lindsay Hansen (Tooele, 110), Ellie Jensen (Maple Mountain, 130), Kristina Kent (Davis, 100), Meletilli Matakaiongo (Canyon View, 170), Brooklyn Pace (Copper Hills, 125), Eva Zimmerman, (Hillcrest, 110).

Courtesy photo

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