Pleasant Grove boys wrestling’s title streak ends as Vikings finish second
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- Pleasant Grove senior Jacob Carson throws Fremont’s Jason Worthley during the finals of the 126-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Pleasant Grove athletes and coaches pose for a photo after the Vikings came in second at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Pleasant Grove’s Trevyn Gates throws Lone Peak’s Mahkyi Smith during the finals of the 215-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Pleasant Grove’s Jacob Carson celebrates after winning the finals of the 126-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- American Fork’s Tege Kelley hugs his coach and father, Cole Kelley, after winning the finals of the 138-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- American Fork’s Tege Kelley grapples with Westlake’s Josh Fish during the finals of the 138-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Lone Peak’s Cooper Mumford (top) attempts to pin Granger’s Martin Lake during the finals of the 285-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Lone Peak’s Cooper Mumford celebrates after winning the finals of the 285-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Pleasant Grove’s Trevyn Gates celebrates after winning the finals of the 215-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Pleasant Grove’s Bradlee Farrer attempts to pin Westlake’s Brayden Robison during the finals of the 150-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Pleasant Grove’s Bradlee Farrer celebrates after winning the finals of the 150-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- American Fork’s Hanks Jacobson battles Roy’s Kaleb Blackner during the finals of the 106-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- American Fork’s Hanks Jacobson celebrates after winning the finals of the 106-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Westlake’s Korbin Chuchran (front) grapples with Layton’s Geronimo Rivera during the finals of the 120-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Lone Peak’s Cayaen Smith tries to get away from Layton’s Kael Bennie during the finals of the 190-pound division at the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Pleasant Grove coaches watch their wrestlers compete during the 6A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
After finishing runner-up to Pleasant Grove for the last five years, Layton (272.5 points) broke through to win the 6A boys wrestling title, dominating the field of competition.
Still, even with the Lancers winning, Utah County teams and wrestlers had some excellent performances.
Four valley teams placed in the Top 10 as Pleasant Grove placed second with 178, Westlake third with 153, Lone Peak seventh with 107 and American Fork ninth with 77.5 points.
First year Pleasant Grove head coach Korbin Levin was pleased with how his team wrestled though the Vikings fell short of winning the gold trophy.
“I’m really proud of the boys,” Levin said. “They worked really hard and reached their potential.”
Similar to last season, Jacob Carson (126 pounds) secured a trophy for the Vikings — though it was the silver one this year.
Carson pinned Fremont’s Jason Worthley in the third period but the bout was a close one throughout and tied at 6-6 when Carson’s hip throw after a deep shot by Worthley put the Silverwolf wrestler on his back and seconds later Carson won his second title with the fall.
“I had to do something. I hadn’t been able to defend his shot all day so I had to go for it,” said Carson of his winning move. “It’s all my Greco (Greco-Roman) training.”
Carson reflected on his second title and his fourth trip to the state championship match.
“It wasn’t as good as last year (his first title), but it still feels pretty good,” Carson said.
Carson had two other teammates win their championship bouts as Bradley Farrer (150) pinned Brayden Robison in the first round and Trevyn Gates defeated Lone Peak’s Mahkyi Smith, 3-2.
Though Farrer beat Robison at last week’s divisional tournament, his victory over the Thunder junior and 2-time state champion is still a shocking upset. The two grapplers have met four times and Farrer has won the last two.
Farrer took Robison down with an elbow pass to a high-crotch and then secured the cradle for the stunning pin. The Viking sophomore definitely felt that his win at the divisional tournament gave him the needed confidence to win on the bigger stage.
“I have been working so hard for this. Winning at divisionals just showed me that I could do it,” Farrer said.
Then in another stunning upset, Viking junior Trevyn Gates (215) outlasted Lone Peak’s Mahkyi Smith, a returning state champion, by a single point. Toward the end of the season Gates moved up a weight and wasn’t beaten after doing so.
“I just thought it would be a good weight for me,” said Gates, who also thought his “conditioning” was the difference.
American Fork’s Tege Kelley (138) locked down a state title when he defeated Westlake’s Josh Fish 3-0. Kelley’s takedown late in the first period and a third period escape allowed by Fish were all the points the Caveman sophomore needed to lock down a title.
Kelley overcame some defeats earlier in the season at 132 pounds but when he hit a growth spurt, he went up 138 pounds and simply dominated the competition the final weeks of the season.
“He literally hit a growth spurt in the middle of the season,” said his father and American Fork head coach Cole Kelley. “He weighed 136 pounds naturally at the start of the season and when he spurted up, it didn’t make any sense to stay at 132.”
On the decision to move up a weight class, Tege Kelley said that it was a “team effort” with his Dad who “knows him better than anyone else”.
Tege Kelley’s brother Zeke wrestled in the Pleasant Grove program where his father Cole also prepped. Both were multiple-time placers but fell short of the ultimate prize. So winning a state title for his brother and his Dad was on Kelley’s mind.
“My brother fell short of his goals so I wore his shoes today so he could get one,” Kelley said.
“Zeke is in Paraguay (on a LDS mission), but I know he’s very proud of Tege,” Cole Kelley added.
As Kelley had his hand raised, both the American Fork and Pleasant Grove faithful applauded loudly and that wasn’t lost on the Caveman grappler.
“Pleasant Grove is like family, even though I’m not there.” Tege Kelley said.
Kelley wasn’t American Fork’s only champion as Hanks Jacobsen nailed down a 106-pound championship to open up the 6A championship finals.
Jacobsen gave up the first takedown to Roy’s Kaleb Blackner but then stormed back to score the next 13 points before finally winning by a 17-4 major decision.
And after being knocked unconscious in the Divisional A finals the week before and losing by injury default, Lone Peak’s Cooper Mumford (285) made his way to the top of the podium by defeating Granger’s Martin Lake, 5-0.
“Last week I was put to sleep, but right now I’m on top of the world,” Mumford said.
Westlake’s Korbin Chuchran (120) and Lone Peak’s Cayaen Smith (190) placed second falling to two returning state champions from Layton in Geronimo Rivera and Kael Bennie respectively.
3A Boys Results: American Leadership Academy’s (ALA) Andrew Fox (132) placed second losing to Grand County’s Austin Paris 4-2. Juab (279.5) won the tournament easily while Morgan (192) was second. ALA finished 16th in the 19-team field with 20 points.
Complete team and individual results can be found on www.trackwrestling.com.
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