Utah County is well represented in this even on both the boys and girls side of things.

One intra-county match-up will lead to another at 190 pounds. Pleasant Grove’s Trevyn Gates will take on Payson’s Landon Shurtleff with the winner of this bout taking on Cayaen Smith of Lone Peak.

All three wrestlers placed at the prestigious Reno Tournament of Champions (RTOC) with Smith actually winning the event. Gates was sixth while Shurtleff placed seventh. Utah actually had another wrestler place in this weight class with Layton’s Kael Bennie who placed third, but Bennie will sit out this event.

Smith’s brother Mahkyi could wrestle two matches tonight if he can beat Uintah’s Austin Richens. Mahkyi, like brother Cayaen, is a returning 6A champion while Richens is a 2-time returning champion winning a title both in 4A and 5A. The winner of this bout will then take on Cash Henderson of Woods Cross, currently the top-ranked wrestler according to USA Wrestling Utah. Henderson is a returning 5A state champion and recently placed second at the prestigious Walsh Iron Man tourney in Ohio.

At 132 pounds, American Leadership’s (ALA) Andrew Fox will wrestle Wasatch’s Austin Kelly. Both were state placers last year and Fox currently boasts an undefeated record.

In a battle of RTOC All-Americans, Payson’s Trevor Frank and Bingham’s Bank Love will square off at 157 pounds. At the RTOC Love placed second while Frank was third. At the Layton Invitational Tournament, Frank won the weight class while Love was third. But they didn’t meet at either tourney.

And the All-Star Dual selection committee shook things up a bit when they matched up Mountain Ridge’s Kysion Garcia (138 pounds) with Payson’s Colton Theobald (144 pounds). Garcia is an RTOC All-American and 2-time state champion while Theobald is a returning 5A state champion.

Pleasant Grove’s Jacob Carson (126) will battle Grand County’s Austin Paris (132). Carson is a 3-time finalist and returning state champion while Paris, just a freshman, has a sparkling 28-0 record and recently won the Tournament of Champions hosted by Uintah.

There are actually no intra-county matches on the girl’s front but there are intriguing matches featuring Utah County female wrestlers.

ALA 2-time state champion Rachel Camacho (115) will take on Alexandra Ramirez of Enterprise. Also at 115 pounds, Westlake’s nationally ranked and returning state champion Ashley Cannon will be up against the winner of Yvette Vargas (Juan Diego) and Aleena Navarette (Weber).

The state’s highest nationally ranked wrestler Westlake’s Lizzie Raleigh (No. 3 in the latest Wrestling USA rankings) will take on returning Grantsville state champion Hailey Broderick at 155 pounds. Raleigh is currently undefeated and a returning 2-time state champion.

Westlake’s third nationally ranked wrestler and undefeated 2-time 6A state champion Celeste DeToles (135) will take on returning 1A-3A state champion Nya Jolley of Rich High School.

Tintic will have its first All-Star grappler (male or female) as Addison Kriegh matches up with Mountain Crest’s Gracie Howard at 170 pounds. Also at 170 pounds, Maple Mountain All-American Aurelia Ramos will battle 2-time returning state champion Anya Hatch of Copper Hills.

The undercard junior high matches will start at 4:30 p.m. with the high school matches starting at 5:45 p.m. The cost for spectators is $10 and all proceeds will go to support the Utah Valley University wrestling program.

Boys Wrestling: In boy’s wrestling action last week Mountain View defeated rival Orem in the Battle of the Mace, 57-24.

Orem actually started off well winning the first bouts by pin to go ahead 18-0. The Tiger surge was led by pins by Easton Finch (106), Marck Pacher (113) and Braedon Kinney (120).

But Mountain View won the next 10 matches as the Bruins picked up wins by Glade Harman (126), Oakley Shumway (132), Mason Grow (138), Traven Blevins (144), Tyler Blevins (150), Kevin Weekes (157), Landon Shumway (165), Angel Aragon (175), Isaac McGee (190) and Seth Johnson (215).

With the score 57-18, Aaron Hansen gave the Tiger faithful one last thing to cheer about winning his match by pin to make the final score 57-24 in favor of the Bruins.

In other dual meet action during the week Spanish Fork pinned Provo 78-6, Lehi topped Timpanogos 51-24 and slipped past Viewmont 39-33, Pleasant Grove pummeled Skyridge 74-3, Payson slammed Stansbury 68-12, Westlake whipped Lone Peak 56-24, Corner Canyon crushed American Fork 55-18, Springville slammed Maple Mountain 51-26, and Wasatch whalloped Salem Hills 69-10.

In tournament action, Payson crowned two champions in Colton Theobald (144) and Trevor Frank (157) and held off host Uintah to win the Tournament of Champions.

Payson scored 262.5 points and placed 13 wrestlers in the top eight while Uintah had three individual titles in the last three weight classes to fall short at 260 points. Juab was a strong third at 238 points in the 31-team field that featured the top two teams in 5A wrestling with Payson and Uintah, the 6-time defending 3A champs in Juab, along with some top programs from Wyoming and the western slope of Colorado.

In a match between returning 5A champions and All-Star Dual wrestlers, Uintah’s Austin Richens pinned Payson’s Landen Shurtleff in the 190-pound championship final.

At the Best of the West tourney hosted by Tooele, Spanish Fork (277) brought home the gold trophy while Timpanogos (135.5) and Orem (108) were third and fifth respectively.

The Dons crowned four champions with Karson Shelley (113), Porter Olson (126), Edward Sears (138) and Cole Andersen (165) while Junior Wetzel (144) placed second. Shelley ran his overall record to 24-0 on the season.

Timpanogos’ Connor Knudsen (120) climbed to the top of the podium while his Timberwolf teammates Stratton Lewis (132), Russell Sondrup (157), and Eli Bonyata (190) placed second. Skyridge’s Billy Ferguson (157) won his weight class for the Falcons as did ALA’s Andrew Fox (132), who remains undefeated on the season at 19-0.

Westlake head coach Jeff Newby returned to his alma mater Box Elder where he won four individual state titles to see his team place second to Morgan in the Richardson Memorial.

The Thunder crowned three individual champions with Korbin Chuchran (120), Josh Fish (138) and Brayden Robison (150). Westlake pointed 215 and were just four points behind last year’s 3A runner-up Morgan with 219 points. The returning 4A state champions Mountain Crest were a distant third with 154 points in the 24-team field.

Juab’s JV team won the Utah Winter Classic in Richfield, but Springville placed third and Cedar Valley was fifth in the 14-team event.

Three local wrestlers won their weight classes with Cedar Valley’s Braden Balmforth (120) and Samuela Mafuahingano (285), along with Springville’s Lisiate Valeti (150). Drake Fedler and Tevita Valeti (215) also placed second for the Red Devils as did Cedar Valley’s Ulysses Castillo (157).

One local wrestler placed at the prestigious Doc Buchanan tournament held in California as Lone Peak’s Cayaen Smith placed fifth at 185 pounds.

Girls Wrestling: Utah County teams all claimed the top three spots at the Utah Winter Classic at the Sevier Event Center in Richfield.

Cedar Valley claimed the gold trophy with Springville and Pleasant Grove second and third respectively. Weight class groupings were used rathern the exact weight classes for this event.

Aviator grapplers Alexia Woods, AnnaLee Wright and Natalie Suarez won their divisions, while Madison Mayes was second.

Springville crowned four individual champions with Izzy Clements, Karalie Harris, Hayley Harris, and Hotai Valeti. Pleasant Grove’s Ava Krebs also brought home the gold.

At the Best of the West tourney, no local team was in the thick of the team race, but ALA’s Rachel Camacho (115), and Skyridge’s Nadia Thomas (130) brought home the gold. ALA’s Jaskin Hair (100) and Skyridge’s Madi Sherman (120) placed second as did Tintic’s Addison Kriegh (170).

In dual meet action last week, Pleasant Grove downed Skyridge 60-6, Corner Canyon shut out American Fork 66-0, Alta topped Timpview 38-6, while Salem Hills mauled Mountain View 54-30.