At one level, boys prep wrestling seems to be in a great place with a resurgence of individual talent that is reminiscent of what was seen in the mid 1990s through much of the 2000s when the Beehive State produced a sizable amount of high school wrestlers that would be NCAA champions, All-Americans and world team members.

But even with that said, there are some things that are concerning about the overall health of wrestling in the Beehive State.

One is the wealth gap between programs and the disparate difference in talent level between individual wrestlers themselves. There is also a dearth of teacher-coaches in the sport as programs rely more on paraprofessionals, in many cases parents of wrestlers, to lead programs.

Orem hired a new boys head coach but he reportedly wasn’t going to be able to finish the season due to a job opportunity out of state, so the school’s administration decided to drop the boys program for the 2024-25 season. Whether this is a temporary thing remains to be seen.

In 1A, you often see programs drop and come back and drop again, this all depending on interest, and whether there is an available coach. So there is hope that Orem might take the mats again sooner rather than later.

It should be noted that Timpview dropped its program twice but brought it back in both cases. In 2021, the Thunderbirds actually put two wrestlers in the 5A championship finals showing that programs can rise again from the ashes and produce top-level talent.

What is so shocking about Orem dropping its program is that a generation ago it was a powerhouse. Under Hall of Fame coach Robert Steele, the Tigers won three straight 5A state titles in the 1990s. When Cole Kelley took over from Steele, Orem placed second in state in 2000 and was a runner-up a few years later to Provo in the 4A Duals.

The program has had scores of state champions including Aaron Holker who, after winning three state titles, would go on to win a NCAA championship at Iowa State. All total, Orem has won six state titles in school history.

In more recent years, though Orem was not a factor in the team race, Cooper Legas won back-to-back state titles in 2018 and 2019. And even just last season, Orem took five wrestlers to state and three of them placed in the top six as Orem finished with 45 points, good enough for 16th place out of 24 4A schools. But unfortunately, four of these state qualifiers were seniors and with less returning talent and numbers in the program, combined with some leadership challenges, Orem will not field a team for this season.

The wealth gap in wrestling manifests itself in a lot of other ways including lopsided dual meet scores including 84-0 results where a team wins every bout by a combination of a pin or forfeit. Provo actually pulled off the first 84-0 victory (with the 14 weight classes) in state history in 1997, and across the nation, the “perfect dual” was extremely rare. Now they are becoming more commonplace, especially in the Beehive State.

Last year Millard had three of them at the 2A Duals event alone, and there were about a dozen across the state in 2023-24. And Provo just found itself at the wrong end of one this season being blanked by Uintah. What was even rare when Provo did it 28 seasons ago was every single bout was actually wrestled. But these days most of these 84-0 scores come as teams can’t fill their line-ups with wrestlers. In Provo’s defeat to Uintah, the Utes got six of their 14 wins via forfeit.

The possible solutions to improve the overall health of wrestling might stem from several sources. More attention by USA Wrestling Utah to help struggling high school programs could be helpful.

The Utah Wrestling Coaches Association (UWCA) needs to play a bigger role in developing coaches as a generation ago the UWCA was a viable organization that held clinics just for coaches where building and maintaining programs was a main focal point. Expertise from top coaches from top programs was shared including bringing in guest speakers from out-of-state.

School administrators need to hire more teachers that coach. Relying on a revolving door of paraprofessional/parent coaches will more than likely destabilize a program over the long haul. While it might not be essential that the head coach be a teacher, at least having faculty members on the staff can help head coaches navigate through all the paperwork, help recruit student-athletes and be a liaison between the head coach and school administrators.

Boys Wrestling

Spanish Fork again flexed its muscles by winning the Wasatch Intermountain Duals this past weekend. The Dons went 8-0 in its duals including wins over Pleasant Grove (59-17) and 5A rival and tourney host Wasatch, 59-22.

Easton Shelley (106), Karson Shelley (120), and Porter Olson (150) went 8-0 in their bouts for the Dons. Other local wrestlers going undefeated were Payson’s Jhett Steele (106) and Daxton Jolley (120), Pleasant Grove’s Caleb Jackson (132) and Bradlee Farrer (157), along with Ben Kohler (132/138), Wyatt Hanssen (190) and Logan Tull (215) for Wasatch.

Westlake repeated as team champions at the Mid-American Nationals held in Enid, Oklahoma.

The Thunder scored exactly 500 points which was eight more points than Arlington Martin, Texas. Chickasha, Oklahoma was third as a total of 35 teams participated from five different states.

Westlake crowned two individual champions as Kaden Oldroyd (106) and Zion Borge (138) climbed to the top of the podium. Their efforts were bolstered by the silver medal efforts of Josh Fish (150) and Korbin Chuchran (157).

Big-Time Performance of the Week: Timpanogos’ Connor Knudsen went 7-0 at the Juab Winter classic at 138 pounds. The tournament featured three returning state championship teams in Millard (2A), Juab (3A) and Uintah (4A) but Knudsen met all challengers dominating the action. In five of his bouts, the Timberwolf grappler won by either pin or technical fall. It should be noted that Knudsen’s teammate Ben Belliston (113) also went 7-0 in this elite tournament.

Match of the Week: Westlake’s Zion Borge pulled off a 1-0 victory over Titus Howell of Arlington Martin, Texas in his championship match at the Mid America Nationals. The match was tied 0-0 after two periods but Borge was able to escape and hold off Howell to win the bout. The victory by Borge proved critical in the team race as without it, the Thunder would have had to share the team title with the program from the Lone Star State.

Girls Wrestling

Wasatch showed off its depth by winning the Bear River Duals beating the host team 53-27 in the championship match.

Ellyse Rimmasch (100 pounds), Tyler Rodrigues (105), Maisey Blaser (110), Marabelle Brown (125), Makenzie McCoy (130), Reagan Heywood (135), Reese Richter (140), Bianca Cluff (145), and Dakota Frogge (155) were all victorious for the Wasps in their match with the Bears.

Wasatch went 5-0 on Saturday and beat some good teams in 4A Ridgeline (53-21) and 6A Syracuse (48-30) along the way. Rodrigues, Brown, McCoy, and Heywood won all their bouts.

Dixie High School in St. George hosted the Aviatrix tournament with Uintah winning with 452.5 points and Salem Hills placing second with 409. A total of 26 teams sent representatives.

Addie Brindley (105), Kelseigh Banks (130) and Ruby Lindstrom (155) brought home the gold, while Mackayla Carrick (115), Hannah Coyne (120) and Avery Winterton (155) placed second for the Skyhawks.

Big-Time Performance of the Week: Salem Hills’ Kelseigh Banks is a returning state champion and showed why winning all her bouts at the Aviatrix Invitational either by pin or technical fall. In the championship bout, Banks pinned Enterprise’s Addelie Hall in the second period. Hall, by the way, is a returning state champ in the 1A/2A classification.

Match of the Week: Wasatch defeated Maple Mountain in its dual 73-0 but there was one match between star wrestlers that took place when Maple Mountain’s Elle Jensen took on Wasatch’s Makenzi McCoy at 130 pounds. Jensen is a returning 3-time finalist and 2-time 5A state champion while McCoy was a state finalist two seasons ago for Mountain View. McCoy, now at Wasatch, earned a hard-fought 3-1 win over Jensen in what is likely to be a great rivalry going forward. Incidentally, as a freshman, Jensen was coached by current Wasatch head coach Hailey Corona when she led the Golden Eagle program to the 5A state championship in 2021. Now Corona leads the Wasatch program, which is looking to win back-to-back 5A titles.