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Payson wrestlers pose for photos with the second-place trophy after the 5A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023.

Jody Murphy Photography

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Payson's Landon Shurtliff celebrates winning the title match in the 190-pound division at the 5A state boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023.

Jody Murphy Photography

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Maple Mountain' Aurelia Ramos celebrates winning the championship match in the 170-pound division at the 2023 5A state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem of Saturday, Feb. 18, 2023.

Marcia Harris, Special to the Herald

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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.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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Wrestlers stand for the national anthem before the 6A state girls wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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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.

Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald

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It was exactly 30 years ago that the Utah High School Activities Association (UHSAA) made a titanic shift in wrestling in allowing programs to take two wrestlers to regions (now divisionals) with a chance for them to qualify for state. Utah is still one of the rare states that does this.

One of the major reasons to do this is to actually give deserving individual wrestlers a chance to compete at the state tournament where often they could not because they were stuck behind their varsity counterpart.

And right away, it seemed justified when Delta, West Jordan, Provo and Pleasant Grove became the first four programs to have two wrestlers from their own school reach the championship finals. In one case, the JV or second-string wrestler beat his varsity teammate to claim gold.

Another reason for making this change was to avoid weight cutting. This isn’t as big of an issue now in prep wrestling with the hydration and body fat percentage tests being used, but back in the mid 1990’s it was prevalent in the sport.

The argument for allowing schools to bring two wrestlers to state is that instead of being stuck behind a better wrestler, perhaps forcing that wrestler to cut a substantial amount of weight to make the varsity line-up, that athlete could just compete in the weight class that best fits them naturally.

There was also the idea that this would also grow the sport and keep athletes (especially juniors and seniors) in their programs that might normally quit when they couldn’t make their varsity line-ups. It would also force coaches to build their programs with more participants.

Of course, this course of action didn’t come without its detractors. Some merely wanted to stick to old-school ways, but others were concerned that this would help the strong programs get stronger while the weaker programs would really suffer.

In essence, for a program to compete for a team title, you really had to look at building a 28-wrestler team versus a 14-wrestler team.

Then another thing came about in the 1A level where sometimes the numbers of athletes were minimal. Coaches were literally recruiting wrestlers right before region to compete to just augment their numbers. And for some really small 1A schools, they didn’t have enough athletes to fill 28 spots and this became troubling with this scoring system.

So a dozen or so years ago, another change took place and the 1A, 2A and 3A classifications decided that schools could still qualify two wrestlers for state but only one wrestler per weight class was allowed to score. It didn’t mean that the other wrestler didn’t contribute to the team.

If the second wrestler wins, the other competitor fails to score points.

Then with the advent of girls wrestling, where there is still a large chasm in participation among programs, this added a new variable.

For this season, 6A has decided to adopt the same scoring rules as the smaller classifications while 4A and 5A will still allow two wrestlers per weight class to directly score points for the team.

The reason that the 4A and 5A have kept this system while the 6A didn’t was because the UHSAA allowed the coaches to vote on the matter, and if a 75% consensus is reached, then the desired change takes place.

Payson head coach Jeb Clark is one of those coaches that usually benefits from the current system but wants to move in another direction.

“I was kind of hoping that we would go to what 6A is doing,” Clark said. “I like the one (wrestler) scoring system. I like it because we are going to help all of wrestling. It’s way easier to develop a program with five or six tough guys that could possibly win you a state title versus 25 good wrestlers.”

Clark is also concerned about the wealth gap in wrestling.

“Teams like Pleasant Grove, Layton, Payson and Uintah stay rich because they have the numbers. Those programs are always going to be tough, but you may have other programs creep in there. The team races aren’t competitive and that’s not good for wrestling.”

Westlake head girls coach Cody Burdett feels that the UHSAA wants closer team races than what has happened in recent years.

“One scorer makes the (team) race closer, which is what the UHSAA wants,” Burdett said.

Meanwhile, Jeff Newby, the head boys coach at Westlake isn’t enthralled with the change because he has developed great depth in his program with top quality wrestlers.

“I think if you’re trying to win a state (team) title, it actually causes you to spread out some of your better wrestlers to other weight classes,” Newby said.

And then there is that age-old question: Is wrestling a team or individual sport? And how does a coach manage that?

It is logical that coaches that have aspirations to win the team title are more likely to ask individual wrestlers to sacrifice for the good of the team. But if you’re not in the team race, perhaps your perspective is a bit different.

American Fork isn’t a team contender this year and it so happens that two of its best three wrestlers are in the same weight class. One (Tege Kelley) is a returning state champion while another (Thomas Bartholomew) is a strong contender for the medal stand.

But Caveman head coach Cole Kelley felt that Bartholomew’s best chance to reach his own goals was to wrestle in the same weight class as that of Tege Kelley, even though it would likely rob American Fork of significant points in the team race.

“Ultimately, I think you need to do what is in the best interest of the individual,” Kelley said. “Yes, having Tege and Thomas in the same weight will take away points, and we would be higher in the team standings. But I want both of them to have the best chances to reach their goals.”

Some wrestling coaches are coaching both the boys and girls teams and each program might be in a different place competitively.

That is the case with Erik Gonzalez and Cedar Valley. Their girls team is much more competitive than the boys team and the Lady Aviators are actually in contention in the 5A race.

“That’s a tough one honestly (knowing which system to choose),” Gonzalez said. “I’m old school. I came from a state (Illinois) that only let one wrestler go to state and had just one classification.”

But, with that said, Gonzalez sees the value in scoring two wrestlers.

“I like to enter two kids and score two kids,” he said. “It gives kids more opportunities to feel that they are contributing. Either way, I would be fine with it.”

Girls Wrestling

The 4A, 5A and 6A girls wrestling tournaments will take place Wednesday and Thursday at the UCCU Event Center on the campus of Utah Valley University.

The 6A team race couldn’t be any more wide open with a half dozen realistic challengers for the crown. Westlake has won the first three 6A girls team titles but won’t go in this team race as the favorite. The Thunder still have plenty of star power as senior Celeste Detoles (135 pounds) and junior Keilikki Nau Rarick (235) go for their fourth and third state title respectively. Ameris Jensen (130) and O’dessa Laititi (190) give Westlake additional firepower as the Thunder hope to hold off the likes of Corner Canyon, Copper Hills, Herriman, Mountain Ridge and Syracuse to claim gold.

Numbers of wrestlers and the continuation of maintaining the scoring system of counting all wrestlers will likely play a big part in the 5A race.

Northridge and Wasatch have 21 and 20 qualifiers respectively, while Cedar Valley and Salem Hills have 17 and 16 respectively. Those are the four teams likely to vie for the team title.

Salem Hills has won a lot of tournaments this year and has returning state champion Jocely Hepler at 190 pounds. Addie Brindley (100), Kelseigh Banks (120), Paisley Nelson (130) and Avery Winterton (135) are also top contenders.

Cedar Valley will counter with Annalee Wright (135), Rhya Balmforth (140), Madison Hayes (170) and Rylynn Denney (235), while Wasatch’s Pallas Anderson (120) and Kate Bird (170) are top contenders.

“We’ll be right there. Numbers wise we are sitting pretty good,” said Gonzalez. “We got to put girls in the finals, it really comes down to that. We’ll see how it all goes Thursday night.”

Springville’s Hotai Valeti (170) goes for her fourth straight title while Aurelia Ramos (190) of Maple Mountain is undefeated and going for her third state title.

In regards to 4A, no Utah County teams are contenders in the team race as Uintah, Mountain Crest, and Bear River are the top contenders. But Mountain View will battle to be in the top five and Isla Baeza is the wrestler to beat at 130 pounds, while Mackenzie McCoy (115) looks to climb to the top of the podium.

1A/2A Girls Tournament: ALA finished fourth as Duchesne won the 1A/2A combined girls state tournament. Rachel Camacho (120 pounds) won her third state title with pins in the semifinal and final matches. Camacho, a senior, saw her younger sister Martha, a freshman, place second at 115 pounds, while Eagle junior Jaskin Hair also earned a silver medal at 100 pounds.

Boys Wrestling

The 4A, 5A and 6A boys state meets will also be held at the UCCU Event Center in Orem but will take place on Friday and Saturday.

With the new scoring system, the 6A team race looks like it could be a bit more interesting. If last season’s scoring rules were used, there would be no chance of any team catching Layton with its 25 qualifiers.

Still, Layton remains the big favorite to repeat and Westlake is their top rival this year.

The Thunder are led by 2-time state champion Brayden Robison (157) who is looking to get back on the podium after finishing second last season. He also boasts a perfect 40-0 record. Another undefeated wrestler is freshman Israel Borge (126), who has beaten Layton 2-time returning state champion Geronimo Rivera this year. Zion Borge (132), Parker Ballantyne (138), Korbin Chuchran (144) and Josh Fish (150) are also top contenders.

Pleasant Grove has several outstanding individuals. Bradlee Farrer (165) and Trevyn Gates (190) took state last year and Cayaen Smith (215), a transfer from Lone Peak, won the gold in 2022 and placed second last season. And while American Fork won’t be a factor in the team race, Hanks Jacobsen (120) and Tege Kelley (144) are returning state champions.

In 5A, where they are scoring all wrestlers, Spanish Fork is the strong favorite with 22 qualifiers. Box Elder qualified the most with 24 but the quality seems to favor the Dons with the likes of returning state champion Karson Shelley (120), 3-time state placer Junior Wetzel (150), while Brody Vogelsberg (113), Porter Olson (138), Edward Sears (144) and Alex Koyle (165) are returning placers.

Wasatch is hoping to contend for a trophy though the Wasps only qualified 12 wrestlers. Ben Kohler (126) is a strong favorite to win his weight class and Austin McNaughton (285), second in state last year, looks to earn gold. Henry Hanssen (157) is also a returning state champion.

Salem Hills’ Breyton Banks (120) is a returning state champion and Springville’s Tevita Valeti (190) is the wrestler to beat in his weight class.

In 4A, Uintah is the favorite but Payson is capable of knocking off the Utes.

“I think we’re just scary enough that if Uintah slips up a few, we can get them,” said Lion head coach Jeb Clark. “It’s definitely theirs to lose, but we are just scary enough. We have some power and some numbers.”

Payson qualified 20 wrestlers to Uintah’s 21 and the Lions were bolstered by the return of 2-time state champion Colton Theobald (144). Other top contenders for the Lions are Daxton Jolley (106), Qyayde Beck (165), two-time returning state champ Landen Shurtleff (190), Owen Cottle (215) and Zayden Cook (285).

Mountain View and Timpanogos are battling to get in the top five and the Bruins have 2-time returning finalist Glade Harman (132), while the Timberwolves counter with Connor Knudsen (132). Both could meet in the semifinals. Timpanogos qualified 15 wrestlers while Mountain View will send 12 to the big tournament.

1A/2A Results: Panguitch won the 1A tournament and Tintic’s Dalton Holden placed second at 175 pounds. Millard won its third straight 2A tournament. ALA finished 13th out of 15 2A teams.

For more in depth analysis of the state meets, along with rankings and predictions by Preece, visit www.heraldextra.com.

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