Don of new era: Spanish Fork wrestling wins 5A state championship
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- Spanish Fork wrestler Karson Shelley celebrates winning the 120-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Spanish Fork wrestlers pose for a photo with the championship trophy after the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Spanish Fork wrestler Junior Wetzel (left) competes in the 150-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Spanish Fork wrestler Junior Wetzel celebrates winning the 150-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Spanish Fork wrestler Karson Shelley (top) competes against Salem Hills wrestler Breyton Banks in the 120-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Spanish Fork wrestler Alex Koyle celebrates winning the 165-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Spanish Fork wrestler Alex Koyle (left) competes in the 165-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Springville wrestler Tevita Valeti celebrates winning the 190-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Springville wrestler Tevita Valeti competes in the 190-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Spanish Fork wrestler Porter Olson (right) competes against Wasatch’s Daxton Bonner in the 138-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Wasatch wrestler Max Richins (left) competes in the 132-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Maple Mountain wrestler Caleb Jackson celebrates winning the 113-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Maple Mountain wrestler Caleb Jackson (top) competes in the 113-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Salem Hills wrestler Kaden Moore (right) competes in the 175-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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- Wasatch wrestler Benjamin Kohler (right) competes in the 126-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
The new realignment left 5A boys wrestling without a returning state team champion, so a new squad was going to emerge victorious.
The Spanish Fork Dons proved to be ready to make the most of the opportunity in the state tournament at the UCCU Center in Orem on Friday and Saturday, winning their first state team title in wrestling in 20 years.
It seems like years ending in “4” are lucky for Spanish Fork as the Dons won their first ever title in 1984 and their previous one in 2004.
“It (taking state) means everything, all the hard work everybody puts in since these kids were five,” said Spanish Fork head coach Kip Spencer. “These kids have been together since they were five. It means everything to their families, their club coaches all the way up to their high school coaches that have sacrificed their time too.”
Spencer just finished his 11th season at Spanish Fork and when he arrived the Don program was struggling.
Even though Spanish Fork won back-to-back titles in 2003 and 2004, when Salem Hills and Maple Mountain opened up as schools at the end of that decade, a lot of the talented drifted to their rivals, and there was some contention with that, especially with Maple Mountain. Spencer related what he said to his father Ralph, who was a great wrestler in the Pleasant Grove program back in the 1970s.
“My dad asked what our plan was and I said ‘we’ll build a program where kids won’t want to leave.'” Spencer said. “As long as you build a program that kids don’t want to leave, then we’ll keep our guys and that’s what we need to build a championship (team).”
Spanish Fork scored 272.5 points, while Box Elder was second with 256. Wasatch was a strong third tallying 226.5 points.
“We expected Box Elder to put up a fight for sure,” Spencer said. “We also knew Wasatch would make a surge in the semifinals. They (Wasatch) have too many stars. But we had a good combination of depth and stars.”
Box Elder actually led Spanish Fork after the semifinal round but it was the last consolation rounds on Saturday afternoon where Spanish Fork made its move to overtake the Bees and then secure the gold trophy.
Though he didn’t win it all as both he and Dad would have hoped, Spanish Fork’s Kyler Spencer (126 pounds) was a Bee killer as he beat two Box Elder wrestlers in the consolation in successive order in Gavin Gulbranson (6-2 decision) and Bostyn Tucker (7-5 decision) to take third place and earn valuable points for the Dons, while stopping the Bees from scoring themselves.
Cahill Simons (106), Brody Vogelsberg (113), and Edward Sears (144), all placed third as well. Vogelsberg beat Box Elder’s Mason Bingham in his third place match, while Sears also beat a Bee competitor in the consolation semifinals. Other Don placers were fourth place finishes by Cahill Simons (132), Ryker Olson (157) and Hyrum King (190), while Gatlin Call (150) placed sixth.
Then the Dons still had five wrestlers in the championship finals.
Box Elder’s Conley Evans gave Bee fans some hope when he defeated Spanish Fork’s Taegen Leavitt 8-4 to open up the championship bouts at 106 pounds.
But then the Dons responded with valuable points of their own when junior Karson Shelley (120) nailed down his third state title at 120 pounds when he decisioned Salem Hills’ Breyton Banks, 8-4.
It was the fourth meeting between the two rivals and returning state champions, and this match was the tightest of them all. Shelley did expect a closer match with the adage in mind that it is harder to beat a quality opponent over and over.
“It’s easy to be the underdog because you’re always chasing after somebody,” Shelley said. “He has things he can work on, and he can watch film. It’s hard (for me) because moves that worked last time aren’t going to work this time, and I don’t know what’s going to work this time because everything last time worked. It’s just a hard thing to play.”
But Shelley got it done and will set his sights on some off-season goals which include wrestling at the Junior Nationals in Virginia Beach this spring and then the USA Nationals in Fargo, North Dakota this summer. If he can take state next year, he’ll be Spanish Fork’s first ever four-time state champ.
Box Elder stayed mathematically alive as Jackson Riggs completed a perfect season winning at 144 pounds. But then Junior Wetzel (150) came through big, clinching the title for the Dons with a 22-6 technical fall victory over Box Elder’s Taylor Wylie.
The Don senior simply had too much strength and firepower for the Bee freshman who tried his best not to get pinned or give up points. Wetzel tried to open up the scoring with some interesting results.
“He (Wylie) wouldn’t stand up, so I actually tried to pick him up (to his feet),” Wetzel said. “It feels great (to take state), I’m just excited and ready to go again.”
Then Wetzel’s teammate Alex Koyle (165) gave the final exclamation point with a hard-fought win over Wasatch freshman Wyatt Hanssen. The Don senior felt that getting an early lead was the difference.
“I got ahead early and I just had to hold on,” Koyle said. “I went out there a little bit nervous being my first time in the state finals. I didn’t wrestle my best at all but something I go by is ‘you have to wrestle and practice hard enough so when you’re at your worst you can beat people that are at their best.’ And I think that’s what happened to me.”
Wasatch actually put six wrestlers in the championship finals and four of them won state titles.
Ben Kohler got the Wasps going at 126 pounds when he easily beat Viewmont’s Alex Lindquist by a 13-1 major decision. The Wasp sophomore won his first state title after finishing second last season.
“I am definitely happy after the result of last year. I thought about that and used it as fire to win this year’s match,” Kohler said. “I was a bit more focused, I had been there before, I knew what to expect and what it takes. I worked hard all season and had just a lot more focus then what I had last year.”
Kohler’s win was just one of three in a row for the Wasps as Max Richins (132) downed Northridge’s Dawson Auger 4-0, and then Daxton Bonner won a very exciting match against Spanish Fork’s Porter Olson, 9-8.
Bonner built a 7-2 lead going into the final period. But Olson came back strong and Bonner gave up four points for stalling before escaping with seven seconds left to get the win.
Wasatch’s Henry Hanssen (157) had a dominating finals match pinning Box Elder’s Deegan Hardy in the first round. Hanssen had three pins and a major decision in his gold-medal run.
Wasatch’s Austin McNaughton (285) took second losing to Cyprus’ Skyler Armenta 13-8 in a very entertaining bout. McNaughton threw Armenta to his back but couldn’t earn the pin and then the Pirate wrestler rallied for victory.
Maple Mountain’s Caleb Jackson (113) and Springville’s Tevita Valeti (190) did win their championship matches.
Jackson pinned Roy’s Kaleb Blackner in the second round to get to the top of the podium after finishing second last season as a sophomore. Jackson had two other pins and one major decision.
Things were a bit harder for Valeti as he and Andre Leota of Olympus tussled in a low-scoring affair. Leota took a one-point lead after two rounds, but Valeti escaped to tie up the match and then took down Leota to earn the 3-1 victory. The Red Devil senior had placed third the last two seasons.
“I took third, I took third and I finally won it,” said Valeti, who was complimentary of the Titan grappler. “He’s a good wrestler, he’s strong. If he wasn’t a senior, he would take state next year.”
Valeti, one of the state’s top football players, stated how wrestling has been invaluable to him and his success on the gridiron.
“Wrestling helped me get in better condition. ‘To all the football players, if you need to get more conditioning, just wrestle.’ It also helped with tackling because every time you take a shot, you’re already down low in a stance where you’re supposed to be.”
And it was just that, an explosive double leg tackle that brought Valeti the title and helped his team to a sixth place finish with 87 points.
Other valley finishes were Maple Mountain in 13th place with 43.5 points, Cedar Valley in 16th place with 40 points, while Timpview tied for 28th in the 29-team field with Granger qualifying two wrestlers but not scratching a point.
For complete individual and team results, go to http://UHSAA.org.
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