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Utah Valley High School Wrestling Rewind: Timpanogos-Mountain View showdown highlights boys wrestling action

By Brian E. Preece - Herald correspondent | Jan 21, 2025
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Isaac McGee of Mountain View (left) and Ridge Lindley of Fremont compete during the 2025 Ross Brunson All-Star Dual at the UCCU Center in Orem on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2025.
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Wrestlers compete during the 2025 Ross Brunson All-Star Dual at the UCCU Center in Orem on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2025.
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Wrestlers compete during the 2025 Ross Brunson All-Star Dual at the UCCU Center in Orem on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2025.
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Keilikki Rarick of Westlake (right) and Tilisa Matakaiongo of Canyon View compete during the 2025 Ross Brunson All-Star Dual at the UCCU Center in Orem on Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2025.

In the past couple of years Mountain View and Timpanogos have developed a good rivalry in boys prep wrestling.

On Thursday, they will meet in a dual meet at Mountain View that could come down to the wire.

Last year Timpanogos got the best of their Orem city rival by the slimmest of margins beating the Bruins in a dual meet by a single point and then finishing third in state over Mountain View by just one point.

While it is unlikely the point spread will be this close this time around, it is still likely to be a razor’s edge difference. And both teams this year are competing for a trophy.

While Uintah is the strong favorite to repeat again in 4A, Payson is a bit down this year so it is most likely these teams will at least finish second and third at the state tourney in February.

These days even close dual meets are filled with lots of pins but this match might be a different story. Fans should expect bouts to not only go the distance but be very competitive affairs.

A good share of these possible nail-biters will be in the upper weights.

At 165 pounds, Timpanogos has Fisher Jolley who placed fifth in state last year, while Mountain View will counter with Mason Grow, who lost just one match short of placing but is having a strong season in 2024-25.

At 175 pounds, two returning placers are likely to do battle with sophomore Hyrum Stafford, fourth in state last year as a freshman for Mountain View, and Xander Carlson, a senior who placed sixth for the Timberwolves. At 190 pounds Timpanogos has another state placer in senior Micah Wilcox, fifth in state last year, while the Bruins will push out Landon Shumway, also a senior who placed third in state last season.

The Timberwolves have a strong wrestler at 215 pounds with Dallin Bowman but he is likely to face Isaac McGee, who was a runner-up for Mountain View last season.

Then at 285, both teams boast good wrestlers in Jesse King for Timpanogos and Jonathan Herring for Mountain View. Neither placed in state last season but both are having good seasons.

Two competitors who aren’t likely to meet are Mountain View’s Glade Harman (132 pounds) and Timpanogos’ Connor Knudsen (138). Both were in the same weight class last season and Knudsen actually beat Harman last year, but Harman ended up winning the state title while Knudsen was upset in the semifinals and placed third.

Timpanogos has two competent lower weight wrestlers in Ben Belliston (113) and Simon Boyer (120). Boyer was a state placer last year. But Mountain View will counter with Brigham Cookson, who placed fifth last year, and now dons the singlet at 126-pounds for the Bruins and returning state placer Porter Judd (120) could be Boyer’s opponent.

Both teams have a lot of strong wrestlers in the JV ranks that will score points at the state meet so fans should pay attention to some of these bouts as well. The J.V. competition will start at 5 pm with the varsity slated to go at 7 pm.

Boys Wrestling

It was an interesting week in prep wrestling where most of the tournament competitions were smaller events and some teams just took the weekend off after some rugged tournaments in early January.

Skyridge hosted and won the 6A Duals but only seven schools participated and just four sent their varsity teams. The Falcons did get strong performances from Jacob Millward (113), Asher Millward (120), Nate Terrazas (157), Chandler Curtis (157/165), and Elias Nickel (190) who won all their bouts.

Lehi placed second to Skyridge and Tyson Cowan (106) and Lincoln Rex (126) went undefeated for the Pioneers, while Jared Smith (285) was unbeaten for Lone Peak.

American Fork skipped the 6A Duals to go north and wrestle in the Trojan Takedown hosted by Morgan. Hanks Jacobsen (138) and Tege Kelley (150) were individual champs for the Cavemen.

Spanish Fork hosted the Battle for the Buckle, a dual meet tournament, and the Dons dominated. Spanish Fork went 9-0 and shut out Alta (78-0) and Bingham (77-0) along the way.

Easton Shelley (106), Taegen Leavitt (113), Karson Shelley (120), Kyler Spencer (126), Porter Olson (150), Ryker Olson (165) and Hyrum King (190) went unscathed for the Dons.

Payson also competed going 5-3 in its duals led by Kael Theobald (132) who was unbeaten over the weekend.

Then at the Bruin Duals hosted by Mountain View, the host team went 6-0 to win the tourney. Brigham Cookson (126), Glade Harman (132), Mason Grow (150), Landon Shumway (190), Isaac McGee (215) and Jonathan Herring (285) won all their bouts for the Bruins.

Boys Match of the Week: Wasatch beat Salem Hills 40-32 in their Region 7 Dual meet last Thursday but the Skyhawks did get a victory at 190 pounds by Kaden Moore who downed Logan Tull, 8-6. Moore placed second in 5A state last year while Tull is a sophomore that is coming on strong and will be a formidable force for the Wasps come February.

Boys Big-Time Performances of the Week: The Millward brothers, Jacob (113) and Asher (120), will share this honor. Both went 7-0 with seven pins, and each brother had six pins which came in the first period as they helped Skyridge dominate the 6A Duals State Championships this past weekend.

Girl Wrestling

It was a big weekend for the girls wrestling, especially in 5A where Hillcrest hosted the 5A Duals.

Wasatch showed why it is the favorite, besting the field that included Cedar Valley, Salem Hills and Hillcrest.

Wasatch first won its pool, easily defeating Clearfield 48-27 and Box Elder 72-12. This put them in the championship pool where they defeated Hillcrest 57-21, Cedar Valley 54-30 and then Northridge 66-17.

The dual meet Wasatch had with Cedar Valley was particularly entertaining and a back-and-forth affair before the Wasps finally took control.

The match started at 130 pounds where Cedar Valley freshman sensation Giovanna Good won by pin over 3-time state placer Makenzi McCoy of the Wasps. Then her teammate Alexandra Gates (135) pinned Regan Heywood in a match between returning state placers and the Aviators went out ahead 12-0.

But the Wasps struck back as Reese Richter (140) and Bianca Cluff (145) won by pin and medical forfeit respectively to knot up the score 12-12.

Cedar Valley then went back on top 18-12 with a pin by Rylynn Denney at 155 pounds but the lead was short lived as Wasatch’s Violet Stacy (170) won by forfeit.

The teams exchanged victories again as Asinate Mafuahingano (190) won by pin for Cedar Valley while Adyson Knight (235) did for Wasatch.

With the score tied at 24-24, Cedar Valley got their last win of the match when Nevi Brady won by pin at 100 pounds. But then Wasatch stormed ahead for good as Tyler Rodriguez (105), Maisey Blaser (110), Pallas Anderson (115), and Marabelle Brown (125) each had falls while Amberly Howe (120) picked up a forfeit victory.

Springville placed sixth in the tournament and Salem Hills was eighth. Springville was led by Emmary Brimhall (135) and Rachel Jensen (140) who won all her bouts over the weekend while Hannah Coyne (110), Kelseigh Banks (130), Avery Winterton (145) and Ruby Lindstrom (155) did the same for Salem Hills.

Girls Match of the Week: At the All-Bruins Invite Pleasant Grove’s Corina Joany met up with Annika Ravsten of Salem Hills at 115 pounds. The match was a tight one and Ravsten held a 1-0 lead after the first period but with a takedown by Joany followed by an escape by Ravsten, the Viking grappler held a 3-2 lead. Joany then got a penalty point to go up 4-2 and held on to win the match. This was the first match in each one’s pool, but they both won the rest of their bouts to finish first and second.

Girls Big-Time Performances of the Week: Sisters Tevia Rarick (190) and Keilikki Rarick (235) of Westlake had a busy week. Both went undefeated on Wednesday at the Region 3 Tournament hosted by Skyridge. Each sibling went 3-0 in that tournament and then both went 4-0 in the Bruin All-Girls Invite hosted by Mountain View. None of their bouts went past the first round.