“I love these duals, it’s fun to come the day before Thanksgiving with some good wrestling,” said Skyhawk head coach TJ Brindley.

Salem Hills, which placed third in the 5A tournament this past winter, took on the 3A defending champions Canyon View to open up the competition and the Skyhawks prevailed over the Falcons 45-30.

“It was good (to win), Canyon View has a tough team,” said Brindley.

Isis Beal (105 pounds), Scout Morgan (110), Addie Brindley (115), Natalie Prettyman (125), Makayla Carrick (130), Avery Winterton (155), Ruby Lindstrom (170) and Kaizlynn Meador (235) were all victorious.

Still, Brindley thinks there is plenty of room for improvement plus the Skyhawks were missing some key pieces.

“We were in pre-season form and we made a lot of mistakes,” added Brindley. “We don’t have our full line-up right now.”

In their second dual, Salem Hills won by a 45-24 score over Skyridge.

In a very spirited dual Layton and Mountain View finished tied at 42-42 but on criteria Layton was declared the winner as the Lancers had more first points scored during the meet. But the Bruins responded by defeating Skyridge in its second dual 42-30.

Host Provo went 2-0 first beating Brighton 24-18 and then easing past Orem 36-30. The Tigers did defeat Manti 42-18. There was actually one more dual meet that ended tied at 30-30 between Manti and Brighton but Manti also won on criteria. Canyon View responded from losing its initial dual to the Skyhawks and defeated Layton 52-29.

Girls wrestling notes

There was some positive development in some of the programs. Skyridge, for example, has nearly doubled its numbers and filled about every weight class. Former Provo High wrestler Diego Pena is now the head coach at Orem and they now have a team of eight wrestlers. Since girls wrestling has been a sanctioned sport, Orem has never had a team and interested girls had to go to other programs to practice and compete. Meanwhile, Provo has seen a positive uptick in participants as well.

Boys Wrestling

Layton made its 14th straight appearance in the Wrestling Against Cancer Duals and the 3-time defending 6A champs flexed their muscles defeating returning 4A runner-up Timpanogos 54-18.

The Timberwolves did respond to defeat Skyridge 46-32 in its next dual. Skyridge did open up its season by defeating Mountain View 70-12. The Bruins also were topped by Brighton 42-36. Host Provo was defeated by North Sanpete 54-21 and the Hawks also downed Brighton 44-30.

Wrestling for charity

Since its inaugural event in 2010, the Wrestling Against Cancer Duals has given proceeds to the event to families where a member is battling cancer.

Sharlene Ayoso was one recipient and she was honored at the boys event on Tuesday. Two of her children, Bryce and Travis, wrestled in the Bulldog program. Travis was a 2-time region champion and a 2-time state placer.

On Wednesday, former Brighton head girls wrestling coach Joidee Gappmayer was honored as she continues with her battle against brain cancer. Her husband Burke is actually the head boys coach at Brighton and two of their children have competed in the Bengal program.