All-Star Dual: Stafford-Valeti match highlights wrestling showdowns
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- At 157 pounds, Pleasant Grove’s Bo Goodman squared off with Canyon View’s Alex Crawley. The bout went into overtime with Crawley winning 4-1.
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- Lisiate “Rock” Valeti (left) and Mountain View’s Hyrum Stanford battle at the Ross Brunson All-Star Dual on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026, at the UCCU Center. Stafford defeated Valeti 4-0.
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- Makenzi McCoy of Wasatch (right) battles Copper Hills’ Naomi Kofe at 120 pounds at the Ross Brunson Dual at the UCCU Center on Tuesday, Jan. 6, 2026. McCoy won by major decision 15-3.
There were nearly three dozen matches between the state’s best boy wrestlers at the 2026 Ross Brunson All-Star Dual held at Utah Valley’s UCCU Event Center Tuesday night, but only one actually brought together two grapplers from Utah County against each other.
This is when Mountain View’s Hyrum Stafford took on Lisiate (Rock) Valeti at 190 pounds. Stafford is a top contender in 4A wrestling and is a returning state finalist and 2-time state placer. And he’s also just a junior. Valeti, a senior, is a 2-time placer for the Springville wrestling program and considered the man to beat in 5A.
Both are excellent athletes and excelled on the gridiron. Both have earned All-State, All-County and All-Region honors in football. Both even had unique roles on their football team playing several different positions. In a previous meeting on the mat Valeti had earned a victory.
But Stafford turned the tables, downing Valeti 4-0 with all the scoring coming in the third and final round.
Stafford related how there was an innocuous sign that most wrestling observers might miss that led him to the belief he could turn the tide of the match and take control. It was the break between the second and third rounds where Valeti seemed to take a bit of extra time to adjust his knee pad.
“After he adjusted his knee pad, I knew I had broke him,” Stafford said. “That’s when I kicked it into sixth gear and kept going.”
Stafford quickly earned an escape and a 3-point takedown and controlled the action from there easing to victory.
Though the first two rounds were scoreless, there was plenty of action, especially in the second round. Valeti had chosen down and created some intense scrambles where Stafford still was able to counter. Stafford credited his older brothers Radi and Elijah, who were state champions five seasons ago for the Bruin program.
“I thrive in scramble positions,” added Stafford. “I have older brothers and they come in and beat me up. We go hard and we scramble. You have to stay patient and comfortable in those positions and you’ll come out on top. Even if you don’t, keep wrestling through them, you’ll get to good position and score eventually.”
Other boys winners with local ties were Pleasant Grove’s Wyatt Bingham (144 pounds), Spanish Fork’s Ryker Olson (157), Westlake’s Kaizen Detoles (175), and Wasatch’s Ben Kohler (138) and Wyatt Hanssen (215). Hanssen, who was the 5A state champion last year at 190 pounds but has moved up a weight this season, pinned the defending 5A 215-pound champion Moroni Mahe of Hillcrest in the third round.
Two country wrestlers lost in close matches as Pleasant Grove’s Bo Goodman was defeated by Canyon View’s Alex Crawley 4-1 in overtime while Skyridge’s Jacob Milward lost to Uintah’s Rykan Hacking 4-3 in a battle of returning state champions.
As in past years, proceeds of the event were earmarked to support the Utah Valley wrestling program.
Boys wrestling notes: For the past several years many top boy wrestlers have skipped this event. Organizers hoped that moving up the date to the first week in January would alleviate that as many wrestlers and coaches felt that the All-Star Dual between the Doc Buchanan event in California and the Rockwell Rumble was too much of a meat grinder. It didn’t exactly work as several top wrestlers from Layton and Davis skipped the event which did weaken the 6A team. In fact, no team scores among classifications were actually tracked though Juab’s boys scored the most of any attending program with 21.
Girls wrestling: Salem Hills’ Rachel Jensen is a returning state champion and just a sophomore. Last year, Jensen wrestled for Springville but transferred to Salem Hills. Since it wasn’t a family move, she sat out the entire first half of the season as the Utah High School Activities Association requires for all transfers that aren’t full family moves. But Jensen seems very happy with her decision to change schools and wrestling for Skyhawk head coach T.J. Brindley.
“T.J. is such a good coach and I love the way he coaches,” said Jensen. “He teaches us the coolest moves.”
Jensen has set her sights on being the program’s first ever 4-time state champion. She even likes the pink that Salem Hills has incorporated into their singlets. With Jensen in the line-up Salem Hills looks like a formidable challenger to 2-time defending 5A champs Wasatch.
As for her match, there was absolutely no drama as Jensen (140) pinned Rich’s Lexi Rowe in the first period.
Salem Hills had more girl wrestlers competing in the event than any other program with five and the Skyhawks had three winners in Jensen, Avery Winterton (145) and Ruby Lindstrom (155).
Wasatch had three participants and the Wasps went 2-1 in their bouts with Maisey Blaser (115) and Makenzi McCoy (120) earning wins. For McCoy it was her fourth time wrestling in the event and she even took part in one of the first ever junior high girls matches.
Wasatch’s Kaelyn Alleman (130) took on Maple Mountain’s returning state champion Sage Eggleston but was pinned by the Golden Eagle grappler in the third period.
In one Utah County clash, Cedar Valley’s Alexandra Gates pinned American Leadership Academy’s Baily Tanner in the second round with a well-executed head throw. Her Aviator teammate Hallie Denney picked up a forfeit victory at 155 pounds.
Westlake went 2-for-2 as Kennedy Jeppson (110) pinned Enterprise’s Diana Montanez in the second period while Tevia Rarick (190) also pinned Uintah’s McKinlee Collett in the second round. As for Rarick, a sophomore, she still remains unbeaten in her high school career with none of her matches against in-state opponents going the distance.
And Tintic’s Madaleigh Grimstead got the event going with an exciting 10-9 win over Uintah’s Kinzey McCauley.
Girls wrestling notes: Unlike the boys, all the top female wrestlers that were invited participated. Salem Hills with three wins by pin scored more points than any other program in the event. Cedar Valley and Westlake were next tied with 12 points scored while Wasatch registered 10 points.
Father-Daughter coaching duo Hailey Corona, who is the head coach at Wasatch and her father Billy Cox, who is the head coach at Juab, had a combined five wrestlers in the event.
Celebrity touch: Ben Kjar — Utah Valley’s first All-American and 2025 inductee into the Utah Wrestling Hall of Fame — did post-match interviews of wrestlers that were victorious on the center mat. This added a lot of fun to the event.
Kjar overcame Crouzon Syndrome to become a giant in Beehive Wrestling and his life’s journey is documented in the movie “Standout” which is set to hit Utah theaters Friday January 23.
