2026 Daily Herald All-Valley Boys Wrestler of the Year: Westlake’s Kaizen Detoles makes winning look easy
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- Westlake’s Kaizen Detoles, left, celebrate winning the 175-pound weight class during the 6A boys state wrestling finals at the UCCU Center on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026.
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- Westlake’s Kaizen Detoles (right) battles Ryker Roundy of Davis in the 6A boys wrestling state finals at the UCCU Center on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026.
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- Westlake’s Kaizen Detoles (on top) battles Ryker Roundy of Davis in the 6A boys wrestling state finals at the UCCU Center on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026.
It’s hard to miss Kaizen Detoles at any wrestling tournament he’s in with his eye-popping athleticism.
The Westlake senior, who seems to make wrestling look easy, just won his second 6A state title for the Thunder going 27-2 in his 2025-26 campaign which he punctuated with a crowd-pleasing back flip. His two losses were to out-of-state wrestlers as no one in the Beehive State could seriously challenge him. And for this reason, Detoles has been named the Utah Valley Wrestler of the Year for the Daily Herald.
“It sounds amazing,” Detoles said when told he was going to get this honor.
Though he grew up in the Westlake youth wrestling program, Detoles actually considered playing basketball.
“I thought about playing basketball as a freshman, but then I decided to wrestle.” Detoles said.
Based on placing in state four times and compiling a 105-21 record in high school, it’s hard to argue he didn’t make the correct decision hitting the mats instead of the hardwood floor.
It was his sister Celeste that actually got into wrestling first. And Celeste had a wonderful career herself becoming a 4-time state champion for the Westlake girls program.
“We started wrestling super young and we would often be partners,” Kaizen said of Celeste. “I looked up to her and she really pushed me. She was very supportive when I was down on myself.”
Kaizen also gave a lot of credit to his mother Amber.
“She was really by our side the whole time,” said Kaizen Detoles. “She has been to every single one of my matches.”
Though Detoles is fast, strong, and flexible, these tangible elements are not what he sees as his strength as a wrestler.
Detoles notes that his “resilience” was his most important attribute but there were other important intangible factors leading to his success.
“I don’t back down from any challenge,” added Detoles. “I wrestle all six minutes and I have the mindset that I’m not scared of any challenge.”
Current Westlake head coach Erkin Tadzhimetov also praised Detoles’ leadership qualities.
“He’s one of our leaders and he leads by example,” Tadzhimetov said. “He runs the warm-ups and gets the team ready for practice.”
Tadzhimetov also noted what a lot of people see when people watch Detoles compete.
“He’s a tremendous athlete and his athletic ability is off the charts,” the Thunder head coach added.
Tadzhimetov has also seen a lot of personal growth in Detoles.
“He’s humble in the way he approaches everything. He has respect for the sport.”
Detoles recognizes that he has a team behind him whether it was past workout partners, his mother who has guided him with advice on nutrition and the proper mindset to compete, and his older sister Celeste who was a trailblazer. And along his wrestling journey Detoles has had three head different head coaches and each added important ingredients to his success.
His coach his freshman and sophomore seasons was Jeff Newby, who before taking the reins as the head coach at the high school, started a hugely successful youth program in the community that would produce two second place finishes for the Thunder at the 2024 and 2025 6A state tournaments.
“He was a great coach who really introduced me to the sport,” Detoles said of Newby.
Then his junior year Blake Mangum took over the program. Assisting Mangum was Keoki Borge and Detoles gave both credit for “elevating his wrestling.” This is when Detoles captured his first state title going 29-2 on the season.
Detoles then said of current coach Tadzhimetov and assistant Jake Julian that they emphasized the team and family aspects and things were “pretty different” as Tadzhimetov was an assistant collegiate coach at Utah Valley University and Duke.
“We did college-like workouts which have really helped me,” said Detoles.
Speaking of college wrestling, both Utah Valley and Wyoming are strongly pursuing Detoles. In fact, the Thunder senior has recently taken a visit to Laramie. But the immediate goal is to become an All-American at the National High School Coaches Association Nationals in Virginia this upcoming weekend. A good performance at this tournament could put Detoles on the radar of even more Division I programs.
While he wrestled at 175 pounds for his high school season, he’ll compete at 168 pounds at Virginia Beach.
I’m feeling good and watching my weight,” Detoles said.
His opponents at the Senior Nationals, who represent the best of the best across the nation, better be on the lookout when they face this Westlake grappler who combines both amazing natural talent to go along with the mindset of never backing down to any challenge he faces.
Kaizen Detoles File
2-time 6A State Champion
4-time 6A State Placer
56-4 in his last two seasons
105-21 overall record
2025 Rockwell Rumble Champion
2-time participant and winner in the Ross Brunson All-Star Dual
Second Westlake athlete to win Valley Wrestler of the Year, joining Brayden Robison (2024).
