RICHFIELD—Area wrestlers faced off at the Utah 3A Divisional Tournament held at the Sevier Center last Friday and Saturday.
Manti High School competed in Division B while North Sanpete High School competed in Division A.
Manti wrestlers found success at the tournament. Kelan Layton took first place in the 157-weight class. Austin Denton and Dallin Sweat earned third place; Jace Wilson took fifth place; Kayden Blackham, Ashton Hirschi and Paul Brown placed seventh; and Gage Fonville earned eighth place, rounding out the Templars’ eight state qualifiers. Kaden Owens did earn an alternate spot in the 120-weight class.
Overall, Manti placed fifth with 119.5 team points.
The Hawks had three wrestlers competing in the finals: Cody Dyches (106 weight class), Kasey Curtis (126 weight class) and Kylan Taylor (144 weight class). While all three battled with all they had, all three ended up in second place. Earning fourth place was Owen Sunderland; Krew King placed fifth; Teagin Poulsen and Tyler Harward placed sixth; Cache Nicolson placed seventh and Karson Curtis and Marshal Wright placed eighth. The Hawks also have two wrestlers who will be used as alternates, James Gren and Xander Shelley.
Senior team captain Kasey Curtis said that he feels that the team performed well.
“We came in with only 15 kids compared to other teams with 27 kids,” Curtis said. “We had some ups and downs throughout the tournament, but I couldn’t be happier overall with how my team did.”
Curtis said that the kid that stuck out the most to him was Teagin Poulsen. He said that he didn’t get many varsity matches throughout the year, but that didn’t stop his perseverance and his ability.
“That is something as a captain I can be really proud of,” he said.
Overall, the Hawks placed sixth with 122.5 team points.
“We had a great showing at the divisional tournament,” Kris King, first year coach at North Sanpete, said. “We lost a few matches that we shouldn’t have, but overall, I am very proud of my team.”
King expressed how happy he was with several of his wrestlers that fought and never gave up. He said that he feels that over the next ten days, the ten wrestlers who qualified will be working hard to make sure that the team “turns heads” at state.
