While on the surface it seems like there isn’t any team drama in 3A and 6A (Juab and Pleasant Grove seem like locks for the title), there might be more team drama than you think. 

Beaver won its first state title in school history and it was a process to get there. It took time to build a successful youth program. Then finally Beaver started to crack the top five on a consistent level. Then they won the silver trophy last year, and finally reached the top of the summit in 2021.  

I see two programs making a similar journey with slightly different approaches with Emery in 3A and Westlake in 6A.   

For Emery, the rise of the Spartan program is mostly due to the will of Kirk Christansen, a former Spartan wrestler that wanted a top program for his sons and nephews. The Christiansen name is (and has been) all over the roster. I do remember Kirk as a wrestler, but got to know him more as a father when he was dragging his children to the Beehive Brawl. His sons, and probably his nephews, were the only wrestlers from Emery at the Brawl. I actually figured his family would move to Mapleton or something at some point to give his boys a better experience. But instead, Kirk built a wrestling community right in his hometown, and I can’t praise him enough.

It seems like Emery is taking a similar trajectory to that of Beaver, and even if Emery doesn’t ever reach the summit, the journey has been impressive. Emery is no longer a downtrodden program with some speckles of success that happened in the early 1990’s. It is truly a trophy contender and has a strong foundation going forward. 

While Juab seems poised for another title run led by a great coach in Joel Holman, Emery hopes to take second. Morgan stands in their way. Morgan has tasted a lot of success over the years, but like Emery, the gold trophy remains elusive. Of course, Morgan’s foundation is based on Rock (pun intended), and the Trojans won’t be far from the top. 

An epic battle at 126 pounds could decide the race for second place in 3A. Emery’s Byron Christiansen and Morgan’s Will Korth are set to meet in the semifinals. Korth is undefeated at 21-0, Christiansen at 32-3 took Richfield’s undefeated Denim Torgersen to the brink just a week or so ago, losing 4-3. Emery has several divisional champs with Jarin Allen (132 pounds), Bryar Meccarillo (152), Hayes Dalton (182), and Braden Howard (220). So just maybe, the Spartans can move up a peg and come up home with some team hardware. 

Morgan it seems has a bit more room for error, at least on paper. But then again, Emery is bringing 25 wrestlers to the big tourney. Imagine that, a program that maybe a decade ago wasn’t even filling its roster is bringing the most wrestlers to the 3A state tourney. But 3A isn’t like 6A, and only 14 wrestlers per team can score points, so Emery’s advantage in numbers will be mitigated. But it should be fun to see if Emery can make this important step as Beaver did last season.

For Westlake, their story and situation is similar, but also a bit different. The school has been around for about 13 years or so if my memory serves me right. The school has been mostly in either 5A or 6A, the largest school classification for all but maybe the first couple years of its existence where it was 4A. Particularly, it has been stuck in Region 4, which is a gauntlet in every sport it seems. And the Thunder have paid the price generally with their athletic program for being in a region with athletic powerhouses in every sport.

The girls team of Westlake actually won the school’s first state championship last Monday. While I say the athletic program at Westlake has generally struggled, the wrestling program has fared better than most. Westlake is among the state’s largest schools so having athletic talent shouldn’t be hard to find. But Westlake has been fortunate enough to hire good wrestling coaches in the likes of Guy Burdett and his son Cody, the current coach. The current head principal Gary Twitchell has a strong wrestling background, placing second in for Orem in the in 1980 when Fred Rowland was still the coach. He even was a head wrestling coach for Timpview in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s. Westlake’s program has been extremely fortunate enough to have Jeff Newby in the neighborhood, and the Thunder youth program is the biggest youth program in the state. That has been the source of its strength and surge in recent years. 

I have been straight forward in saying that the only thing holding Westlake back has been its lack of strength generally in the upper weights, though there have been some bright spots like Anthony Stockwell over the years. But the Thunder lose a lot of ground to Pleasant Grove in the upper weights, as do a lot of programs. Getting more football athletes out could be the key to take the Thunder program to the promised land. 

But in the lower and middle weights, Westlake is as good as anyone. Breydon Robison (106) looks like a 4-time state champion and his understudy Parker Ballantyne is pretty good too. Freshman Trey Thompson (120) is the son of former 3-time state champion Tyson Thompson of Lehi, so the genetics are pretty good and Tyson also helps with the youth program. Of course Jacob Finlinson (132) goes for his fourth state title and Tucker Butler (145) looks good to make the finals. And the Thunder have some other solid wrestlers like Hunter Herrell (160), Brock Page (182) and some good JV wrestlers as well like Cameron Baum (132) that will score points. 

Winning the silver trophy would be big for the Thunder. It’s main competition such as Davis, Fremont and Layton have reached the mountain top in the past, and Syracuse has placed second before, and similar to Westlake has dreams of gold (and has taken a similar journey as Westlake with strong youth programs and very capable coaching at the high school level). I guess throw Corner Canyon in there as well with three contenders for state titles in Tyler Vivanco (113), Brigham Bagley (132) and Kam Moss (170). And even Corner Canyon has a very similar story, a large youth program with a strong high school coach. When their head principal asked me for some recommendations some years ago and said Jeff Eure had applied for the job, I told them something like, “yeah, you want to hire that guy.”

But for 2021, I see Fremont, Layton and Westlake as the strongest contenders for the silver trophy while Corner Canyon, Davis, Syracuse, and perhaps even Skyridge, hope to be in the top five when the dust settles. 

All of these teams I’ve talked about have strong areas in their current teams. But each has some flaws that will obviously keep them (way) back of Pleasant Grove. 

Layton doesn’t have the star power it’s had in recent years, Westlake is a bit thin in the upper weights while Syracuse didn’t even qualify a wrestler in the three heaviest weights. Meanwhile, Davis has huge holes in the lower weights. Fremont is strong in upper weights and has some good wrestlers in the lower weights and lower middle weights, but didn’t put a wrestler in the field in weights 160-182, which seems a bit mind boggling. Skyridge has that gauntlet in the middle with those Smith brothers (Mahkyi-160 and Cayaen-170), and of course Josh Millward (145) sprinkled in with some good wrestlers here or there, but plenty of gaping holes as well, similar somewhat to Corner Canyon. Numbers matter and Westlake does bring in 16 wrestlers. Only PG with 26 and Layton with18 has more, and yes, all wrestlers can score points in the 6A classification. 

In the end, it might just be historical seasons for Emery and Westlake. Or maybe the programs are a year or so away from a trophy but still making important progress. Here’s my team predictions in 6A and 3A:

3A Team Predictions: 1. Juab 2. Morgan 3. Emery 4. Richfield 5. ALA 6. Delta 7. South Sevier 8. South Summit 9. Union 10. North Sanpete.

 

3A Finalist Predictions:

106 pounds: Kole Johnson (Grantsville) vs. Landon Morales (Grand County)

113 pounds: Kaden Ercanbrack (Juab) vs. Dayson Torgersen (Richfield)

120 pounds: Blake Woolsey (Morgan) vs. Dax Johnson (Juab)

126 pounds: Will Korth (Morgan) vs. Denim Torgersen (Richfield)

132 pounds: Waylon Pentz (Morgan) vs. Jarin Allen (Emery)

138 pounds: Channing Warner (Juab) vs. Lukus Carrillo (ALA)

145 pounds: Chase Ingram (Juab) vs. Jarron Campbell (Morgan)

152 pounds: Logan Holdaway (Juab) vs. Bryar Meccarillo (Emery)

160 pounds: Jaxin Torgersen (South Sevier) vs. Austin Chase (Delta)

170 pounds: Tanner Belinski (Morgan) vs. Will Harmon (Juab)

182 pounds: Tate Willoughby (Delta) vs. Hayes Dalton (Emery)

195 pounds: Ryker Adams (Morgan) vs. Justyn Mitchell (ALA)

220 pounds: Laramie Roberts (North Sanpete) vs. Braden Howard (Emery)

285 pounds: Shan Jackson (Juab) vs. Max Whitmore (South Summit) 

 

6A Team Predictions: 1. Pleasant Grove 2. Layton 3. Westlake 4. Fremont 5. Davis 6. Syracuse 7. Corner Canyon 8. Skyridge 9. American Fork 10. Herriman. 

 

6A Finalist Predictions:

 

106 pounds: Breydon Robison (Westlake) vs. Jace Lemons (Layton)

113 pounds: Jacob Carson (Pleasant Grove) vs. Tyler Vivanco (Corner Canyon)

120 pounds: Dallan Hunsaker (American Fork) vs. Quade Smith (Layton)

126 pounds: Gage Ogden (Herriman) vs. Brigham Bagley (Corner Canyon)

132 pounds: Drew Lang (West) vs. Jacob Finlinson (Westlake)

138 pounds: Alex Emmer (Pleasant Grove) vs. Koda DeAtley (Pleasant Grove)

145 pounds: Joshua Millward (Skyridge) vs. Tucker Butler (Westlake)

152 pounds: Macclaine Percival (Davis) vs. Zeke Kelley (Pleasant Grove)

160 pounds: Mahkyi Smith (Skyridge) vs. Jordan Faifai (Syracuse)

170 pounds: Cayaen Smith (Skyridge) vs. Kam Moss (Corner Canyon)

182 pounds: Cesar Ubico (Hunter) vs. Austin McMillan (Herriman)

195 pounds: Mason Rigby (Davis) vs. Talmage Carman (Herriman)

220 pounds: Nolan Kiser (Fremont) vs. Cooper Mumford (Lone Peak)

285 pounds: Wyatt Dawe (Pleasant Grove) vs. Kort Wilkinson (Pleasant Grove)