If you want to know if wrestling was better or tougher 25 years ago, the answer is a simple YES! It’s not that Utah prep wrestling doesn’t have some great talent right now, but the 1997-98 season was Utah’s greatest!
Graduating in 1998 was future NCAA champion Aaron Holker, future NCAA finalist Ryan Lewis and future Greco-Roman national team member and NCAA All-American Justin Ruiz. Beyond that, this class featured several NHSCA All-Americans (when there was just one national tournament, not three) and Utah placed third out of the 50 states. Some of these All-Americans like Gabe Vigil are still coaching today and others like Ruiz have relatives winning state titles. You’ll see a lot of familiar names. Future NHSCA All-American Andy Messersmith (Class of 1999) was winning his third state title and now coaches at Enterprise. Pat Garcia, whose son Kysion is going for his third state title at Mountain Ridge, won three state titles for Hillcrest coached by Ross Brunson, who is the title sponsor of our All-Star Dual. Ross’ son Russ actually placed second in state but placed third at the NHSCA Senior Nationals before going on to wrestle with Vigil at Boise State. And Ruiz’s daughter or niece (?) Cheyenne is one of the best female wrestlers in Utah going for a third state title and sporting an undefeated record! And by the way, Garcia’s match with Brighton’s Brady Jones was a stuff of legends won by Garcia 1-1 in OT with a ride out!
Also, you’ll see Dustin Rock, an underclassman battling for Morgan who one day, like Messersmith, would follow in his father’s footsteps and lead a program of his own in Morgan. And so would Brandon and Matt Ripplinger, two state placers for Box Elder who would lead their own programs just south of Brigham City at Viewmont and Bountiful respectively with Brandon winning four state titles as a coach.
You will see familiar teams dominating the landscape such as Millard in 2A, Uintah in 3A and Payson in 4A (there were five classifications back then) but also programs struggling today like Taylorsville making their mark in 1998. And for your truly, it was a special season as Provo, yes Provo, crowned three individual state titliests. It was also the end of one coaching legend’s career as Darold Henry came out of retirement to coach Lone Peak High School in its first year of existence. Then next year Lone Peak would hire Lyle Mangum, still coaching today at Skyridge. Though far from competing for a team title, the Knights still produced two all-state wrestlers in Nelson and Nick Cluff. Also noteworthy were two future NFL players in these state tournaments–Alta’s Ryon Bingham who won the 275-pound 5A title, and Logan’s Chris Cooley, who was sophomore in 1998 and placed fifth that season in 4A–he would take state two years later.
Let’s see what happened in 1997-98.
5A was in a bit of transition. The classification was created during the 1993-94 season and Orem won the classification's first three state titles. But Orem’s mini-dynasty was disrupted by West Jordan, led by Larry Jaramillo still going strong as an assistant coach at Herriman. Then Taylorsville, led up an upstart and sometimes controversial head coach Mark Campbell, led Taylorsville to its only state title. So in back-to-back years, two programs won their first and only state titles though both were very good programs throughout the 1980’s and 1990’s with West Jordan taking second several times. But from 1996 through 2003 seven different programs took state with Orem, West Jordan, Taylorsville, Layton back-to-back in 1999 and 2000, Brighton in 2001, Viewmont in 2002 and then Fremont with its only state title in 2003 led by current Fremont coach Cody Story’s father Mark. Layton had two state champs with a familiar name in Josh Lamano. The Lancers, led by legend Mike Hansen were about to win two more state titles.
Taylorsville won the tournament comfortably some 38.5 points out in front of runner-up Layton who was another seven points ahead of third place West Jordan. Rounding at the top five were Alta and Viewmont. My alma mater Skyline with Hall-of-Famer Sam Arishita in one of his last seasons as head coach placed seventh right behind Hillcrest with six placers! Timpanogos and Copper Hills were brand new schools basically and placed second to last and dead last respectively. But there were some signs that some of the west side schools in Salt Lake were going to struggle as down toward the bottom were Granger, Hunter and Kearns. Cottonwood took 13th out of 21 5A teams but scored 65.5 points and had a finalist. But now, for the second straight season the Colts didn’t qualify a single wrestler for state. And one very familiar name placed third for West Jordan at 215 pounds that year, former Layton and current Corner Canyon assistant coach John Fager.
Taylorsville and West Jordan each had three state champions (four finalists for Taylorsville), while Orem had two including Aaron Holker, who would become BYU’s last All-American and then win a title at Iowa State when the Cougars dropped the program. Current American Fork head coach Cole Kelley was the new Tiger head coach. Holker would also win the NHSCA Senior Nationals as would Taylorsville’s Justin Ruiz while Vigil and Brunson would be placers. Pat Garcia, Kysion’s father, would win a state title for Hillcrest who had three finalists.
The 4A race saw Payson’s first state title as a program and marked an end of eight in a row by Pleasant Grove, three by Darold Henry and four by Tom Phelon. The Lions were led by first-year head coach Ric Thompson taking over for Chris Brown. Pleasant Grove would actually finish fifth that year. Behind Payson were Box Elder, Spanish Fork and Sky View. Weber and Provo finished sixth and seventh and coming on was this program called Mountain Crest in eighth. Murray and West rounded out the top ten. Timpview only scored 16 points but had reestablished its program after dropping it for several years just a season before. Lone Peak was a brand new school led by Henry and finished a respectable 16th out of 24 4A teams.
Payson and Provo had three state champions each and I was the head coach of Provo. It was a special night for me, the first state tournament since my Dad passed and I felt his presence guiding me through that night. Sky View had two champions with a familiar Sky View name in Quinn Bagley (119 pounds) and James Spillett (125), who upset returning state champion Travis Pack of Pleasant Grove. But it was no fluke as Spillett became one of those 1998 NHSCA All-Americans.
Salt Lake City schools East and West had state champions. East’s B.J. Minson defeated Box Elder’s Matt Ripplinger, just a sophomore. Matt’s older brother Brandon, who would become a fabulous coach at Viewmont, placed third this season as a junior losing to Pleasant Grove’s Mark Blain, a 2-time champion and 4-time finalist in the semifinals. West’s Reece Peck won the 112-pound division defeating Pleasant Grove’s Scott Alldredge. The Vikings had three straight runner-up finishes from 112, 119, 125 including Nathan Spencer, brother of longtime American Fork head coach Eric and current Spanish Fork head coach Kip Spencer.
Payson’s champions included two Wright brothers, B.J. (140) and Jacob (145) and Cory Hansen at 189 pounds. Yes, those Wright brothers are younger brothers of Josh who became a great coach for Delta in the 2000's and 2010's.
One Payson wrestler that didn’t win a state title that year but lost just one match was Tommy Ford, younger brother of longtime Payson assistant Sammy Ford. Ford beat Provo’s Coby Jones in the region finals giving Jones his only loss on the year but then Ford lost to Box Elder’s Dallas Harper in the semifinals who Jones beat to capture the title at 171 pounds. Ford would take state the next year beating Chris Cooley, who placed fifth this year as a sophomore and who would take state and go undefeated two years later.
Spanish Fork’s Dan Merrill went into state with a perfect 31-0 record with 31 straight pins but was pinned by Provo’s Scott Hofheins in the championship final. Spanish Fork was led by Alan Albright that year who was in his third tenure as head coach of the Don program. Provo’s other state champ Trent Beesley is coaching at Provo and his sophomore son Christian qualified for state. A familiar name in Ryan Mock (son of longtime official Kurt Mock) won a state title for Weber at 135 pounds while younger brother Brady placed fourth at 112 pounds. And Payson state placer Gerald Loveless’ son Chandler is contending for a state title this year for the Lions.
And since I wrote the article, sadly I report one of my state finalists from the year before dropped out of school his senior year to join the Army. Oh the what ifs!!!
3A saw a brand new coach in Uintah’s Greg Steensgaard capture his first of two straight titles. Then the Ute program would have over a 20-season drought before winning a state title again.
But the Utes were dominant, ending a mini-run of state titles by Wasatch led then by Steve Sanderson.
NHSCA Senior National champion and future 2-time NCAA finalist Ryan Lewis won his third state title at 119 pounds. Uintah crowned four individual champions and put another two in the finals to score 215.5 points. Wasatch was 25.5 points pack and Morgan was third at 159 edging Delta by 1.5 points. Finishing fifth was North Sanpete with 135.5 with two individual champs..
Though sixth place with 99 points, Hurricane actually crowned three state champions with Richard Hirschi (152), Micah Suwyn (215) and Cody Ballard (275). I can relate to that one, having the individual firepower but not enough depth to get in the top five.
Future Morgan head coach Dustin Rock was a freshman and placed second for his head coach father John at 103 pounds losing to Kris King of North Sanpete in the finals.
Future Wasatch NHSCA Senior All-Americans Steve Cordova and Mitch Morgan won titles signaling in not so long that Wasatch would be back on top. Also interesting to see one of the state’s biggest schools in Lehi as a 3A program back then. The Pioneers finished seventh. A total of 21 schools made up 3A. And plenty of familiar names dot the placers whether it be the Sweats for Wasatch or the Haslems for Uintah. I’m not sure but Elgin McCurdy, who placed fifth for Uintah that year might have a son (or nephew) on the current Uintah team as the Utes battle to stay on top in 5A this year. Also, Granite High was about to close for good but still had a team.
It wouldn’t shock anyone to see Millard as the top team in 2A. Led then by Marshall Sheriff, the Eagles crushed the competition scoring 252.5 points while Juab was second with 177 edging out South Summit who pointed 173. Beaver (145) and Altamont (118) rounded out the top five in the 18-team 2A field.
Millard had four individual champions with Matt Anderson (103), Dane Stephenson (130), Adam Turner (152) and Owen DeGraffenreid (215).
Juab’s Andy Messersmith won his third of four titles that year for Juab at 135 pounds. The next year Messersmith would become a NHSCAA All-American placing sixth losing twice to future 2-time NCAA Champion Johnny Thompson of Oklahoma State, who beat Uintah’s Ryan Lewis, wrestling for Minnesota, for one of his titles. Juab’s head coach at that time was Paul Messersmith, Andy’s father.
Another big name in wrestling circles wrestling for Juab was Tanner Cowan, just a freshman. Cowan placed second that year and then would go on to win three titles. Cowan has become a youth coach of force in northern Utah County and also dabbled in mixed martial arts fighting, finding success there.
South Summit had two two champions as did Altamont and Beaver. But there was a pretty diverse list of schools winning individual titles with Duchesne, Kanab and Manti also producing state champions.
And again, a lot of familiar family names as the Ivie’s for Duchesne, Crittendens for South Summit, Butlers for Monticello, Farnsworths for Altamont and Marshalls for Beaver dotting the state placer landscape.
In 1A, Kerry Anderson and Wayne were dominating the scene. Wayne scored 215.5 points, a healthy total in a 8-man bracket scoring system to outdistance rival Panguitch, led by coaching and officiating legend Frank Houston. Piute was third with 124.5 led by future Rich HS head coach and principal Rick Larsen, who I actually wrestled for the championship one year in BYU Intramurals. Rich edged out Milford by a mere half-point for fourth place in the 10-team 1A field.
Wayne had four state champions with Jordan Pace (130), younger brother of Dixie and Desert Hills head coach Brian Pace, Lance Brown (152), Jared Jones (160) and Josh Chappell (171), who has to be related to former Wayne state champion and then North Sevier head coach George Chappell. Panguitch had three champions and it was good to see Whitehorse with two state titles with Jarvis Whitehorse (112) and Victor Keith (215). Houston’s son and future head Panguitch head coach Matt, placed third. Escalante and Valley, which tied for ninth that year, don't have programs right now.
5A State Champions:
103–Levi Martinez (West Jordan)
112-Josh Lamano (Layton)
119-Pat Garcia (Hillcrest)
125-Aaron Holker (Orem)***
130-Gabe Vigil (West Jordan)*
135-Justin Whiting (Orem)
140-Mat Bywater (Taylorsville)
145-Sam Taylor (Layton)
152-Marshall Meier (Skyline)
160-Jon Hasebi (Taylorsville)
171-Steve Babcock (West Jordan)
189-Justin Ruiz (Taylorsville)***
215-Josh Bake (Viewmont)
285-Ryon Bingham (Alta)
***Indicates NHSCA Senior Nationals Champion
* Indicates NHSCA Senior Nationals All-American
5A Team Scores: 1.Taylorsville 197.5 2. Layton 159 3. West Jordan 151 4. Alta 124 5. Viewpoint 122 6. Hillcrest 118 7. Skyline 99 8. Orem 82 9. Mountain View 80 10. Northridge 75 11. Jordan 74 12. Brighton 70.5 13. Cottonwood 65.5 14. Bingham 63.5 15. Davis 50 16 (T). Granger 16 Kearns 16 18. Hunter 12 19. Clearfield 7 20. Timpanogos 6 21. Copper Hills 3.
4A State Champions:
103–B.J. Minson (East)
112–Reece Peck (West)
119-Quinn Bagley (Sky View)
125-James Spillett (Sky View)*
130-Trent Beesley (Provo)
135-Ryan Mock (Weber)
140–B.J. Wright (Payson)
145–Jacob Wright (Payson)
152-Mark Blain (Pleasant Grove)
160-Denton Harper (Box Elder)
171-Coby Jones (Provo)
189-Cory Hansen (Payson)
215-Scott Hofheins (Provo)
285-Layne Stewart (Fremont)
*NHSCA Senior Nationals All-American
4A Team Scores: 1. Payson 195 2. Box Elder 173 3. Spanish Fork 144 4. Sky View 137 5. Pleasant Grove 124 6. Weber 115.5 7. Provo 105 8. Mountain Crest 79 9. Murray 76 10. West 63 11. Fremont 52 12. East 50.5 13. Highland 50 14. Cyprus 43 15. Logan 38 16. Lone Peak 29 17. Olympus 28 18. Bountiful 25 19. Bonneville 24 20 (T). American Fork 22 Woods Cross 22. Timpview 16 23. Springville 8 24. Roy 1.
3A State Champions:
103–Kris King (North Sanpete)
112–Danny Jensen (Uintah)
119–Ryan Lewis (Uintah)***
125-Steve Cordova (Wasatch)
130-Kevin Jeffery (Lehi)
135–Mitch Morgan (Wasatch)
140-Abe Barker (North Sanpete)
145–Erik Haslem (Uintah)
152-Richard Hirschi (Hurricane)
160-Ben Wiscombe (Morgan)
171-Sam Edwards (Delta)
189-Anthony Thomas (Uintah)
215-Micah Suwyn (Hurricane)
285-Cory Ballard (Hurricane)
***NHSCA Senior Nationals Champion
3A Team Scores: 1. Uintah 215.5 2. Wasatch 190 3. Morgan 159 4. Delta 157.5 5. North Sanpete 135.5 6. Hurricane 99 7. Lehi 85 8. Richfield 83.5 9. Bear River 82 10. Dixie 62 11. Union 56 12. Pine View 51 13. Cedar 46 14. Snow Canyon 38 15. Emery 36 16. Carbon 345 17. Ogden 23 18. Tooele 21 19. Canyon View 18 20. Granite 12.
2A State Champions:
103–Matt Anderson (Millard)
112-Jack Waters (Beaver)
119-Rhett Walker (Altamont)
125–Shane Ivie (Duchesne)
130–Dane Stephenson (Millard)
135–Andy Messersmith (Juab)
140–Brock Johnson (South Summit)
145–Kyle Farnsworth (Altamont)
152–Adam Turner (Millard)
160–Jesse Strickland (Manti)
171–Chad Marshall (Beaver)
189–Brent Ure (South Summit)
215–Owen DeGraffenreid (Millard)
275–Scott Johnson (Kanab)
2A Team Scores: 1. Millard 252.5 2. Juab 177 3. South Summit 173 4. Beaver 145 5. Altamont 118 6. North Sevier 118 7. San Juan 81 8. Monticello 79 9 (T). Duchesne 77 North Summit 77 11 (T). Grantsville 65 South Sevier 65 13. Kanab 50 14. Manti 48 15. Enterprise 37.5 16.Gunnison 30 17. Parowan 22 18. Grand 19.
1A State Champions:
103–Brett Thomas (Milford)
112–Jarvis Whitehorse (Whitehorse)
119–Shaun Olsen (Panguitch)
125–Steve Florence (Milford)
130–Jordan Pace (Wayne)
135–Kalon Downing (Rich)
140–Jeremy Poll (Panguitch)
145–Tyler Moss (Piute)
152–Lance Brown (Wayne)
160–Jared Jones (Wayne)
171–Josh Chappell (Wayne)
189–Jeremiah Boger (Panguitch)
215–Victor Keith (Whitehorse)
285–Jared Gleave Piute)
1A Team Scores: 1. Wayne 215.5 2. Panguitch 192 3. Piute 124.5 4 Rich 72.5 5. Milford 72 6. Whitehorse 60 7. Monument Valley 18 8. Escalante 15 9 (T) Tintic 10 Valley 10.
More detailed information can be found at the UHSAA web page!