This years Clash Before Christmas is gearing up to be one of the most exciting youth dual meets this season. On Saturday, December 21^st, 24 teams from 5 different states will “clash” at the Legacy Events Center in Farmington, Utah. Running side by side at the Legacy Events Center will be one of toughest high school tournaments, The Viewmont Invitaional. This is an amazing opportunity to watch some of the best high school wrestlers competing right along side the future of Utah high school wrestling.  Both tournament finals will begin at 5:30 pm. You don’t want to miss this!

At last years Clash Before Christmas, Steel City, Colorado dominated the tournament taking 1^st place with 11 undefeated wrestlers. Team Las Vegas came in 2^nd and 4 of their wrestlers were undefeated. Third place, and the top Utah team, was Champions Gold with 8 undefeated wrestlers.  Colorado comes in this year with just 1 of the undefeated wrestlers from last year, Josiah Rider at 145 lbs. Nevada is bringing 2 teams to the tournament and will be a top contender for the championship. Utah has shaken things up a bit putting together some all-star teams that will be competing for the Division 1 championship. Team 801 is stacked with 3 wrestlers that went undefeated at last year’s tournament, Brandyn Van Tassel, Cole Moody and Brock Hardy. They will also be bringing 4 Clash veterans, Mason Christiansen, DJ Cohen, Zak Kohler and Isaac Wilcox, which were all dominant wrestlers at last years dual. To top things off Team 801 has wrestling powerhouse John Manning in their lineup. They look to take the top spot in 2013. Utah County All-stars come in with Gentry Warner who was undefeated in last years Clash. They are bringing with them Cole Zorn, Oakley Ridge, Weston Anderton, Spencer Curtis, Cole Jensen and Michael Peterson who all came out of last years Clash with great records. Adding the brother-sister duo of Cooper Cox and Hailey Cox, Utah County All-stars look to be a top contender as well. Northern Utah has put together a team that will be competing in Division 1 also. They come with 2 wrestlers that had excellent showings at last years Clash, Teige Lovell and Brayden Clark. Adding outstanding wrestlers such as Scott Robertson, Dalton Stutzman, Maverick Skinner, Kegan Leatherow, Kaiden Lamb and several others, Northern Utah will be represented well. The out-of-state teams competing in Division 1 are; Western Wyoming, Colorado Elite Wrestling, EIWA Elite (Idaho), Team Nevada Gold and Idaho Elite Gold.  Division 1 will be split up into 2 pools and there is the potential for some amazing matches in each of these pools. Here is a list of some of the matchups that you may want to keep your eye on in Division 1.

65lbs Div. 1

• Pool A: Josh Millward (Team 801) *Wrestler to watch
• Pool B: Cole Jensen (Utah County), Kaden Ramos (Idaho Elite Gold) and Billy Sullivan (Nevada Gold). All 3 great wrestlers that will match up against each other.

70lbs Div. 1

• Pool A: Gavin Ayotte (Team 801), Kieran Thompson(Colorado Elite).
• Pool B: Cooper Cox (Utah County), William Zernich (Nevada Gold).

75lbs Div. 1

• Pool B: Oakley Ridge (Utah County), Brayden Clark (Northern Utah).

85lbs Div. 1

• Pool B: Stockton O’Brien (Utah County) *Wrestler to watch

90lbs Div. 1

• Pool A: Zac Kohler (Team 801), Kade Lincoln (EIWA)
• Pool B: Gentry Warner (Utah County) * Wrestler to watch

95lbs Div. 1

• Pool B: Keagan Leatherow (Northern Utah) *Wrestler to watch

105lbs Div. 1

• Pool A: Mason Christiansen (Team 801) * Wrestler to watch
• Pool B: Brayden Tucker (Nothern Utah), Dawson Downing (Nevada Gold)

110lbs Div. 1

• Pool A: Brandyn Van Tassell (Team 801), Sawyer Hobbs (EIWA)

115lbs Div. 1

• Pool A: Taten Ringel (Team 801), Josh Nira (Colorado Elite)

120lbs Div. 1

• Pool A: Cole Moody (Team 801) *Wrestler to watch

127lbs Div. 1

• Pool A: Brock Hardy (Team 801), Caleb Call (EIWA)
• Pool B: Zack Johnson (Utah County) *Wrestler to watch

135lbs Div. 1

• Pool A: John Manning (Team 801) *Wrestler to watch

145lbs Div. 1

• Pool A: DJ Cohen (Team 801), Josiah Rider (Colorado Elite)

285lbs Div. 1

• Pool B: Keegan Wilkinson (Utah County), Anthony Cordero (Nevada Gold)

Division 2 is packed with great teams from all over the state of Utah and teams from Idaho, Nevada and Wyoming.  With all those great teams it is hard to name the favorites and to acknowledge all of the amazing wrestlers that are representing their teams. Here are just a few of the many Utah wrestlers to follow at the Clash Before Christmas.  

65lbs Div 2:

• Tristan Smith (Wasatch Gold) , Blayze Keckler (Team Cache), Sage Mortimer (Champions Blue)

70lbs Div 2:

• Parker Frasure (Tech), Lukas Carillo (Champions Gold)

75lbs Div. 2:

• Quenton Mortimer (Champions Gold)

80lbs Div 2:

• Braydon Mogle (Team Cache)

85lbs Div. 2:

• Morgan Orum (Mettle)

90lbs Div 2:

• Brayden Guthrie (Team Cache), Max Anson (Mettle), Cael Smith (Bear River)

95lbs Div 2:

• Edgar Gandarilla (South Summit), Brock Lloyd (Wasatch Gold), Bryson Noble (Bear River)

105lbs Div 2:

• Brice Clegg (South Summit)

110lbs Div 2:

• Ryan Hansen (Team Cache)

115lbs Div 2:

• Austin Hone (Champions Gold), Garrett Barton (Bear River)

127lbs Div 2:

• Shion Abe (Tech)

165lbs Div 2:

• Kade Carlson (Teach Cache)

185lbs Div 2:

• Carson Kay (Champions Gold)

Come out and support all of the Utah wrestlers Saturday, December 21^st at Legacy Events Center in Farmington, Utah.  Pool rounds begin at 8:00 am and the championship finals begin at 5:30 pm.  Remember this year the Clash Before Christmas will be running side by side with an outstanding high school tournament, the Viewmont Invitational. That tournament begins Friday at 1:30 pm and will continue on Saturday at 9:30 am. Finals will also be held at 5:30 pm that evening.

*Please note that the records from last years Clash Before Christmas and trackwrestling profiles were used in choosing wrestlers to highlight in this article. There were many trackwrestling profiles that were unavailable for whatever reason.  My apologies for all the outstanding wrestlers not acknowledged.