June 24, 2005: Deseret Morning News

Wrestling Club Grabbing Lots of Accolades
by Michael Black

SANDY — To say that the Mountain Top Wrestling Club has enjoyed success since its inception six years ago (formerly Jordan Freestyle Wrestling) may be an understatement. To hit closer to the truth, there needs to be several adjectives in front of success; rousing, tremendous or unbelievable come to mind.

The club got its beginning when William (Bill) Kilpack III— a former AAU national champion and seven-time national medalist wrestler — was looking for somewhere to allow his 4-year-old son William IV to wrestle. After contacting every club and school in the Salt Lake area, he determined there just was not anything available for the lowest weights of wrestling.

"We just wanted to get William started," said Kilpack. "We looked everywhere and couldn't find anything, so we decided to give him and others somewhere to start."

From that humble beginning, the club has grown into more than 75 wrestlers ranging from age 4 to adult. The club is run through Salt Lake County Recreation and is based at Jordan High School.

Mountain Top runs from January through July, and club dues run about $50. The team practices about three times a week and attends 18-20 tournaments or meets. Only six to eight of the tournaments are held in Utah, leaving 10-12 times that the team travels out of state.

The club was just granted a nonprofit status that will allow it to do further fund-raising and allow more sponsors to cover its travel expenses.

Bill Kilpack, who works as a vice president of a mortgage company, said that he spends easily over 40 hours a week maintaining and running the club but that the rewards far outweigh the time commitments.

"You could say that we are a wrestling family," he said. "We love it. I can't think of anything else I would rather do with my time."

All the time put in by the wrestlers and coaches has paid off on the mats. The team is just returning from the Utah Summer Games with a long list of accolades. Nine out of 10 wrestlers that competed in Folk-Style — one of the three styles of wrestling practiced, taught and competed in by the club and at the Summer Games — earned a medal. Twelve of 12 earned a medal in Greco-Roman, and 11 of 12 brought home an award in Freestyle.

"This was a great weekend for the guys," said Kilpack. "They had a few weeks off and came back hungry. This was just what they needed to kick off the rust for the big tournaments that will round out the season between now and the end of July."

Four wrestlers from Mountain Top won gold medals in the three styles. They were 7-year-old Skylar Orton of Midvale, Bantam (ages 7 and 8) 45 pounds; 8-year-old Tayler Johnson of Draper, Bantam 60 pounds; 10-year-old William Kilpack of Sandy, Midget (ages 9 and 10) 70 pounds; and 11-year-old Tyler Jensen of West Valley City, Novice (ages 11 and 12) 60 pounds.

Several of the wrestlers are at a tournament in Winnemucca, Nev., this week at a Western regional and are preparing for the national meet to take place in Green Bay, Wis., near the end of July.

Even with all the success the team has enjoyed recently, Kilpack feels that the rewards are more than medals and will continue long after an athlete leaves Mountain Top.

"We are 100 percent behind these kids," he said. "We want to make their lives better. The discipline and work ethic they learn carries with them the rest of their lives. It helps not only to make them a better wrestler but better people in the end."