Nov. 28, 2005: The Salt Lake Tribune

Prep Wrestling: Shakeup Makes 5-A a Class Act for Talent
by Jay Drew

Not to suggest that Viewmont did not deserve the Class 5-A wrestling state championship the past two years, or Fremont the year before that.
This season, however, the team that wins the 5-A title will really have earned it.

That's because the classification has been made extra tough with the addition of Utah County powers Pleasant Grove, Lone Peak and Spanish Fork.

"Those schools have added a lot to the talent pool in 5-A," Davis coach Alan Porter said. "There is a lot more depth."

The 2005-06 wrestling season officially began last week with a few pre-Thanksgiving dual meets and quad meets and Brighton's annual meet, but it starts in earnest this week with some major tournaments, including the Layton Invitational, Northridge's Excalibur Duals, the Carbon Duals and, for the smaller schools, tournaments at Panguitch and Millard.

The shakeups in 5-A and 4-A have left many coaches scratching their heads as they filled out their preseason rankings questionnaires. Foremost, how much impact will the new Utah County 5-A region have on 5-A? And now that some of the big boys such as Spanish Fork and Pleasant Grove have left 4-A, what becomes of that classification?

It should all make for a rather intriguing prep wrestling season, capped with the state meets Feb. 8-11 at Utah Valley State College.

In 5-A, newcomer Pleasant Grove starts the season with The Salt Lake Tribune's top ranking, followed closely by Weber and Northridge.

Pleasant Grove has five returning state placers, including senior Mitch Sanderson, state champion in 4-A's 160-pound division last year, and Gerhart Vuksinik, a UVSC signee who was second at 145 in 2005. Weber also has a returning state champion, Jorge Lopez, at 189, and some title hopefuls in Nate Hubbard at 152 and Jay Tracy at 215.

Northridge coach Troy Brown says this is his best team in seven years as coach, better than last year's 5-A runner-up to Viewmont. Senior Mark Dennis won a 171-pound state title for the Knights last year and has moved up to 189. Brown says Jesse Betts, Spencer Ito, Kendall Raddon and Mike Baker are also title threats.

Simply put, 4-A has been weakened with the loss of the Utah County schools to 5-A and Logan to 3-A. In their place are some schools not known for wrestling - Cottonwood, Granger and Lehi.

Mountain Crest and Box Elder, winners of five of the last seven 4-A crowns (Spanish Fork won the other two) should again go head-to-head for the 2006 championship, although Springville beat Spanish Fork for the first time in more than 25 years in a dual meet last week and could be 4-A's biggest surprise.

In 3-A, it will be the same old story as Wasatch, Uintah and Delta again contend for the middle-classification crown. Millard looks to regain its stranglehold on the 2-A title, after Juab outpointed the Eagles 233-214 1/2 last year to end their four-year run.

In 1-A, Wayne will try to repeat for the first time since 2001, but Altamont and Monticello look decent, and Whitehorse, which has gone from three wrestlers to 22 in three years, could be a ... dark horse.

Rankings
CLASS 5-A
1. Pleasant Grove
2. Weber
3. Northridge
4. Viewmont
5. Alta

CLASS 4-A
1. Mountain Crest
2. Box Elder
3. Springville
4. Payson
5. Provo

CLASS 3-A
1. Wasatch
2. Uintah
3. Delta
4. Bear River
5. Pine View

CLASS 2-A
1. Millard
2. Juab
3. North Sevier
4. South Summit
5. Manti

CLASS 1-A
1. Wayne
2. Altamont
3. Piute
4. Monticello
5. Rich