Dec. 4, 2005: Deseret Morning News

Wasp Wrestlers Pin Down Another Tournament Victory
by Michael Black

LAYTON — The Layton Invitational may be one of this season's first major wrestling tournaments, but by looking at the leaders, it could easily be any of the last few years in Utah wrestling.

The Wasatch Wasps once again demonstrated their superiority as they won yet another tournament. Wasatch took the team title with 214 points and had three individual champions. Viewmont, the two-time defending state champion in 5A, finished second with 193.5 points, and Brighton finished third with 184.5 points.

"We have a lot of kids that work really hard to get where they are," said Wasatch coach Ben VomBaur. "I feel fortunate to coach here. There is such strong community support and a good junior program that feeds the program; that combination of things contributes to us being good every year."

The three individual champions from Wasatch were Jake Salazar, Ethan Smith and Carson Brown. While Brown ran away with a technical fall victory in his match, Salazar and Smith participated in the two closest and exciting matches of the finals.

Salazar, who wrestles at 140 pounds, matched up against two-time defending state champion — although at a lower weight classification — Sean Porter of Davis.

After many stalemates and standoffs, the two found themselves deadlocked in the third round with only 30 seconds remaining. Porter was awarded a point for Salazar being docked for stalling, but Salazar was unaware of the infraction. He still figured the match was tied and needed a take-down to secure the win. He got it with only 4.2 seconds remaining as he got in position behind Porter as the two went out of the ring for the dramatic 3-2 win.

"I didn't know I lost the point. I was just trying to get him down, and I was surprised when I looked up at the score and saw that I was only up by one point," said Salazar. "I saw that I had the lead and knew I just had to hang on for those last few seconds."

Smith got his victory over Marc Howells of Brighton. The two grapplers were even at zero after the first round, and after Smith elected to start the second period down, Howells conceded the escape point. It turned out to be the only point of the contest as Smith held on for the 1-0 decision.

While Wasatch dominated the team event, several individual wrestlers either made a name or proved that they are still at the top. Springville's Jason Chamberlain defeated Casey Smith of Wasatch in a 6-0 decision. It was sweet revenge for Chamberlain, who avenged his lone loss of a year ago.

"He was the only one that beat me last year. I was 38-1," Chamberlain said. "I had a goal last year to go undefeated and he beat me in this tournament. Now I have a chance to be champion and go undefeated."

The other wrestlers that finished as individual champions were: Jarrett Morill, Mountain Crest; Kolby Bradley, Springville; Matt Brown, Cyprus; Mitch Schroeder, Elko; K.C. Nate, Brighton; David Wiser, Viewmont; Talan Knox, Brighton; Eric McCallister, Hillcrest; Rhett Robinson, Box Elder; Sterling Coons, Lone Peak.