Oct.
20, 2006: Wrestling USA
Magazine
Jordan Junior Wrestling Launches Into New Season with
New Coach
(Sandy, Utah) Oct.
20, 2006 — Jordan Junior Wrestling will enter into the 2006-2007
junior high/middle school wrestling season with a new coach: Bill
Kilpack of Mountain Top Wrestling Club.
"I'm very excited for the new season,"
Kilpack said. "There is a very well-established tradition in
the Jordan Junior program since it started seven or so years ago,
and I am confident that the team will continue to build and
improve."
Kilpack is succeeding Jason Brown as
head coach. Brown founded the program originally.
Previous Jordan Junior Wrestling successes have included taking
third as a team at the 4A/5A Junior High State Championships in the
Middle School Division in 2005, a dozen individual state champions
and several dozen state placers.
Kilpack said, "The majority of the guys
who have gone through Jordan Junior Wrestling have ended up on
varsity as freshmen and sophomores when they reached high school."
With the new coach will come some
changes in the program, but the emphasis will remain the same,
according to Kilpack. He said, "The goal will continue to be
teaching these young athletes the skills and disciplines necessary
to be successful in folkstyle wrestling. But the focus on
making it as fun as possible will also live on. We have some
ideas on things that will help build off the foundations that are
already laid, creating some traditions, and continuing to expand
this very successful program."
Kilpack, a native of West Jordan, was an
original member of the Sundance Wrestling Club, arguably the finest
freestyle/Greco-Roman wrestling team in Utah history, producing the
first two world champions from Utah, and dozens of other
international and national honors. As a competitor, he garnered an
AAU national championship, seven national silver medals, seven more
national medals, and an alternate position on the Pan-Am team in
Greco-Roman wrestling. In addition, he was named All-American 15
times by AAU, the US Wrestling Federation or USA Wrestling in
freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling; was a seven-time Zone/Western
Regional champion; and a six-time state champion in freestyle and
Greco-Roman wrestling. He also spent many years helping coach
Sundance teammates.
He is Utah Editor for Wrestling USA
Magazine, American Adrenaline Magazine and IntermatWrestle.com, and founder
of UtahWrestling.org.
Also joining the coaching staff with Kilpack
will be his father, also named Bill Kilpack, and also from West Jordan.
The father Kilpack was one of the two original coaches of the
Sundance Wrestling Club, and a member of the University of Utah
wrestling team. He and his son founded Mountain Top Wrestling
Club and built the program together.
During their time at Mountain Top
Wrestling Club (formerly Jordan Freestyle Wrestling), the team has
produced one Team Championship, 6-12 and Under Division, Gladiator
World Championships; one Team Championship, 6 & Under Division, U.S.
Folkstyle Nationals; one Team Runner-Up Finish, 8 & Under Division,
U.S. Folkstyle Nationals; 18 All-Americans; 11 National Champions in
freestyle, Greco-Roman and folkstyle; five National Runner-Ups; 44
placers at national tournaments; two champions and nine placers at
the USA Wrestling Western Regional Championships; 35 State
Champions; three members of the Utah All-Star Team; one
representative on the Utah National Team; and one Outstanding
Wrestler at the Rocky Mountain Nationals.
Another new addition to the coaching
staff is Derek Jensen of West Valley City. Jensen has been
involved with wrestling for more than 17 years. He was a varsity
letterman all three years of high school at Hunter High School, was
a Utah Summer Games champion, a Region champion, a two-time
freestyle state champion, and competed at nationals as a senior in
high school. Following high school, he was a member of the wrestling
team at Palo Mar College in California before joining the military,
where he was twice named to the All-Marine Wrestling Team. He
has also coached youth sports such as football, baseball, and
basketball for more than 12 years, resulting in five youth state
titles between them.
Continuing to serve on the coaching
staff will be Jake Ribald. Ribald of West Jordan wrestled in
junior high and high school, starting in Kent, Wash., where he was a
varsity wrestler at Kent Meridian High School, and finished third in
state as a sophomore. He then moved to New Mexico, where he attended
Mayfield High in Las Cruces, and took second in state as a junior
and was a state champion his senior year. While in college, he
pursued Kempo karate in earnest, achieving a first-degree black
belt, and competed in full-contact karate and kickboxing. As
an adult, he has coached community sports such as wrestling,
football and soccer, as well as instructing in Kempo.
Practices are slated to begin on Nov. 6
at Jordan High School. Practices are held three days a week
from 7–8:30 p.m. at Jordan High School. With the Middle School
and Junior High Divisions now available, athletes from fifth to
ninth grades (so long as they are not wrestling on a high-school
wrestling team) are eligible.
Jordan Junior Wrestling is a folkstyle
wrestling program offered through Salt Lake County Recreation,
operating out or Jordan High School in Sandy. For more information,
go to
http://members.aol.com/jordanjuniors/ or email
jordanjuniors@aol.com.
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