LAYTON — Thursday night was a restless one for Viewmont wrestling coach Bart Thompson. His Viking squad, which has captured the last three 5-A state championships, had just been hammered by four-time defending 3-A champ Wasatch High, 46-27 and Thompson wondered how tough this group of Vikings really is.

“I was concerned,” Thompson said. “We went up there and just didn’t wrestle well. I was worried about what this group was made of.”

When the smoke cleared at the Layton Invitation Saturday, the Vikings had captured second place behind that same Wasatch squad, but Thompson felt he had his answer.

“I feel much better about things today than I did Thursday night,” Thompson said. “Our team showed they were tough and would wrestle hard.”

Leading the way for the Vikings was Nate Larsen, last year’s 5A 103-lb. state champion. The junior is now at 112 lbs. and knocked off Zak Baker of Davis High School, 6-0 in the finals. Viewmont’s other finalist, Nate Holgreen dropped a hard fought 3-2 decision to Alex Kovis from Battle Mountain, Nev.

“Nate (Larsen) wrestled well this weekend and knows he and Baker will lock horns many times before the season is over,” Thompson said. “Holgreen had one of his best weekends, and he now knows he’s a real serious contender in his weight class.”

Davis High finished third just behind its rival, Viewmont, capturing four runners-up places. Baker at 112 lbs. and three-time 5A state champion Sean Porter (140), who dropped a hard fought match, 2-1, to Springfield High’s Jason Chamberlain, 189- pounder Austin Taylor who was defeated by Layton’s Adam Fager, 7-5 in overtime and 275-pounder Tom Arone.

“I’m real pleased with our performance,” said Davis Head Coach Alan Porter, Sean’s father. “For some of our guys, this was the first competition of the season.”

“This is the first step in the process leading to the state tournament.”

Layton’s Fager, who moved to Utah from Arizona where he was an all-state wrestler, is coached by his older brothers Jon and Noah.

“I think it was good for Adam to have such a great weekend,” said brother and assistant coach Noah. “It’s always tough to come to a new school and become part of a new team, so this turned out nicely for him and the team.”

Fager was joined in the finals by teammate Chris Moat. Moat finished second at 160 to Ethan Smith of Wasatch, dropping his final match, 4-2.

“The kids know that we expect them to compete with teams like Viewmont, Davis and Wasatch,” Noah Fager said. “It’s an attitude of expectations and I thought we wrestled pretty well.”

“These in-season tournaments like the Layton tournament are in some ways more difficult than the state tournament because you have such great competition from top to bottom,” Thompson said.

The Layton tournament had included the Vikings, Mountain Crest, and Wasatch, the 5A, 4A and 3A state champions from last year, respectively.