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July
13, 2007: Wrestling USA
Magazine
Kilpack Utah's USA Wrestling Freestyle and Greco-Roman
All-American
(Sandy, Utah) July 13, 2007 — Twelve-year-old William
Kilpack of Sandy was named All-American by USA Wrestling
in both freestyle and Greco-Roman wrestling at the Kids
National Championships held in Green Bay, Wis., July 6-7,
2007. He was the only Utahn to be so named in the
tournament.
Kilpack, who just completed his sixth-grade year at
Sunrise Elementary School, was the runner-up in freestyle
in the 90-pound weight class in the Novice Division (11
and 12 year olds) at the USA Wrestling Kids Nationals, and
placed fourth in the Greco-Roman tournament. The top eight
placers received All-American honors.
Kilpack said, "It was a tough tournament with tough
competition. I had a couple quick pins, but most of them
were really tough matches."
Earlier in the season, Kilpack was crowned champion in
both styles in the 90-pound weight class at the USA
Wrestling Western Regional Championships held in Klamath
Falls, Ore., in June. In Oregon, he wrestled 15 matches,
and won 14 of them by fall or technical fall (gaining a
six-point lead in two of three rounds). This followed
taking gold medals in freestyle and Greco-Roman at both
the USA Wrestling-Utah and AAU Wrestling Utah state
championships in April and early May.
Kilpack said, "I'm very excited to have placed so high
at nationals. It means that I'm one of the best in the
country and I'm very proud of that. It just goes to show
how much I've grown and improved since two years ago."
In 2005, he placed sixth in both styles in the Midget
division (ages 9 and 10). That year, he was Utah's only
USA Wrestling All-American, also. He did not compete at
USA Wrestling Kids Nationals in 2006 because he was in
England and Scotland, representing Utah and the United
States as a Student Ambassador.
Kilpack is a member of Mountain Top Wrestling Club, a
nonprofit organization operating through Salt Lake County
Rec, practicing at Jordan High School. Coach and father
Bill Kilpack (III) said, "William has all the potential in
the world and, despite all that he's done already, is
really just starting to take off as an athlete. He was the
only one to win a round by technical superiority against
the freestyle champion, and pinned or teched every other
opponent. In Greco-Roman, he opened the tournament with an
eight-second fall (his fastest ever), then came out in his
second match with a seven-second fall. He has been really
good for a long time but, this year, I think he's looked
better than ever. He got to pay back the kid who kept him
out of the finals in Greco by beating him by technical
fall in freestyle, 6-0, 7-0, then got to pay back a kid
who beat him twice in Green Bay two years ago, teching him
8-2, 6-0. He had an amazing tournament."
Kilpack has been recognized by the club coaching staff
as one of the team's Outstanding Wrestlers each of the
past seven years. He is currently ranked as the top
Novice-division wrestler in Utah (regardless of weight)
and the top Kids-division wrestler in the state (ages four
to 14, regardless of weight). He is already a five-time
national champion (the fifth earned in June in folkstyle
at the AAU Grand Nationals in Butte, Mont.), a five-time
national runner-up (two of those also at Butte, in
freestyle and Greco-Roman), an eight-time state champion
and a seven-time silver medalist at state. He has won nine
championships at the Utah Summer Games. He was also named
the Intermountain Champion for the Novice division in the
first ever Intermountain Champion Series, the award to be
presented at the Utah All-Stars dual against the Ohio
All-Stars next week, where he will be representing Utah
for the second time. In February 2005, Utah Sports
Magazine recognized him as one of Utah's Best. At the age
of 12, he has wrestled more than 640 matches, winning 515
of them.
He said, "Wrestling is a tough sport, but I love it.
You need to be able to withstand hard contact and keep
going. It takes a lot of effort in practice to be able to
keep going without running out of gas."
Kilpack will be competing at the State Games of America
in Colorado Springs, Colo., in early August, a biannual
national tournament where those competing had to place at
their state's respective summer games. He won national
titles in both freestyle and folkstyle at this tournament
two years ago.
Kilpack will be a seventh-grader at Indian Hills Middle
School in the new school year. He said he wants to one day
wrestle in the Olympics and wrestle the Pan-Am Games. He
said, "Doing well at wrestling can open up lots of things
for me, like college scholarships, and going to a good
college can make sure I have a good job when I don't
wrestle anymore." He said he wants to grow up to be a
surgeon.
Kilpack is also a skilled gymnast and football player.
Last year, in his first year playing football, he earned
his place on a division championship team, starting at
halfback and linebacker, and returning punts and kicks. He
was the team's leading scorer on offense, and the team's
leading tackler on defense. Kilpack also plays piano and
cello.
Mountain Top Wrestling Club is a nonprofit 501(c)3
corporation dedicated to providing a venue for individuals
to learn, develop and refine their athletic skills and
abilities; and teaching the rules and regulations of
freestyle, folkstyle and Greco-Roman wrestling. It is open
to male and female athletes ages four and older who live
anywhere in the State of Utah. Practices are held three
days a week at Jordan High School. For more information,
call 641-9832, e-mail
coach@mountaintopwrestling.com or visit them on the
Worldwide Web at
www.mountaintopwrestling.com. |
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