September 2007: Sandy Journal

Sandy Wrestler Wins National Title
by Ron Bevan

If you saw Carson Kuhn walking through local malls or in the halls of Alta High School, you would probably mistake him for any other teenage boy who can’t wait to get home to play video games. But run into him on the wrestling mat and you would immediately find out how wrong first impressions can be.

Kuhn is the reigning national champion for his weight class in freestyle wrestling. He took the honor at the USA Wrestling Cadet and Junior National Championships held in Fargo, N D., July 20-26. The event attracts wrestlers from around the nation who compete in both freestyle and Greco-Roman
forms of wrestling. Kuhn nearly became a double champion, finishing as runner-up in Greco-Roman.

“It was a lot of fun,” Kuhn said. “We wrestled in a stadium bigger than the Delta Center. I just wanted to do my best.”

Kuhn went undefeated in eight matches to win the freestyle portion of the 91-pound weight class. His finals match was against Valyen Rauser from Montana. Kuhn took the best-of-three match format with two straight wins, scoring 1-1 and 3-1. Although tying on the first match, he received the victory by scoring the final point of the match. On his way to the victory, Kuhn faced wrestlers from several different states.

“There is not a lot of difference in wrestlers from other states,” he said. “Mostly, the difference in style is from the coaches and how they teach. Usually you do moves you are comfortable with.”

The Greco-Roman style championship also came down to a decision between Kuhn and Rauser. This time it was Rauser’s turn to take the championship. Kuhn won the first match 4-2. He dropped a close second match at 3-4 setting up a final match for the decision. Rauser won it 12-1.

“He was doing good in the match and was controlling things,” said Kuhn’s dad, Kendal Kuhn. “He just made a risky decision that cost him.”

The two styles of wrestling differ greatly from the high school style most of us are used to. Freestyle is the closest to high school style, but differs greatly in the point structure. Greco-Roman is an upper body style of wrestling. Wrestlers cannot use their legs for holds in Greco-Roman.

“In high school wrestling, you try to use escape moves when you are on the bottom,” Kuhn said. “In freestyle and Greco-Roman, you try to defend. You
don’t want to get turned, because that’s where your opponent gets points.”

Getting turned was not a problem for Kuhn. While watching him wrestle, you notice he is the one usually on top and making the turns. Once he has his opponent
locked up and on bottom, Kuhn shows a fierce tenacity and does not allow his opponent to break the hold. He keeps him in place until he secures the win.

“He doesn’t lose his cool in a tight match,” said Gabe Vigil, Kuhn’s club coach of three years. “He is mentally strong, which is one of the most important virtues a wrestler could have.”

This was Kuhn’s first year wrestling as a cadet, 15 and 16 year old wrestlers. He won three AAU championships previously and twice was named as a Youth National Champion.

He wrestled for Alta High School last year while still attending Indian Hills Middle School. Even as one of the youngest wrestlers on the team, he won the 103-pound class at the Region 2 meet and also received Most Valuable Wrestler honors.

In June he was selected as a member of the USA Cadet National Greco-Roman wrestling team, which visited and wrestled in China.

“I turned 15 while on the Great Wall,” he said. “It was awesome and fun to visit China.”