February 2008: Murray Journal

Spartan Grapplers Have Seasoned Bookends
by Tom Patton

Murray wrestling coach Todd Thompson feels he has a young team with good potential heading into the post-season tournaments.

With two varsity grapplers favored to go deep in the state 4A tournament and only three seniors wrestling in the 14 weight classes, Thompson says the team, while young, has a good foundation for the future.

“Considering how young we are, I think we’re doing really well,” said Thompson. “We have a couple of good strong kids we work around.” Thompson is speaking of senior Matt Fairbrother, who wrestles at 285 pounds, and junior Kevin Sierer at the other end of the weight spectrum at 103 pounds, both of whom placed in last year’s state tournament. Fairbrother and Sierer also qualified for the Richardson Memorial and Rocky Mountain Rumble tournaments in January, with Sierer taking third at the Richardson and Fairbrother winning it. At the Rocky Mountain Rumble, which features top wrestlers from five or six states, Sierer made it through the first five rounds before suffering a neck injury. Fairbrother pinned every opponent in less than two minutes to get to the final where he lost a
tough decision to Justin Blackmore of West Jordan 3-2.

“These two tournaments are tougher than the state tournament. Place in these tournaments and you’ll do well in the state tournament,” said Thompson. Fairbrother is ranked in the top 30 high school wrestlers in the nation in his weight class and will go on to wrestle for Utah Valley University.

Should Sierer recover from his neck injury to challenge in the state tournament, he might look to his family for inspiration. To begin with, his father, Tony Sierer, is a
Spartan assistant coach, but he also has two uncles, Ted Sierer and Matt Wood, who between them won five state titles in a row at 103 pounds.

“Matt won three titles and might’ve won another as a freshman, but he lost to Ted in the finals in 1990,” said Tony Sierer. Adding one more twist to this Sierer family wrestling story is the fact that Ted Sierer is the head coach at Region Six rival Highland High.

Thompson feels he has some up-and-coming underclass wrestlers.

“Jordan Schroeder, at 135 pounds, was one round away from placing last year as a freshman,” said Thompson. He also mentioned that sophomore Clint Nordin, 112 pounds, and junior Andy Graves, 119 pounds, could both place this year. Another varsity wrestler on the team, junior Kylie Burton at 130 pounds, has the unique challenge of being the only female wrestler in Region Six.