February 2008: West Valley Journal

Wolverine Wrestlers Repeat as Region Champions, Finish Ninth in State
by Josh McFadden
 

The Hunter wrestling program has consistently been one of the best in region competition the past few seasons. This year, the team showed it belonged among the state’s elite.

The Wolverines capped off a solid season with one of their highest-ever finishes at state, placing 10th at the 5A state tournament, held Feb. 13-15 at Utah Valley State College. The team’s best finish at state was eighth, which it achieved in 1996.

Hunter scored 87 points in the tournament.

“It was a successful season,” said head coach Craig Stauffer. “I’m happy with the way things went. It was a fun year. It was a great group of kids. They tried their guts out.”

Hunter qualified 15 wrestlers for state, more than any other squad except Viewmont. Eleven of those competitors had avoided elimination during the first two rounds. For the most part Stauffer was pleased with his wrestlers, though some of his top competitors were unexpectedly eliminated in early rounds. This kept the Wolverines from meeting Stauffer’s goal of finishing in at least eighth place.

“It’s a tough tournament,” Stauffer said. “Some kids step up to the challenge and some don’t.”

Chase Mecham, Romeo Drawn, Colton Griffiths, Jake Sneddon and Jordan Solomon each advanced to the final day of competition. Drawn, Griffiths and Solomon made it to the third-fourth place match, while Mecham and Sneddon got to the fifth-sixth place match. Only Solomon was able to win his final match, giving him Hunter’s top individual showing of third place.

Hunter actually stood in fourth place after the first day, but fell in the standings to twelfth place after a tough second day. Thanks to the efforts of the Wolverines’ five state placers, the team was able to pick up enough points to move back up two spots.

The Wolverines won the Region 3 championship for the second consecutive season and for the fourth time in the past five seasons. Still, even with the recent success in region, the team hadn’t placed higher than twelfth at state. That changed this year.

At region, the Wolverines earned 385.5 points to edge out West Jordan and Bingham for the title. Griffiths and Nate Black took first in their respective weight classes, while Anthony Rojas, Mecham, Alex Eliason, Kenny Jackson, Drawn, Branden Wamsley, Solomon and Felipe Treviso finished second. Dominic Ek and Sneddon placed third to qualify for state. Fourth-place winners were Michael Daniels, Zach Webster, Eric Martinez and Taylor Hauser.

Cyprus finished the 4A state tournament in the middle of the pack, coming in 13th place with 48 points. But one Pirate wrestler was the best in his class.

Matt Brown, a 145-pound senior competitor, picked up his third straight state championship by defeating Payson’s Colton Cannon in the final match. The match lasted just 3:22 and ended when Brown pinned Cannon. Brown entered the state tournament as class 4A’s top-ranked 145-pound wrestler. He had a 29-1 record in the regular season.

Brown won his first match in the tournament by pinning his opponent in 3:10. He won his next two matches 9-3 and 17-2.