Feb. 14, 2008: Provo Daily Herald

Cavemen Grapplers Finish Third at Region 4 Tournament
by Neil K. Warner and Beky Beaton

The American Fork wrestling team finished third Friday night in their home gym and qualified 10 wrestlers for the state tournament this week at UVSC.

It will be the largest contingent to represent the Cavemen at the state meet in at least a decade.

Spanish Fork racked up 258.5 points to win the Region 4 title. Lehi placed second with 197.5 points, American Fork was third with 177.0 points, and Lone Peak came in fourth (131 points), followed by Pleasant Grove (123) and Timpanogos (37).

Two Cavemen won individual region titles: Justin Ballantyne (28-11 overall) at 103 and Michael Hortman (35-3) at 145.

Finishing second were Jason Ballantyne (26-14) at 103, Scott Newman (26-12) at 119, Kyle Sumsion (26-10) at 189 and Jason Day (25-9) at 285.

Jake Horan (27-8) at 160 and Mitch Nicholes (18-18) at 171 were third, while Matt Newman (19-14) at 125 and Lee Caldwell (14-3) at 171 came in fourth.

Others who placed at the region meet but will not be advancing include Clint Randall (fifth at 130), Collin Gerratt (fifth at 140), Dallin Horan (fifth at 152), Weston Smith (fifth at 189), Jared Smith (sixth at 135), Shane Kitchen (sixth at 152) and Brody Kinder (sixth at 285).

The Dons had the Region 4 title wrapped up before the final round even began, with nine wrestlers in the championships.

The night started off with an interesting dilemma for Bob Ballantyne, who wasn't sure which son to cheer for.

His sons, twins Justin and Jason of American Fork, squared off for the region title at 103 pounds. Justin used his weight advantage (103 to 88 pounds) to pin his brother (4:47).

Lehi's Brennan Christensen beat Lone Peak's Cory Hancock with an 8-2 decision at 112 pounds. Then at 119 pounds, Pleasant Grove's Craig Young beat American Fork's Scott Newman by a major decision (22-11).

Ashworth then started the Spanish Fork run when he beat Pleasant Grove's Brock Nichols 12-5 at 125. Lone Peak's Paul Johnson then defeated Nolan Haycock of Spanish Fork by a major decision (18-5) in the 130 weight class.

Spanish Fork's Rodney Cox met Lehi's Cam Phillips at 135 and made quick work of Phillips, pinning him in just 1:04.

In an indication of how good Spanish Fork is, Hadley Thorpe upset his teammate Tom Clark at 140 pounds.

Michael Hortman won a hotly contested 11-7 bout against Alex Nicholes from Pleasant Grove at 145 in a match that drew the loudest ovation of the night and went down to the final seconds.

Spanish Fork's Dave Sorensen used a technical fall to beat Ryan Bennion of Lehi at 152, and at 160, Lehi's Jacob Sasser pinned (4:50) Phillip Sorensen of Spanish Fork.

Kyle Weight of Spanish Fork held off Zane Mendenhall of Lone Peak 8-4 at 171, and Lehi's Taylor Savio pinned American Fork's Kyle Sumsion at 3:45 in the 189 bracket.

The night concluded with a pair of pins. At 215, Lone Peak's Tyler Curtis closed out Kade Christensen of Spanish Fork (4:17), and Lehi's Dylan Stadel pinned American Fork's Jason Day (3:54) in the heavyweight division to conclude the action.