Feb. 14, 2008: Vernal Express

Uintah Qualifies 25 Wrestlers for State
by Casey Christensen

The Uintah Utes’ wrestling team took second place behind Wasatch at the Region 10 tournament on Feb. 10. Head Coach Gregg Stensgard said there was both good and bad about the tournament.

“You can’t overlook the fact that Wasatch is a good team, but I feel we had our best chance to beat them in that smaller type tournament. They will probably put six or seven wrestlers in the finals. We have to counter by taking as many places as we can,” said the coach. “I think our team is the only team in the state that isn’t afraid of Wasatch. They might be better than us, but we’re not afraid of them. No one is unstoppable.”

Stensgard explained he was impressed with his junior varsity squad throughout the tournament.

“They beat some great varsity kids,” he explained. “That is always a good sing for next year. We are going to be able to bring almost two full teams to the state championship.”

Uintah will need as many players as possible at state if they hope to conquer the Wasps. If the Wasps are able to win seven of 14 weight classes, Uintah has to score points by putting a large amount of wrestlers in placing positions from sixth to third.

“It’s going to be an uphill battle against Wasatch,” said Stensgard. “I think we’ve given ourselves a shot.”

He said he felt Uintah had two “pretty sure locks to take state,” but he adds anything is possible.

Qualifying for state and their placing at the region tournament are:

• At 103, Candace Workman, first.

• At 112, Colby Christensen, first; Jordan Dunbar, fourth.

• At 119, Stratton Schultz, second; Russel Harrison, fifth.

• At 125, Taylor Merkley, second.

• At 130, Creedon Merkley, first; Daniel Stratton, third.

• At 135, Jesse Mckee, second; Cahill Oldham, fourth.

• At 140, John Kunzler, fourth; Kenny Kielkowski, fifth.

• At 145, Matt Sunkees, second; Casey Bryson, third.

• At 152, Justin Spence, second; Lane Woody, third.

• At 160, Justin Curtice, second; TJ Hiatt, fifth.

• At 171, Jake Price, third; Kade Chew, fourth.

• At 189, Ben Robinson, third.

• At 215, Josh Rhodes, first; Nick Merrick, second.

• Heavyweight, Rusty Farnsworth, second; Jeff Murray, fourth.

Stensgard said he was impressed by Farnsworth’s finals match. “He stayed in good position and wrestled better until he got caught.”

“We wrestled well at 215,” added the coach. “[Merrick] fights in there and stays with it, he never quits and should be one of our placers at state.”

Stensgard said his team is full of kids who may not be the most talented or the most athletic., but, “They win on guts and determination and I’d rather have a room full of those sort of wrestlers.”

“We are getting the most out of our kids,” he continued. “I tell them if they wrestle their best and fifth place is the best they can do it is nothing to be disappointed about. A lot of factors determine if you are a successful wrestler.”

As the team prepares for the most important week of the season he said they are excited and ready to wrestle at state.

“I hope we go to state with a different mentality than what we had at region,” he explained. “We built small leads and then wrestled to protect those leads. I’ve never been that sort of coach, if you have a two-point lead I want a four-point. But that is all history now and there is nothing we can do about. We just need to get ready for this week.”