March 2008: South Valley Journal

Riverton Wrestling Completes Jarring Season
by Brett Perfili

Riverton High’s wrestlers recently battled through one of the worst seasons they have suffered since the school opened in 2000. However, with all of the negativity it faced, the team still finished up the season strong, and has much to look forward to in future seasons.

Riverton sent five wrestlers to compete in the state tournament that was held at the McKay Events Center Feb. 13 to 15. No wrestlers from Riverton won their weight class division, but all won at least one match in the double elimination event. After the first day of the competition, all five wrestlers were still in the contest, and three of the wrestlers went on to wrestle in the championship in the end.

“We finished stronger than I expected,” Riverton wrestling coach Russ Crump said. “[We] always wish we had more [in state competition]. We expected eight or nine.”

The positive outcome at the end of season was satisfying for the RHS team because of the rough season it dealt with.

The wrestling team faced its share of trials and tribulations; seven main wrestlers did not compete quitting the team during the season for various reasons including
work conflicts, poor grades and frustration with their own progress.

According to Crump, several of the players that could compete at a high level for Riverton performed poorly in the classroom with poor grades and attendance.
And that’s why they were not there with the team for the whole season.

“We figured to have three or four more guys in the state ranking, but they were ineligible,” he said.

This is a season Crump is glad to have behind him.

“We should be better next year. A lot of our distractions will be gone,” he said. “I don’t think our players will be ineligible again. That experience is behind us.”

One reason Crump has reason to believe that Riverton will be better next year is three returning state qualifiers. Among those three is Seth Endemano who is ranked as the fourth-best wrestler in his weight division, 171 pounds, going into next season. He competed in the state competition and took third place in Region 3.

“He [Endemano] is very driven. Extremely hard working,” senior Riverton wrestling captain Eli Fielden said. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he became state champion.”

Crump admitted there weren’t a lot of highlights throughout the season, but was optimistic because of the performance that he saw from the kids in the final stretch.

“Every week there was one or two kids that did very well,” Crump said. “The time and effort that the kids put in at the end was good.”

The Riverton wrestling team will move on from this rough season and begin preparing for next season this summer. The team will attend a camp in June in Orem put on by Olympic gold medal winner, wrester Rulon Gardner.