February 2007: Millcreek Journal

Skyline Wrestlers Find Individual Success at Region Tournament
by Sarah Thomas

Historically, Skyline wrestling has not been a force to be reckoned with. In fact, according to head coach Sydney Lott, the program hasn’t really been very good for the last three decades. That is the past, though, and right now Lott’s team has turned around all expectations.

“This has been [Skyline wrestling’s] best regular season ever,” he said. On the season, the Eagles earned themselves a 31-5 team record going into the region tournament.

Previous to competing in the region tournament, Lott said his team expected to do well. “We’re a pretty deep team and we match up well with our competition.” Lott also said that the teams in Region II are very good, and any success would be well-earned.

“Alta and Brighton are always very tough, Taylorsville has some good kids on the team, and Jordan is pretty deep.” The head coach was correct in his assessment
of the region, as Alta and Brighton took the gold and silver trophies, respectively. Jordan snatched third place, leaving fourth for Skyline, and Taylorsville and Hillcrest finished in the last two places.

Despite not doing as well as expected as a team, Lott said there were three athletes on his team that he knew would finish near the top of the post-season tournament. The first of those, senior Eric Meyer who competes in the 251-pound weight class, rolled through the regular season as he won 28 of his 32 matches. Meyer went on to place third in the region tournament. In addition to Meyer, Lott had high praise for two sophomores, Derek Jessee and Bret Claypier.  “Those boys really push each other in practice. They love the sport and work really hard to improve at it.”

Jessee, who competes in the 112-pound class, had a regular season record of 35-7 and went on to finish second in the region tournament. Claypier defeated Conner Meadows of Brighton on his way to winning the 119-pound region title.

These three boys were not the only Eagles to finish at the top of their weight classifications, there were actually seven more. Jason Winward earned a second place trophy in the 125-pound division, and Dallin Cromary and Casey Gerdes finished second and third among 135-pound competition. Ian McKnight took second place in his division (145-pound) as well. Geoff Smith finished fourth (189-pound weight class), Vincent Fanua came in fourth behind teammate Meyer (215-pound), and Will Vea finished third in his weight classification (285-pound).