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 April
14, 2008: Vernal Express
Uintah Wrestler Part of NCAA History
by Casey Christensen
Phillip Keddy joined a few of Uintah’s
elite NCAA wrestlers by placing sixth at the NCAA Division
1 championships. He was a part of the Iowa Hawkeye’s
championship team.
Not only did former Uintah wrestler
Phillip Keddy take home All-American honors by placing
sixth at the NCAA Division 1 wrestling tournament, he was
also a part of the National Championship squad from Iowa
University. Keddy becomes the second Uintah wrestler to be
a part of a collegiate national championship team, joining
Ryan Lewis a two-time member of Minnesota’s national
championships. Keddy also becomes the fourth collegiate
All-American from Uintah High School.
“It brings a lot of honor to know we have
kids that can compete at any level,” said Gregg Stensgard,
head wrestling coach at Uintah High. “It doesn’t get
anymore story book than the dream season Iowa had this
year. It shows the sort of hard work they put into their
program.”
Keddy started the tournament off with a
match against Charles Pienaar. He won 10-2. His second
match was against Kirk Smith of Boise State. The match
went into tie-breaking periods and Keddy was the eventual
winner 2-1. His quarterfinal match came against the
eventual champion of the 184 pound weight class, Mike
Pucillo of Ohio State. Pucillo defeated Keddy 4-3, despite
losing for the entire match he was able to take Keddy down
in the final 12 seconds of regulation for the win. Keddy’s
next match was in the consolation side of the bracket
where he beat Kurt Brenner of West Virginia 5-4. The win
guaranteed him an All-American honor. Keddy finished up
the tournament with a loss to Chris Sinnott 7-4 and a 6-4
loss to Raymond Jordan.
“[Keddy] has worked hard for this
throughout his wrestling career,” explained Stensgard. “He
ended this season in an unbelievable fashion.”
Keddy is a sophomore this year and will be
returning to Iowa for another shot at the NCAA title. Iowa
only lost one duel in their entire season. He was the top
finisher from Utah.
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