May 2008: South Valley Journal

Moss Defends State Wrestling Title
by Catherine Garrett

Bingham High sophomore Kade Moss defended his state wrestling title Feb. 15 at Utah Valley State College in the 119-pound weight division in helping his team to a seventh-place finish.

Moss, a Cadet All-American, said he felt a lot of relief in defeating Zak Baker of Davis to keep his title.

“There was a lot of pressure on me and I was really happy to win again,” he said. “It feels as good as the first one.”

The Region 3 champion is the son of Michael and Andrea Moss of South Jordan and is one in a long line of wrestlers in the family. His brother Mitch was a two-time state champion for Bingham and, between dad, brothers, uncles and cousins, the Moss family has several multiple all-state wrestlers and it seems the sport is naturally in the genes.

In fact, four-time Idaho state champion Shawn Jones, Moss' cousin, lived with the Moss family this past year and not only helped Kade with his wrestling but also assisted the Miners team.

“He was a huge help to me this year in improving my skills and confidence,” Kade Moss said.

At age 8, Kade Moss started wrestling under the tutelage of Bulgarian Olympic Silver Medalist Ivan Ivanov at Draper's Treehouse Athletic Club. After a couple of years, Ivanov moved east to coach at the Olympic Education Center at Northern Michigan University but Moss continues an association with him in an annual wrestling camp at Marquette University.

Moss' current private coach, Gabe Vigil, has been working with him since the seventh grade and said he has seen continual improvement in his wrestling skills.

“He's been wrestling a lot better this year,” Vigil said.

During his sophomore season, Moss had a first-place finish at the Rocky Mountain Rumble in helping his team to a sixth-place finish out of 64 teams He also won
the title at the Viewmont Invitational when he led Bingham to an eighth-place showing of the 22 teams competing. He also placed third at the Layton tournament, scoring points for the Miners' third-place finish out of 24 teams.

“The thing about Kade is he thinks he's going to win every match,” Vigil said. “And that confidence works to his advantage.”

In mid-April, Moss placed third at the FILA Cadet Nationals in a higher weight class (127 pounds).

“Sometimes it helps to move up in weight and see how you do against some really good competition,” Moss said.

Moss hopes his wrestling success leads to college scholarships and a bright future in the sport. He will compete at the end of April at a regional tournament in Las Vegas and at Fargo Nationals in North Dakota at the end of the summer.