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 May 2008:
South Valley Journal
Bingham Wrestler Places Seventh Nationally
by Catherine Garrett
Bingham High senior Ryker Vandertoolen ended his high
school wrestling career with a seventh-place finish in the
112-pound weight division at the National
High School Coaches Association National Wrestling
Championships at Virginia Beach, Va. March 28.
Vandertoolen, the son of Nate and Bonnie Vandertoolen of
South Jordan, was invited to the tournament with his
second consecutive second-place finish at state in early
February. To compete at nationals, participants had to be
state champions or runners-up.
“It was awesome to place that high because there was some
pretty stiff competition,” he said.
Vandertoolen's private wrestling coach, Gabe Vigil,
traveled with him to the prestigious tournament that
allows high school wrestlers college exposure.
“Ryker did really well,” Vigil said. “He has shown a lot
of improvement this year.”
Wrestling has been part of Vandertoolen 's life for the
past 10 years. His dad wrestled and Vandertoolen figured
since he was small wrestling would suit him the best. His
two younger brothers, a freshman and a fifth-grader, have
also taken up the sport making it a family affair.
“Ryker's worked really hard in wrestling and it's exciting
to see him have the success he's had this year,” Bonnie
Vandertoolen said.
Earlier in the season, Vandertoolen had a first-place
finish at the Rocky Mountain Rumble, helping his team to a
sixth-place finish out of 64 teams. He also placed third
at the Layton tournament in scoring points for the Miners'
third-place finish out of 22 teams. At the 22-team
Viewmont Invitational, Vandertoolen again placed third in
Bingham's eighth-place finish.
Bonnie Vandertoolen said she was excited to see her son
place at nationals because typically he narrowly misses
the placement round at the bigger tournaments.
“He was really disheartened about state and the
competition at nationals was tough, so it was thrilling to
see him do so well,” she said.
On April 26, Vandertoolen competed at a regional
championship in Las Vegas.
Vandertoolen plans to wrestle at Western Wyoming for a
year before serving an LDS mission and hopes to wrestle
for Boise State upon his return.
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