Dec. 19, 2004: Deseret Morning News

Darts Dominate Tourney
by Michael Black

VIEWMONT— For Davis wrestling coach Alan Porter, the Viewmont Invitational Wrestling Tournament turned out to be one great big reunion.

Porter and Viewmont coach Bart Thompson were team wrestling captains together at Davis during their high school days, so coming to Thompson's mats and pitting the two teams together adds a little extra incentive.

"Bart and I have been friends a long time," said Porter. "It really is kind of fun for both of us to get our teams together like this."

On Saturday, it was Porter's team that dominated the competition as the Darts ran away with the team score, upsetting the host and defending state champion, Viewmont, 223.5-207.5. Bingham finished a distant third at 162 points and Brighton tallied 154.5.

Besides competing against his former teammate, Porter has one son who helps coach the Darts and another son who wrestles. Sean Porter is only a sophomore, but he is also a returning state champion. He cruised through the 130-pound division, earning his team valuable points and taking home the title with a technical fall against Trace Vanorden of Layton.

But other than Sean Porter helping the team, coach Porter gives much of the credit for the team's outstanding results to his other son, Neal Porter, an assistant coach.

"I can tell the kids to do something a thousand times, and maybe I see some results, but (Neal) says something to them and it is just gospel," Alan Porter said.

The Darts are currently ranked No. 2 in 5A, but considering they were trailing only Viewmont, they are currently the team to beat.

"I have some great team leadership in my seniors," Porter said. "That, and we had a great quarterfinal round today advancing nine wrestlers to the semis. I was happy with my seniors, and my sophomores were great with four out of five placing."

Thompson was equally impressed with how the Darts stepped up. "Davis looked really good. I was kind of hoping they weren't as good as everyone thought they would be, but they are every bit as good as expectations," he said.

The Darts took home the team title, but there were several other individuals who stood out on the mats. Riverton's Michael Watts, a returning state champion, won the 119-pound division and was named the lower-weights outstanding wrestler of the tournament. Talan Knox, also a defending champion, won in the 160-pound class and took home the upper-weights title of outstanding wrestler.

Bountiful's Cameron George continued his masterful season. After winning the Layton tournament a couple weeks ago, he ran his record to 14-0 by sweeping through the 135-pound division and adding another title.

"These tournaments are fun because you see more competition," George said. "You have to save yourself a little bit and wrestle more than just once, plus you get to see how well your team does. It gets you ready for state."

If this tournament was any indication, the Darts are ready for state as well.

"I think that a lot of the time it just comes down to how healthy you are," he said. "We have two guys that are out that we can get back, but sometimes the winner is just the healthiest team."