Dec. 20, 2004: The Spectrum

Hurricane Wrestlers Place Fourth at Desert Storm Meet
by Brad Plothow

ST. GEORGE — Kenny Scott's 12-4 decision over Snow Canyon's Kyle Coop in the 189-pound bout gave Hurricane a 123-122 edge over the Warriors and a fourth-place finish at the Dixie Desert Storm Wrestling Classic, the highest placement of any area school at the 16-team tournament at Burns Arena Friday and Saturday.

Prior to the tournament finals, only five points separated SC, Hurricane and Payson, which held the third, fourth and fifth places, respectively. Delta and Millard had already established insurmountable leads, and finished respectively in first and second place with 213 and 148.5 points.

Before the 189-pound matchup, Snow Canyon held a 122-120 edge over Hurricane, thanks to Tyler Hathaway's 11-9 overtime win over South Summit's Cliff Leavitt in the 160-pound bout.

But more than just a tournament victory rode on Scott's win — so did his perfect season and intraleague bragging rights. Scott entered his match with Coop 10-0, and the two will likely grapple later this season in Region 9 competition. Still, Scott said he approached the match the same as any other.

"I feel confident," said Scott after his hard-fought victory. "(This tournament was) like practice — steps to greater things, such as taking region or even taking state."

Hurricane placed three grapplers in the finals, the most of any of the five Region 9 squads in attendance. Tigers' 130-pounder Jared Leavitt bested Pahrump's Caleb Madosik 7-3, and Rick Lang lost 6-4 to Delta's Trent Steele in the 215-pound matchup.

The Warriors' fifth-place finish was an indication of the team's improvement over last season, when Snow Canyon had to field its junior varsity and varsity teams from a pool of only about a dozen wrestlers.

Dixie, which was host of the tournament, placed only 135-pounder Jason Ferguson in the finals, but finished ahead of conference rivals Cedar and Canyon View. Throughout his finals bout, Ferguson avoided being pinned by Payson's Trevor Mellen, but he eventually lost by technical fall.

Enterprise and Virgin Valley finished behind Cedar and CV in team points, but did what the latter teams didn't - place wrestlers in the finals. Enterprise's Steven Pickering slipped past Pleasant Grove's Kawai Goodman 5-2 at 119 pounds, and VV's Kyle Johnson outlasted PG 145-pounder Gerhart Vuksinick 6-4. 
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