Tooele High School’s Seth Manning wrestles Trevor Ottenschott of Desert Hills Friday at the 3A State Tournament at Utah Valley University. Manning placed second at state in the 170-pound classification.
Stansbury High School’s Ivan Herrera wrestles a Uintah wrestler Friday at the 3A State Tournament at Utah Valley University. Herrera finished third at state in the 160-pound classification.
Grantsville High School’s Chance Warr wrestles at the 3A State Tournament at Utah Valley University Friday. Warr and Brennon Kimber represented Grantsville at the state tournament.
Tooele High School’s Johnny Sullivan wrestles a Wasatch wrestler at the 3A State Tournament at Utah Valley University Friday.
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Loading...Tooele’s Seth Manning dropped a tough 3-2 decision to Union’s Steven Welsh in the 170-pound championship match, earning a runner-up finish at the 3A State Wrestling Tournament last weekend. Manning led the Buffs to a 10th-place team finish with 64.5 team points. Stansbury finished 13th with 41 points. and Grantsville came in 23rd.
Although Delta only won one individual state title, the Rabbits won their state-leading 31st state title by placing 12 wrestlers in the top six places. Delta scored 217.5 points and edged Payson with 210.5 points. Wasatch came in third, Uintah was fourth and Union finished fifth.
Welsh grabbed a quick lead with an early two-point takedown in the opening period, but Manning pulled within one when he escaped before the end of the opening period. Manning worked Welsh for an escape in the second period to tie the match at 2-2 heading into the final period. After holding Welsh down for the first part of the final period, Welsh managed to take a 3-2 lead with an escape. Manning worked hard for the winning takedown, but Welsh held him off to capture the state title.
To get to the finals, Manning opened the tournament with a pin over Trevor Ottenschott of Desert Hills. In the quarters, he handled Wasatch’s Jake McNaughton, winning an 11-0 major decision. Manning met Spanish Fork’s Heber Shepherd in the semis. He defeated Shepherd in the divisional semis the previous week, beating him 3-2. This time, he dominated Shepherd, winning 7-3 to earn his spot in the finals.
At 113, Tooele’s Jarrid Lavios made it to the semis with a pin over Snow Canyon’s Kody Hafen and a 15-0 tech fall over Delta’s Josh Allen. Delta’s Jose Garcia was next for Lavios. In the opening period, Lavios took Garcia down, putting him on his back and taking a 4-0 lead. But Garcia, who went on to become state champ, turned it on to drop Lavios into the consolation bracket with a 12-5 win.
Lavios and Stansbury’s Jalen Herrera met in the consolation semis. In their only meeting this year, Herrera upset Lavios at the Best of the West tournament in Tooele, winning 5-3 in the finals. Lavios avenged his loss with a third period pin over Herrera, advancing to battle for third. He edged Mason Colledge of Spanish Fork 6-4 to earn the third-place medal.
Stansbury’s Ivan Herrera opened the tournament with an 8-3 decision over Uintah’s Austin Morland at 160 pounds. In the quarters, Herrera tangled with Cedar City’s Dallin Brooks. The two battled each other, taking turns with the lead. After three tough periods, Herrera and Brooks remained tied at 4-4. But Herrera worked Brooks for a takedown in the first period in overtime to earn a 6-4 sudden victory and advanced to the semis to battle Union’s Kaden Campbell.
In another close contest, Campbell advanced to the finals with a 7-5 decision over Herrera. In the consolation semis, Herrera had a return match with Delta’s Riley Nielson. At the divisional tournament in Richfield, Herrera pinned Nielson to advance to the finals. But in the state tournament consolation semis, Nielson proved to be a tougher match. Nielson led late in the match, but Herrera muscled Nielson to his back twice in the final period to dominate Nielson with a 12-4 major decision and he advanced to battle Cedar City’s Brooks again, but this time it was for third place in state. Not wanting to go into overtime Herrera dominated the match, winning a 13-4 major decision and claiming the third place state medal.
Stansbury’s Logan Stewart (126) and Jalen Herrera (113) both brought home sixth-place medals from state. Stewart opened the tournament with a pin over Hurricane’s Tristan Prisbury. But Robby Miner of Wasatch dropped Stewart into the consolation bracket with a pin in the second round. That matched up Stewart with Tooele’s Tyson Vigil. Vigil owned two victories over Stewart until the divisional tournament when Stewart edged Vigil 3-2 and went on to capture third place.
Both wrestlers knew it would be a tough battle again. Vigil took a 2-0 lead in the opening period, but Stewart battled back with two escapes that brought the score to 2-2 at the end of regulation. In the first period of overtime, Vigil was able to lock up a head-throw and took Stewart down in what appeared to be the winning takedown. But the crafty Stewart was able to continue a roll-through and secured the takedown, advancing him into the medal rounds.
Stewart lost his final two matches and finished in sixth place. That match ended a fine career for Stewart, who medaled all four years, as he now owns two sixth-place medals, a fifth- and third-place medal during his high school wrestling years.
Jalen Herrera opened the tournament with an 8-4 victory over Union’s Dylan Brown. After a loss to Bear River’s Nick Bingham, he ran off two victories. He edged Wasatch’s Gage Bradley 6-4 in overtime and defeated Canyon View’s Blake Robinson 6-4. After his loss to Tooele’s Lavios, he ran into Union’s Brown, who he handled in the opening round. This time, Brown edged Herrera 3-1 to capture fifth place with Herrera taking home the sixth-place medal.
Three Tooele wrestlers came within one win of the medal rounds. At 120 pounds, Nick Porter opened the tournament with a tough 7-5 decision over Wasatch’s Caden Clyde. In the quarters, he ran into Josh Pettus, losing a close 6-3 decision. Pettus went on to capture third in state. Porter then captured an 8-4 victory over Canyon View’s Kenny Lopez. But in the match to get into the medal round, Porter dropped a tough 7-4 match to Wasatch’s Sterling Ballif.
Tyson Vigil pinned Uintah’s Cody Merkley in the first round, but lost to Delta’s Victor Almanza in the quarters. Almanza finished in second place. Vigil then pinned Sam Salisbury of Pineview before dropping the overtime match to Stansbury’s Stewart.
Tooele’s sophomore Maka Kioa was pinned by Uintah’s Aaron Dick in the first round. Dick went on to capture the state title. Kioa pinned Hurricane’s Wyatt Lee and Stansbury’s Marty Johnson before losing to Payson’s Derek Johnson to miss the medal round.
Wrestlers winning one match at state include Stansbury’s Marcellano Mascarenas, Marty Johnson and Ronnie Hill. Tooele’s Josh Bishop, Austin Strehle, Johnny Sullivan, Daniel Aragon and Thomas Jensen each won a match at state.
Others representing their team as a state qualifier include Grantsville’s Brennon Kimber and Chance Warr, Tooele’s KC Hansen, Byron Baker, and Tyler Daley and Stansbury’s Coalten Brown and Tyler Bates.
Tooele’s Zach Coffman qualified for his fourth state tournament, but was unable to compete due to a knee injury suffered at the divisional tournament in Richfield. He was a four-time region champion. As a freshman, Coffman finished sixth place in state. His sophomore year, he claimed a second place finish and last year, he garnered a state championship. He was the top ranked 182 pounder in the 3A this year and was the favorite to claim his second state title. His valuable points could have moved Tooele up a couple spots in the team race.
