OREM — For Utah wrestling fans, tonight has the feel of a heavyweight title fight card.
For 15 Top of Utah wrestlers, the momentum is building for their marquee moment.
The Utah Amateur Wrestling Foundation will host its 13th version of the Utah High School All-Star Matches.
The event puts Utah’s best wrestlers on four teams based on competitors from the 3-A, 4-A, and 5-A classifications as well as a combined team made up of the top 1-A and 2-A wrestlers.
The dual format, set on three mats, provides a few wrinkles to the all-stars. For a new wrinkle, three headliner matchups have been added, including two from the same class.
“There seemed to be a lot of interest in seeing some specific matchups by the wrestling community,” said UAWF selection committee member Brian Preece. “The All-Star dual has always had a team component but we felt there was enough individual talent in the weight classes in the classifications in which the wrestlers were pulled to give the Utah wrestling fans the best of both worlds — a great team event between the classifications as in past years but also have some amazing matchups between some of our state’s best wrestlers.”
One of these headliner matches will feature Maple Mountain’s Grant LaMont vs. Box Elder’s Rasten Yeates. Both are two-time defending state champions.
LaMont has wrestled at 152 and Yeates at 160 this season but LaMont has agreed to bump up a weight to meet Yeates in the final match of the night. LaMont and and Yeates are ranked No. 1 and No. 2, respectively, in the Utah USA Wrestling rankings.
In the opening match of the night, Payson’s Jed Mellen and Spanish Fork’s Branson Ashworth will tangle. The other feature match has Cedar’s Dusty Hone taking on Alta’s Matt Findlay in a bout at 126 pounds. Since both are from different classifications, this match will count in the team standings .
As in past, the 28 matches will count in the team standings as well as some additional “wild-card” matches. The action will take place on three mats with the exception of the feature matches that will take place as stand-alone contests.
Besides Yeates, 14 Top of Utah wrestlers will participate, including five more Box Elder grapplers and three from Layton.
The local competitors include Dominic Kunder (Bear River), Logan Swallow (Clearfield), Brad Dart (Mountain Crest), Shand Hardy (Box Elder), Nick Sorensen (Box Elder), Joe Flores (Box Elder), Breckin Gunter (Box Elder), Jake Tolman (Box Elder), Brock George (Syracuse), Andrew Astle (Layton), Zane Rich (Syracuse), Ken Astle (Layton), Colton Marshall (Layton) and Devon Childress (Weber).
The 3-A team won the meet last year, breaking a three-year winning streak by the 5-A squad.
The UAWF will donate the proceeds from the event to the Wolverine wrestling program.
Individual matchups
• Grant LaMont (Maple Mountain)
vs. Rasten Yeates (Box Elder)***
• Jed Mellen (Payson) vs. Branson Ashworth (Spanish Fork)***
106 pounds
• James Wright (Spanish Fork-3A) vs. Ben Anderson (Pleasant Grove-5A)
• Kyle Evans (Beaver-1A/2A) vs. Logan Swallow (Clearfield-4A)
113 pounds
• Brady Farnsworth (Altamont-1A/2A) vs. Taylor LaMont (Maple Mtn.-4A)
• Cobe Berrett (Canyon View-3A) vs. Brock George (Syracuse-5A)
120 pounds
• Joe Mondragon (Desert Hills-3A) vs. Britain Carter (Maple Mountain-4A)
• Nick Sorensen (Millard-1A/2A) vs. Andrew Astle (Layton-5A)
126 pounds
• Dusty Hone (Cedar-3A) vs. Matt Findlay (Alta-5A)**
• Kameron Fowles (Manti-1A/2A) vs. Brady Dart (Mountain Crest-4A)
132 pounds
• Garrett Sweat (Wasatch-3A) vs. Bronson Young (Pleasant Grove-5A)
• Chase Kelly (Millard-1A/2A) vs. Shand Hardy (Box Elder-4A)
138 pounds
• Landon Knutzen (Maple Mountain-4A) vs. Zane Rich (Syracuse-5A)
• Brandon Musselman (Monticello-1A/2A) vs. Colton Havens (Uintah-3A)
145 pounds
• Cole Eldredge (Monticello-1A/2A) vs. Kolby Lloyd (Cedar-3A)
• Jesse Carlisle (Maple Mountain-4A) vs. Ken Astle (Layton-5A)
152 pounds
• Zach Prince (Hurricane-3A) vs. Jacob Armstrong (Salem Hills-4A)
• Brenden Sorenson (North Sevier-1A/2A) vs. Will Kilpack (Alta-5A)
160 pounds
• Kimball Bastian (Maple Mountain-4A) vs. Colton Marshalll (Layton-5A)
• Rylee Foy (Altamont-1A/2A) vs. Kaelen Loveless (Payson-3A)
170 pounds
• Steven Welsh (Union-3A) vs.
Will Lang (West-5A)
• Kyle Foy (Altamont-1A/2A) vs.
Nick Sorenson (Box Elder-4A)
182 pounds
• Zach Coffman (Tooele-3A) vs.
Josh Searle (Maple Mountain-4A)
• Don Fullmer (Millard-1A/2A) vs. Devon Childress (Weber-5A)
195 pounds
• Jon Wixom (Maple Mountain-4A)
vs. Colton Grossaint (Kearns-5A)
• Jadon Ross (Richfield-1A/2A) vs. Camerson Willamson (Cedar-3A)
220 pounds
Joe Flores (Box Elder-4A) vs. Brandon Dennison (Pleasant Grove-5A)
Jeremy Aleman (Millard-1A/2A) vs. Daniel Bulloch (Hurricane-3A)
285 pounds
• Dallas Howard (Murray-4A) vs.
Zach Dawe (Pleasant Grove-5A)
• Cassidy Smith (Altamont-1A/2A)
vs. Cole Mair (Uintah-3A)
Wild-card matches (non-team scoring matches)
• 113—Chandler Strand (Herriman) vs. Kyson Levin (Pleasant Grove)
• 126—Dominic Kunder (Bear River) vs. Antonio Meikel (Kearns)
• 145—Dalton Harmon (Juab) vs. Bridger Cutler (Pleasant Grove)
• 182—Jake Tolman (Box Elder)
vs. Clay Moss (Jordan)
• 195—Breckin Gunter (Box Elder)
vs. Nick Heninger (Bingham)
• 220 pounds—Micah Ngatuvai (Mtn View) vs. Roy Nash (Taylorsville)
** Feature match, will count
in team standings
*** Feature match that will not count in team standings because wrestlers involved are from same classification
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