6A wrestling: Layton boys win state championship by huge margin; 10 area wrestlers win individual titles
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- Layton High’s Geronimo Rivera Jr. celebrates after defeating Westlake’s Korbin Chuchran in the 6A 120-pound state championship match during the 6A wrestling state tournament at Utah Valley University on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Layton High wrestler Kael Bennie hugs head coach Adam Fager after Bennie won the 6A boys 190-pound championship match during the 6A wrestling state tournament at Utah Valley University on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Weber High’s Aleena Navarrete gets her arm raised after winning the 6A girls 115-pound state championship match during the 6A wrestling state tournament at Utah Valley University on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
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- Davis High’s Kristina Kent, top, wrestles Syracuse’s Payton Gines during the 6A girls 100-pound state championship match during the 6A wrestling state tournament at Utah Valley University on Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023.
OREM — Layton High senior Ryker Brann put Zachary Nope on his back, held him on the ground, simultaneously looked over to his right where the Layton coaches were standing and smiled.
Brann had taken Nope down and scored a nearfall that he thought was a pin. It was academic, really, since Brann was now ahead 15-6 in the waning seconds of his 6A boys wrestling 144-pound championship victory Thursday night.
“I mean I just knew that was it, so I was smiling to my coaches I was so happy,” Brann said.
There were plenty of smiles to be had by the Lancers at Utah Valley University as they returned to the top of 6A boys wrestling with a commanding win at this year’s state tournament.
Layton scored 272.5 team points and finished far above second-place Pleasant Grove’s 178 points. Just like in 2017 when the Lancers interrupted a streak of five straight PG titles, this year’s triumph also ended a five-year championship streak by the Vikings.
“Man, we put in a ton of work,” Layton senior Kael Bennie said. “As soon as state was over (last year), we started training. We took maybe a week off just to let our body recover then we just started going all summer, and pretty hard.”
Depth typically propels teams to wrestling state championships. Layton qualified 24 wrestlers for the tournament, Westlake had the next highest qualifier total with 18 and no other team qualified more than 14.
The Lancers mathematically won the title hours before the finals through the number of wrestlers who went deep into either the main bracket or consolation bracket.
They padded their margin of victory by winning three of their five championship matches. Sophomore Geronimo Rivera Jr. won his second straight state title with a 9-3 decision win at 120 pounds.
Brann won his first state title at 144 pounds after finishing in third place his freshman, sophomore and junior years. Kael Bennie defeated Lone Peak’s Cayaen Smith by a 5-1 decision in the 190-pound final for Bennie’s second consecutive state championship.
Bennie lost to Smith in the divisional tournament earlier this month.
“The thing that I love about Kael is his resilience. He’ll take a loss and we’ll go back, we’ll go to work, we’ll figure it out,” LHS coach Adam Fager said.
Fager expects Layton’s run of success to continue, given 14 of Layton’s state qualifiers ostensibly return next year.
Ten area boys and girls wrestlers prevailed in their championship matches, including one freshman and one who had an unbeaten season.
Along with the three Layton winners on the boys side, Syracuse freshman Mason Carlson finished off a 42-3 season by pinning Mountain Ridge’s Lander Bosh in the 113 final.
Fremont junior Logan Hancey defeated Bingham’s Banks Love in the 157-pound final and Weber senior Tanner Giatras won the 165-pound final over Layton’s Kaden Bennie with a 5-3 decision a year after losing the 165-pound final to Layton’s Kael Bennie.
Of all the matches, Hancey’s may have had the most drama. He led 7-4 with less than a minute left in the match when Banks escaped to get one point, then took down Hancey with 22 seconds left to tie the match.
But with 21 seconds left in the first overtime period, Hancey made his move and caught Banks on his back for a takedown and a sudden victory.
“It feels really good to have all that hard work eventually pay off and feel the feeling that I’ve always wanted to feel,” said Hancey, whose previous best state finishes were fourth and fifth place.
On the girls side, Davis sophomore Kristina Kent capped off an unbeaten, 29-0 season with a second-period pin over Syracuse’s Payton Gines to win her second straight 100-pound state final. Kent won last year’s 100-pound title as a freshman with a 26-1 record, moving her career record to 55-1 in two years.
Syracuse’s Emily Ball (105 pounds) and Daeja Sundquist (130) won their title matches and helped propel the Titans to a third-place team finish with 167 points, close behind second-place Copper Hills (175.5) and far behind champion Westlake (289).
Weber sophomore Aleena Navarrete became the first girls wrestler in WHS school history to win a state championship when she pinned Riverton’s Bella Butterfield.
Navarrete was down 5-0 late in the first period after Butterfield scored a takedown and a nearfall in a span of 14 seconds. Then, Navarrete literally flipped the script, getting Butterfield on her back and scoring a pin right before the first period ended.
“So I had an arm bar on her, almost pinned her, then she rolled out of it and I was on my side, almost on my back and then I rolled out of it then switched to her,” said Naverrete, who just finished her second year of wrestling.
“It’s usually what happens with my matches against really good girls, I usually somehow get out of it.”
CHAMPIONSHIP MATCH RESULTS
BOYS
106 pounds: Hanks Jacobson (American Fork) def. Kaleb Blackner (Roy) by major decision (17-4)
113: Mason Carlson (Syracuse) def. Lander Bosh (Mountain Ridge) by fall (2:38)
120: Geronimo Rivera Jr. (Layton) def. Korbin Chuchran (Westlake) by decision (9-3)
126: Jacob Carson (Pleasant Grove) def. Jason Worthley (Fremont) by fall (5:37)
132: Kyison Garcia (Mountain Ridge) def. Logan Crowther (Layton) by decision (8-4)
144: Ryker Brann (Layton) def. Zachary Nope (Copper Hills) by major decision (15-6)
157: Logan Hancey (Fremont) def. Banks Love (Bingham) by sudden victory (9-7)
165: Tanner Giatras (Weber) def. Kaden Bennie (Layton) by decision (5-3)
190: Kael Bennie (Layton) def. Cayaen Smith (Lone Peak) by decision (5-1)
GIRLS
100: Kristina Kent (Davis) def. Payton Gines (Syracuse) by fall (3:23)
105: Emily Ball (Syracuse) def. Mina Trinh (Riverton) by fall (3:42)
110: Madelyn Nielsen (West) def. Marlie Rigby (Layton) by decision (5-4)
115: Aleena Navarrete (Weber) def. Bella Butterfield (Riverton) by fall (1:57)
120: Brooklyn Pace (Copper Hills) def. Erin Fuller (Layton) by fall (1:17)
130: Daeja Sundquist (Syracuse) def. Madison Sherman (Skyridge) by fall (5:08)
135: Celeste Detoles (Westlake) def. Alejandra Martinez (Davis) by fall (3:24)
155: Lizzie Raleigh (Westlake) def. Ashlyn Packer (Syracuse) by fall (3:35)
TEAM SCORES
BOYS
1. Layton, 272.5
2. Pleasant Grove, 178
3. Westlake, 153
6. Syracuse, 113.5
8. Fremont, 102.5
GIRLS
1. Westlake, 289
2. Copper Hills, 175.5
3. Syracuse, 167
6. Layton, 107
9. Davis, 92
Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.