The boys high school wrestling season is past the midway point of the season, with divisional tournaments and the state tournament on the horizon in early and mid-February.

Here’s a look at area teams and wrestlers’ outlooks heading into the back half of the season.

Note: Individual records were taken from TrackWrestling.com as of Wednesday morning. Some teams don’t post wrestlers’ records.

REGIONS 1 & 2

Layton is the deepest team in Region 1 and appears to be the favorite to win a third straight region title and a sixth in seven years. Midseason returns also have the Lancers as a possible 6A title favorite.

Layton was 9.5 points behind champion Pleasant Grove at last year’s 6A state tournament and returned many state-tournament placers.

Geronimo Rivera won the 113-pound state title last year as a freshman and has an 11-4 record at both 120 and 126 pounds this season.

Kael Bennie beat Weber’s Tanner Giatras in the 165 state final last year. Bennie, a senior, has an 18-4 record at 190 this year. Junior Kaden Bennie wrestles at 165 along with Giatras, a junior with a 17-1 record this year, and they’re the two top-ranked 165-pounders in 6A.

Logan Crowther (132 pounds, 16-2 record), Jace Lemons (138, 9-3), Ryker Brann (144, 11-2) and Andrew Crowther (157, 8-2) round out a team that has maybe the best chance of anyone to challenge PG at the state tournament. Dual matches don’t indicate how state tournaments shake out; however, Layton cruised past the Vikings 49-16 on Dec. 31.

Around the region, Farmington, Syracuse and Fremont could challenge the Lancers. Each team has a handful of wrestlers doing well so far.

Farmington junior Hudson Palmer (132), who finished third at last year’s state tournament at 113, is 12-2, junior Derek Stewart (144) is 23-6, sophomore Jace VanOrman (165) is 17-5 and senior Nick Orchard (150) is 16-6

The Phoenix beat Syracuse, normally the No. 2 or No. 1 team in the region, in a dual match 43-33 in December.

Two freshmen are among Syracuse’s wins leaders: Mason Carlson (120 pounds, 19-2) and Gavin Regis (144, 18-2), along with senior Gabriel Mabin (175, 19-4) and junior Easton Gines (18-6).

Fremont’s midseason standouts have been sophomore Jason Worthley (126), junior Logan Hancey (157) and sophomore Ridge Lindley (215). Worthley won the Layton Invitational title, his second in a row, in December and Lindley took third.

The Silverwolves beat Davis 37-34 in a dual match and face Layton and Farmington on consecutive days next week.

At Weber, Tanner Giatras isn’t the only wrestler with a good record. Senior 285-pounder Ian Briskey is 14-2 and junior 120-pounder Gunner Rasmussen is 12-3.

Davis senior JC Warnick (132) is 9-1 in dual matches and 2-0 in Region 1 matches. Senior Cameron Nelson (175 and 165) is 7-3 in dual matches.

In Region 2, Roy freshman Caleb Blackner is the top-ranked 106-pounder in 6A in USA Wrestle Utah’s classification rankings. Blackner won the 106-pound title at the Layton Invitational, finished second at the Farmington Christmas Clash and will be one to watch at the state tournament.

Roy’s first region dual of the season is Thursday at Kearns. Hunter High romped to the Region 2 team title last year, beating Roy 52-27 along the way.

REGION 5

Perennial region champion Box Elder breezed past Woods Cross 49-22 in a dual match in December and figures to get its toughest competition from Viewmont on Jan. 26.

It will be hard for either team to top the drama of last year’s dual match meeting when then-freshman Cody Kaleikini needed to pin Viewmont’s Zealand DeGrey in the final match of the night to secure a dual match win, and did so to secure the match win and a region title for the Bees.

Junior Jackson Ricks (144 pounds), sophomore Mason Bingham (106) and sophomore Kaleikini (285) have been some of the Bees’ midseason standouts. Ricks went to the state semifinals last year in the 132-pound bracket.

Region matches continue on Thursday against Northridge, followed by Box Elder hosting the 50th Richardson Memorial Tournament this weekend.

Three of the top four wrestlers in the state, according to USA Wrestling Utah, compete for the south Davis teams in Region 5: Marcus (165) and Moses Espinoza-Owens (157) at Viewmont, and Cash Henderson (215) at Woods Cross. All three are defending state champions and are considered state-title favorites in their respective weight classes.

MORE AREA NOTES

Bear River senior Max Miller (132) is 20-3 this season, junior Jaron Nelson (157) is 16-3 and sophomore Daxton Bingham (120) is 18-4. The Bears’ biggest dual match of the year is on Jan. 12 at home against Mountain Crest, which has won two of the last three 4A state titles.

This is the last year of the two-region 4A classification and assuming the finalized 2023-25 alignment doesn’t change, 4A boys wrestling will include Bear River, Mountain Crest and current 5A powers Payson and Uintah.

In 3A, Morgan will once again chase Juab at the state tournament, where the Wasps have won six straight state championships.

The Trojans have plenty of returning state placers to make a run, including defending state champions Drew Korth and Rylee Creasey; Korth won the 113-pound title last year and has a 12-3 record at 132 this year. Creasey won the 215-pound title and is 10-3 so far.

RICHARDSON MEMORIAL TURNS 50

The Richardson Memorial Wrestling Tournament will celebrate its 50th anniversary when it’s contested this weekend, Jan. 6-7, at Box Elder High School.

In June of 1973, 37-year-old Oscar Richardson tried to save his 11-year-old daughter, Sherry, from drowning in Willard Bay and they both drowned.

At the time, Richardson was a teacher and the head wrestling coach at Box Elder High. The ensuing wrestling season, the first Richardson Memorial Tournament was organized and it has been a staple of the Utah high school wrestling scene ever since.

The Richardson family will be at this year’s tournament and will be recognized before the tournament’s championship round on Saturday afternoon.

Tournament brackets haven’t been released yet, but the tournament routinely draws some of the state’s best wrestlers and teams.

Connect with reporter Patrick Carr via email at pcarr@standard.net, Twitter @patrickcarr_ and Instagram @standardexaminersports.

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