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UVU freshman Haiden Drury (right) wrestles in a dual against Oklahoma State in the UCCU Center on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Monday, Dec. 20, 2021. (Isaac Hale, UVU Marketing)
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UVU and Oregon State wrestlers compete during a dual meet at Lockhart Arena in Orem on Friday, Dec. 21, 2024.
Courtesy UVU marketing
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Spanish Fork wrestlers pose for a photo with the championship trophy after the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald
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Spanish Fork wrestler Alex Koyle celebrates winning the 165-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald
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Westlake wrestler Israel Borges (left) competes in the 126-pound finals at the 2024 6A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald
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Former ALA wrestler Sage Mortimer (center-left) poses for a photo at a party celebrating her winning a gold medal at the 2024 U23 World Wrestling Championships.
Brian E. Preece, Herald correspondent
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Payson head coach Jeb Clark (right) celebrates after wrestler Aaron Garcia won his match in the finals of the 106-pound weight class during the 5A state boys wrestling tournament at Wasatch High School in Heber on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021.
Jared Lloyd, Daily Herald
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UVU freshman Haiden Drury (right) wrestles in a dual against Oklahoma State in the UCCU Center on the campus of Utah Valley University in Orem, Utah, on Monday, Dec. 20, 2021. (Isaac Hale, UVU Marketing)
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UVU and Oregon State wrestlers compete during a dual meet at Lockhart Arena in Orem on Friday, Dec. 21, 2024.
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Spanish Fork wrestlers pose for a photo with the championship trophy after the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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Spanish Fork wrestler Alex Koyle celebrates winning the 165-pound finals at the 2024 5A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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Westlake wrestler Israel Borges (left) competes in the 126-pound finals at the 2024 6A boys wrestling finals at the UCCU Center in Orem on Saturday, Feb. 17, 2024.
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Former ALA wrestler Sage Mortimer (center-left) poses for a photo at a party celebrating her winning a gold medal at the 2024 U23 World Wrestling Championships.
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Payson head coach Jeb Clark (right) celebrates after wrestler Aaron Garcia won his match in the finals of the 106-pound weight class during the 5A state boys wrestling tournament at Wasatch High School in Heber on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2021.
It was another incredible year in Utah County wrestling as plenty of teams contended for team titles and scores of individuals brought home medals.
It was also a year of major changes as a new coach was welcomed at Utah Valley University and some of our county programs had changes on their coaching staffs as well.
Here’s a countdown of the Top 10 stories in 2024 for Utah County wrestling:
10. Starting strong
The 2024-25 high school season kicked off in a big way as Provo hosted the 14th Annual Wrestling Against Cancer Duals. This was a two-day event with boys wrestling on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving and the girls on Wednesday. On the boys front Timpanogos made a big splash beating the top teams in 6A last year in Layton and Westlake in their dual meets. Cedar Valley’s girls team went 2-0 and showed why they will be a big contender in 5A once again.
9. Runner-up finishes
Three Utah County teams won silver trophies at the 2023-24 state meets. Westlake placed second to Layton in the 6A boys competition while Payson was the runner-up in 4A to Uintah. In girls wrestling Salem Hills edged out Cedar Valley for second place as Wasatch won 5A.
Wasatch, by the way, was led to the first state title in girls wrestling by Hailey Corona, who wrestled for Maple Mountain when girls had to compete against the boys. Corona led Maple Mountain to a repeat state title in 2022 and became the first girls coach in state history to win state titles at two different schools. Wasatch also became the first girls team to win a state title without having an individual state champion, something that has only happened twice in 86 years for boys wrestling.
8. End of an era
Payson boys head coach Jeb Clark stepped down, turning the reins over to Cole Jensen, a past Payson graduate and state champion. Clark won four state titles with six runner-up finishes as the extremely successful Lion head coach.
Other valley coaches stepping down were Jeff Newby of Westlake, though the Thunder won their first trophy in school history in boys wrestling when they placed second in 6A. Maple Mountain’s Max Sultan resigned to become an assistant mens/womens coach at Snow College.
Blake Mangum replaced Newby at the helm of the Thunder program while former Box Elder state finalist Matt Williams became the school’s third head coach in school history at Maple Mountain. Meanwhile, Dave Valeti stepped down as head boys and girls coach at Springville but remained an assistant to Jordan Faucette for the boys as Royal Weakley took over the girls program.
7. Big night in Orem
Utah Valley set an attendance record for wrestling when they hosted fellow Big 12 rival Oklahoma State in the UCCU Event Center. A grand total of 5,053 fans witnessed the opening home dual of the season, though the Cowboys won comfortably 38-6.
Haiden Drury (141 pounds) and Terrell Barraclough (165) earned victories for the Wolverines. In a match between ranked foes, Barraclough, a former Layton High School 4-time state champion who previously to Utah Valley wrestled at Penn State, won an overtime thriller in the meet’s final bout against 3-time All-American Cameron Amine.
6. Remembering Chris Loveless
Sad news hit the Payson Lion wrestling community when former head coach Chris Loveless suddenly died at the age of 50. Loveless led Payson to back-to-back state titles in 2009 and 2010 and had three of his own boys win state titles in the program.
5. Superlative showings
There were several outstanding individual performances by county wrestlers. Though he placed second in 6A state at 195 pounds, Pleasant Grove’s Trevyn Gates put together a great tournament at the NHSCA Senior Nationals to win gold. Corner Canyon’s Leimana Fager, who beat Gates for the 6A title, placed second in the division for juniors showing just how outstanding these two grapplers were on a national scale.
Westlake’s Brayden Robison won his third state title and placed second at the Senior Nationals and was tabbed as the Utah Valley Wrestler of the Year for the boys. Meanwhile, Mountain View’s Isla Baeza was the Girls Valley Wrestler of the Year after going undefeated, including a win by pin over Westlake 4-time 6A state champion Celeste Detoles during the season.
4. Tiger program on hiatus
In some disappointing news, Orem dropped their boys wrestling program. Though the Tigers have struggled with numbers in recent years, the Tiger program has a rich history in the sport with six team titles in school history, including three in a row in the 1990’s. The Tiger program also produced NCAA Champion Aaron Holker.
3. U23 world champ
Former American Leadership Academy girls state champion Sage Mortimer won gold at the Under 23 World Championships held in Tirana, Albania. Mortimer nailed down the 50K title with a 7-5 victory over Natalia Pudova of the host country. Mortimer currently competes at Grand Valley State University in Michigan was also second alternate for the 2024 USA Olympic team.
It should be noted that former Pleasant Grove Brooklyn Hays (68K) placed fifth in the same event, showing that Utah –and Utah County in particular — has amazing female wrestling talent.
2. Dons to the top
Spanish Fork reigned supreme in boys wrestling for the 2023-24 season winning its first state title in 20 years. The Dons bested perennial powerhouses Box Elder and Wasatch to win the 5A crown. Karson Shelley (120), Junior Wetzel (150) and Alex Koyle (165) won individual titles for the Dons.
1. Hall takes over at UVU
The Utah Valley wrestling program began a new era with the hiring of Adam Hall replacing longtime head coach Greg Williams. Hall was a former NCAA Champion at Boise State, and before coming to Utah Valley, was an assistant at North Carolina State.