Wrestlers stand out in Vernal, Utah

Competing against the best teams from Colorado and Utah, the Wolves grapplers were able to finish tournament competition in Vernal, Utah, with fourth place in the varsity division and eighth in junior varsity.

In varsity, Gage Byers finished first in his division, while Cyro Montoya and Jordan Tucker took second. Ira Dickinson and Kaycee Cochrane finished fifth, Nathan McCann and Blake Waite finished sixth and Justin Flores took seventh. Others competing in varsity were Kade Knezovich, Eric Clingenpeel, Zack Orr, Chance Anderson, Payton Tucker and Justin Rubalcaba.

"For the most part, our varsity group competed hard and were pretty tough. I was able to see improvement on the areas we have focused on the last three weeks, so that is very encouraging," head coach Marshall Rhodes said.

Rhodes is encouraged by the varsity team's showing as it has been "a long time" since the team had three wrestlers in the finals and placed eight.

In junior varsity, Tanner Adam took first in his division, while James McCarter took second, Garrett Harris and John Makie finished third, while Cody Price and Anthony Wood took fourth.

Also competing in junior varsity were Trevor Scicluna, Bronson LaFontaine, Nathan Campos, Devon VanValkenburg, Russell Ferrell and Seddon Sanders.

"These boys wrestled hard and all of them got wins on the weekend," Rhodes said. "Many of them are starting to wrestle hard and have improved their technique."

Rhodes plans to ask some of the wrestlers to step up to varsity, believing they will have a good chance of finding success at that level.

Rhodes said he was initially worried about the team's performance coming off of Christmas break as too many wrestlers missed practice and the team hasn't done well in this tournament for quite awhile. The team still has a lot of work to do in Rhodes' opinion, but believes the Wolves still have a good chance at finishing at the top in February.

"But, we need to pull together as a group and commit to a common goal," Rhodes said. "If we can do that, I think we have a chance."