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Hurricane sends six to 3A semifinals; CV advances four
BY TOM ZULEWSKI •
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• FEBRUARY 13, 2010
| OREM - The Hurricane Tigers have only nine wrestlers competing in the 3A Utah state championship. While the number may seem a little undersized, the group showed that size doesn't matter, but size of the heart does.
All nine Tigers are still alive to place, and six are in the running to claim state titles after the opening day of competition Friday at the UVU Events Center.
Hurricane's effort highlighted a solid performance by all four 3A schools from Southern Utah, with 13 advancing to today's semifinals. Canyon View sent four, while Desert Hills had two and Cedar's Cody Hone kept his quest alive for a third straight trip to the finals.
"We feel good," said Hurricane coach Mike Randall. "Three weeks ago, we were (at UVU) for the Rocky Mountain Rumble, and the focus for everyone was on getting to the state finals.
"You'll lose matches along the way, but no one will care. They know winning state is what matters."
Two of the Tigers -112-pounder Drew Mills and heavyweight Daniel Neilson - are on track to make return appearances in the final. Mills started his march toward a second straight crown with a pin of Jeff Barker of Ben Lomond and a 12-3 win over Andy Erickson of Richfield.
"I'm feeling amazing mentally," said Mills, who won the 2009 title at 103 pounds. "I should've beaten (Erickson) in the first round, but I know a little better what I have to do for next time."
Mills will face Morgan Sweat of Wasatch in his semifinal match today.
Nielson, meanwhile, is ready to erase the memory of his loss to Cedar's Jordan Lee in the 2009 heavyweight final. The junior scored pins over Drew Carlisle of Grantsville in 19 seconds and Richfield's Rhett Malmgrem in 2:54.
"As long as I do what I do and do my best, it'll be a hard time for anyone to try and stop me," Nielson said.
Gibbs, Reeves headline Falcon semifinalists
Nielson is on a potential collision course with an all-Region 9 final for the second year in a row. If he can beat Delta's Stu Olomaalii in the semifinals, Canyon View's Jake Gibbs is on the opposite side of the bracket. Gibbs will face Morgan's Taylor Drennan in the other semi.
The other four Hurricane wrestlers who moved halfway to the finals are Lynn Manwaring (103), Jordan Prince (119), Zach Prince (140) and Brian Scott (215). Jordan Prince pulled off a huge upset by advancing to the semis as a No. 6 seed from the South Divisional. Manwaring beat Bear River's Brady Haramoto by pin and edged Wasatch's Garrett Sweat 9-6. The sophomore was in a tight battle early, but scored late with a reversal to snap a tie and advance to the semifinals against Sweat's teammate, Gerritt Bradley.
"I knew I had to keep going," Manwaring said. "Once I had (Sweat) out of position, all I had to do was get his leg out."
Manwaring could also find himself in another all-Region 9 fight if he gets to the final. Canyon View's Michael Reeves advanced to the semis by beating teammate Jason Woods 13-6 and will face Morgan's Colton Walker in the other semi.
"I felt bad because Jason and I were on the same side of the bracket," Reeves said. "I'm not worried, though. He's a tough kid and he'll come back and place."
And in another strange twist of luck for the Falcons, Cameron Causey had to beat teammate Carl Dallman to get to the semifinals at 189 pounds. Causey came away with a pin in 3:17 and will face Casey Shafer of Desert Hills for a berth in the final.
Andrew Weber came through as the fourth Falcon to win twice on Friday, pinning Wasatch's Chase Nielson and beating Steven Christensen of Bear River, 10-5.
Weaver, Shafer, Hone join 3A winners
In addition to Shafer, Jalen Weaver was the second Thunder wrestler to get halfway up the championship mountain. Weaver pinned Skyler Prochnow of Morgan and Chris Horton of Wasatch to earn a semifinal meeting with Bear River's Taylor Skinner today.
Hone kept hope for his third straight trip to the finals alive by earning a 16-0 technical fall over Tyler Nielson of Delta.
"I didn't know him or what he was going to do, so I had to take him out at the first chance," Hone said. "There were some nerves, but not too bad."
The junior added a pin of Parker Hortin of Wasatch in 48 seconds.
4A: Gough, Montgomery fall in finals
Snow Canyon heavyweight Chad Gough and Pine View's Devon Montgomery fell short of the goal of standing on top of the medals podium in the 4A finals on Friday. Gough was beaten by defending state champion Daniel Creek of Box Elder by an 8-3 count and Montgomery dropped a 5-2 decision to Payson's Brady Loveless in the 171-pound final.
"It was definitely an improvement," Montgomery said of his second meeting with Loveless. "There was no change in the game plan. Just do what I do. If it works, it's good, but there wasn't much I could do."
Montgomery had been seeded second after dropping a 7-2 decision to Loveless in the 4A South Divisional at Uintah last weekend.
Gough reached the pinnacle of the state final despite limited experience. The senior was cut two years ago while trying out for varsity basketball, but turned the negative into a positive under Warriors coach Wane Kittrell.
"I was told if I came to wrestle, I would do a lot better," Gough said. "I had no idea what I was doing at first."
After moving into the varsity roster in the second half of last season, Gough hasn't looked back.
"I would've bet a lot of money that no other guy playing basketball two years ago would've gotten as far as Chad did," Kittrell said.
The only other wrestler to place from Region 9 was Dixie's Chris Warren, who finished fourth at 215 pounds, dropping a 7-5 decision to Spanish Fork's Cody Duncan.
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