2007 Wrestling

From the Hurricane Valley Journal
By: Michael Rinker
Hurricane High’s Broc Prince finally had his Hertz moment last weekend at the Utah 3A wrestling championships.
After finishing an Avis-like second in the state each the last two seasons, the senior grappler won the championship this year with a 5-4 decision over Keaton Cheney of North Sanpete in the 135-pound class.
The key to the match came in the second period when Prince got a takedown.
Then things got a little dicey as he nursed a 5-3 lead with time ticking down. The referee called him for stalling with 30 seconds left in the match and awarded a point to Cheney. But Prince “stuck it out and played a lot of defense” to clinch the title.
He joins his father Kerry, the Tigers coach, and uncle Boyd, Hurricane’s athletic director, as state wrestling champions.
The rest of the Tigers’ 12-man contingent didn’t fare as well as Broc, and Hurricane placed seventh among the 18 schools in the 3A tournament.
Seniors Danny Pettus (119 pounds) and Skylar Mills (125 pounds) both finished third. Each lost to the eventual champion in his weight class.
Pettus, who placed third at 103 pounds last year, gave up just 12 points in his five matches, but all came in his 12-3 loss to Trevor Sweat, of Wasatch. His winning matches were 12-0, fall, 6-0 and 10-0.
Mills, who finished fifth last year at 119 pounds, won four close matches but was pinned by Blake Magnum, of Wasatch. His winning scores were 2-1, 1-0, 6-4 and a 3-1 overtime victory in the third-place match against Cedar’s Alex Riddle, who’d beaten Mills for the Region 9 championship just a week earlier.
Mills also was named Academic All-State, which requires a grade-point average of at least 3.93.
The only other Tiger to place was sophomore Drew Mills, who grabbed fifth at 103 pounds.
Freshman Daniel Neilson, who had come on strong this season and won the Region 9 championship at 285, finished the state tournament with two wins and two losses.
Of the dozen Tigers who made it to states, ten won at least one match in the tournament, which was held Feb. 14-16 at Utah Valley State College in Orem.
Wasatch scored 311 points to take the team championship, its eighth straight. The Delta Rabbits finished just nine points back. Region 9 champ Cedar placed fifth with 144.5 points. Hurricane, in seventh, had 87; Prince accounted for 25.5 of those.

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