High school wrestling recap: Irontown Duals highlights

Wrestlers compete at the Irontown Duals invitational tournament, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 8-9, 2021 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

CEDAR CITY — Several Region 9 high schools were among the more than one dozen teams that gathered in Cedar City last weekend for the annual Irontown Duals invitational wrestling tournament.

Wrestlers compete at the Irontown Duals invitational tournament, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 8-9, 2021 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

The event was held Jan. 9 at Canyon View and Cedar high schools, with selected girls matches and junior varsity matches at Canyon View also taking place the night before. Three 2A schools from Southern Utah also competed: Beaver, Enterprise and Kanab, as did three other teams from outside the area, namely Provo, Grand County and North Sevier. 

Results from the varsity girls matches are not available online. Following are highlights of the boys varsity results:

Beaver High ended up with the most dual wins in the Irontown Duals tournament with five, according to results posted on trackwrestling.com. Region 9 schools Pine View and Snow Canyon each had four dual match wins. In a separate eight-man scramble event held on Saturday, Hurricane High took first place, with Desert Hills and the Beaver junior varsity tying for second and host Canyon View placing fourth.

Individually, several wrestlers went undefeated throughout the main duals tournament, including several athletes from Beaver.

In the heavyweight (285 pound) category, Jason Ponausuia of Crimson Cliffs went 5-0, with all wins coming by pin except for a 5-2 decision over Pine View’s Payton Calico.

At 220 pounds, Payton Murray of Cedar High went undefeated at 5-0.

The 195-pound category didn’t have anyone go undefeated, but four athletes went 4-1 at that weight, namely Sheldon LeBaron of Beaver, Vincent Threlfall of Snow Canyon, Ryder Hendry of Pine View and Trey Payne of Cedar.

Wrestlers compete at the Irontown Duals invitational tournament, Cedar City, Utah, Jan. 8-9, 2021 | Photo by Jeff Richards, St. George News / Cedar City News

At 182 pounds, Eldon Milton of Crimson Cliffs went 5-0, while Hyrum Draper of Pine View went 4-1.

At 170 pounds, Cort Raddon of Beaver went 5-0, while Blake Barnes of Milford and Samuel Rowley of Enterprise each went 4-1.

Bryton Langston of Beaver went 5-0 at 160 pounds, while Braxton Messersmith of Enterprise and Jace Lang of Snow Canyon each went 5-0 at 152 pounds.

Beaver High dominated the lighter weights, with the following wrestlers all going undefeated for the Beavers: Brian Evans (145 pounds), Dillon Reynolds (138), Russell Evans (126), Douglas Evans (120), Hagen Mayer (113) and Tavyn Hollingshead (106).

Additionally, 132-pound Brandon Norton of Crimson Cliffs went undefeated in five matches, winning all five by first-round pins.

In Region 9 head-to-head competition this season, Crimson Cliffs remains undefeated, with the Mustangs’ most recent win being a 45-33 victory over Hurricane on Tuesday.

As the final three weeks of the season approach, Region 9’s teams and athletes are working to secure favorable seeds in the upcoming 4A divisional tournaments, which are scheduled for Feb. 5-6. Desert Hills High will host the A division brackets, while the B division will compete at Uintah High School in Vernal. The top qualifiers at the divisional meets will be seeded into the state 4A tournament scheduled for Feb. 20 at Utah Valley University in Orem.

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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2021, all rights reserved.

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