4A state wrestling: Snow Canyon boys finish second; Mountain Crest dominates to win both team titles

The second-place finishing Snow Canyon High School wrestling team members and coaches at the 4A state tournament, Richfield, Utah, Feb. 19, 2022 | Photo provided by Nicholas Lang, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — Several Region 10 wrestlers were among the champions at the 4A state wrestling tournament in Richfield last weekend.

Both boys’ and girls’ fields were dominated by the champions from Mountain Crest High School, but local wrestlers represented their schools proudly.

Starting in Snow Canyon, the Region 10 champion Warriors placed a team-record 14 grapplers in the state tournament, more than doubling their previous record.

“Our boys’ team took second in state, our best finish ever,” Warriors coach Nicholas Lang wrote in an email to St. George News. “Four of our boys made the finals and Rockwell Jones is a state champion!”

Jones defeated Mountain Crest’s Dontay McMurtrey 7-3 decision to win the state title at 165 pounds. 

Members of the Snow Canyon wrestling team at the 4A state tournament, Richfield, Utah, Feb. 19, 2022 | Photo provided by Nicholas Lang, St. George News

Lang was named 4A coach of the year. 

Asher Farr, Brenden Smith and Vince Threlfall all finished as runners-up.

Three Warriors brought home third-place finishes: Kaden Guymon, Edgar Renteria and Dominik Benedetto.   

Brayden Jones, Tegun Whitehead and Phoenix Oliver all had fourth-place finishes.

Cason Smith Took fifth in state and Snow Canyon’s contingent rounded out with sixth-place finishers Breccan Fisher, Beau Miller and Tag Gubler.

The two-day event Feb. 18-19 held at Sevier Valley Center saw Mountain Crest claim the boys’ team title with 312 points.

After Snow Canyon’s second-place finish in the boys’ event with 245 points, the next highest finishing Region 10 team was Hurricane at fifth (141.5 points).

Pine View was sixth (126), Desert Hills was right behind in seventh with 125 points, Dixie was ninth (96.5), Crimson Cliffs was 10th (81) and Cedar finished 12th with 47. 

Over at Desert Hills, the Thunder finished with the most Region 10 individual state champs after Nathaniel (Bubba) Fordham, Keagan Boyce and Dawson Bundy each came out on top of their weight classes.

Fordham beat Mountain Crest’s Lincoln Lofthouse 4-2 at 132 pounds.

Snow Canyon’s Rockwell Jones after he won the 4A state wrestling title at 165 pounds, Richfield, Utah, Feb. 19, 2022 | Photo provided by Nicholas Lang, St. George News

“That was a rematch of the divisionals for Bubba,” Desert Hills coach Brian Pace told St. George News. “He controlled the whole match and was never really in jeopardy. He did a great job against a good kid.”

Boyce won at 157 pounds after his 19-2 major decision over Nic Baum of Crimson Cliffs.

“That was not surprising to us,” Pace said. “When kids open up and wrestle against Keagan, he’s capable of scoring points, as you saw. That was 19 points in the second period.”

And Bundy was king of the heavyweights after he pinned Dixie’s Kenneth Ericksen.

“He’s a two-timer,” Pace said after Bundy captured his second consecutive state title. “He developed last year and got better and improved this year. He did not go backwards and was able to finish as a two-time champ. Not many kids in St. George can say that.”

The fifth and final Region 10 individual champ came from Hurricane.

Tristyn Dennett defeated Jace McBride of Mountain Crest by a 3-1 decision to take the title at 150 pounds.

At the 4A girls wrestling tournament, Mountain Crest dominated with 465.5 points to win its second consecutive team title.

The highest finishing Region 10 team at state was Pine View, which placed fourth with 100 points.

Cedar was sixth (42), Dixie was seventh (41) and Crimson Cliffs finished in ninth place at state with 36 points.

Ayelen Grilli of Cedar High won an 11-1 major decision over Bear River’s Hailey Branch to win the state title at 130 pounds, becoming the only Region 10 individual girls’ state champion..

Anja Hansen of Crimson Cliffs and Megan Allred of Snow Canyon were state runners-up.

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2022, all rights reserved.

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