Lehi Sports
Pioneers claim bronze, three other medals at state wrestling meets
The Lehi wrestling team had four members who reached the podium during the Class 6A girls and boys state wrestling tournaments last week at Utah Valley University’s UCCU Center.
In the boys tournament on Saturday (Feb. 17), sophomore Isaac Sweat finished in third place in the 285 weight class, while junior Lincoln Rex at 126 and senior Ammon Cannon at 150 each came in fourth. With a combined 56.5 points, the team was 12th in the overall standings.
Earlier in the week at the girls tournament on Feb. 15, senior Suzana Clark earned fifth place in the 115 bracket. She was responsible for all the team points at 17.0 and Lehi tied with Farmington for 14th place in the overall standings.
Layton won the boys event with 260.0 points and Westlake was second at 219.5, while Copper Hills got the girls title with 195.5 points and Mountain Ridge was second with 172.0 points.
Sweat started his lengthy run by scoring a first-period fall at 1:32 over Tomasi Hasson (9-7) of Davis. He lost his quarterfinal match against Jared Smith (33-11) of Lone Peak by the narrowest margin of a 2-1 decision.
In the consolation second round, he eliminated Will Struthers (20-17) of Fremont with a pin at 2:51. Next up was Deron Cofer (25-15) of Westlake and Sweat scored a fall over him at 1:42. He took out Braiden Moon (38-13) of Layton in the consolation semifinal with a pin at 3:49.
He faced Smith again in the third-place match, but this time he earned a fall in the second period at 4:13 to collect the bronze medal and finish with a 30-13 record for the season.
“Isaac sweat battled back, having been beaten by his opponents several times to take third place,” said Pioneer Coach Dan Rice.
Rex got all of his wins by decision. In the first round, it was 8-2 over Kade Warnick (20-11) of Davis. In the quarterfinal, he topped Corban Atwood (40-11) of Lone Peak 9-4. However, he was pinned in the semifinal by Geronimo Rivera (33-6) of Layton at 2:50.
In the consolation semifinal, Rex eliminated Parker Garcia (28-13) of Mountain Ridge by 5-2 decision, advancing him to the third-place match. Jamyne Xoumphonphackdy (39-9) of Westlake eked out a narrow victory by 9-8 decision. Rex was 38-10 on the year.
Ammon Cannon got his tournament appearance started by defeating Nash Parker (17-16) of Pleasant Grove by 15-0 technical fall. In the quarterfinal, he bested Shepard Stephens (40-15) of Davis by 8-2 decision.
In the semifinal, Gavin Regis (30-11) of Layton was able to outlast Cannon by 9-5 decision with the help of some extra rest provided by blood time. Cannon next pinned Coen Maxwell (37-15) of Mountain Ridge at 3:12 to advance to the third-place match.
Shepard Stephens (40-15) of Davis won that final bout by 8-3 decision, leaving Cannon with a 19-7 tally for this season.
“Despite losses, Ammon Cannon and Lincoln Rex had some great matches,” the coach said. “Ammon lost his semifinal match to Regis from Layton and without the blood time we would’ve won that match. He stuck to his plan and executed it,but time was not on our side.
“Our strategy was to take him into the third period where he would gas out, but the blood time saved him,” Rice said. “It was a great match to witness and to coach.”
Clark took all of 55 seconds to pin her first opponent, Rylee Bradshaw (8-16) of Fremont. However, she lost by quick fall to Brynlee Sorensen (37-5) of Layton to move into the consolation bracket.
She defeated her next two opponents by falls, Angela Coque (10-16) of Herriman at 1:09 and Kortnee Packer (21-15) of Syracuse at 1:46. In the consolation semifinal, Clark fell to Hannah Bingham (33-13) of Weber in the second period.
In the fifth-place match, Clark won pinned Luciana Gamez (9-11) of Mountain Ridge at 5:07 and ended her year at 14-9.
“She worked very hard to improve and was able to be successful this year,” Rice said. “She is a great young lady and was awesome to coach.”
Two other Pioneer boys earned points that counted towards the team total. Senior Austin Stauffer lost his first match but pinned Sam Allen (20-18) of Pleasant Grove at 4:46 in the first round of consolation to earn 3.0 points. He exited after his next match and posted a 15-24 record for the year.
Freshman Cohen Mortensen lost by two points in his initial bout but defeated Spencer Hacking (16-19) of Farmington by major decision 16-3 to get 2.0 points for the team. He lost in the next round and tallied a 29-16 mark overall.
Lehi’s other state qualifiers were eliminated after two bouts. They are (final season record):
• At 120, sophomore Boston Richins (11-23)
• At 140, freshman Elizabeth Anderegg (0-10)
• At 144, senior Beck Olson (24-20)
• At 165, senior Mason Fink (26-18)
• At 175, freshman Mason Mickiewicz (3-12)
“Overall, it was a good tournament for us,” Rice concluded. The Pioneers will return six of these 11 state wrestlers next season.
