Falcon boys 10th at state, two medal

Beky Beaton / Lehi Free Press

The Skyridge boys wrestling team placed 10^th in the 6A state wrestling tournament at Utah Valley University’s UCCU Center on Feb. 11-12.

The Falcons earned 40 points to tie Cedar Valley and finish behind Farmington at 42 points and ahead of Bingham with 38 points. Layton won the championship with 300.5 points and Corner Canyon was second with 227.

Sophomore Jacob Millward captured the bronze medal in the 138 weight class. In addition, senior Bradshaw Cox performed above his seed to capture sixth place in the 285 bracket. See the details below.

“I thought we had a good tournament,” said Coach Lyle Mangum. “We didn’t finish as high as we thought we might but a top-10 finish with the adversity we fought through is great. I love this team.  We have a lot of great young men who will accomplish great things.

“We qualified 11 but only nine were able to wrestle due to injuries,” he said. “That, along with missing two important members before sectionals made it difficult to score big points.

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“Jacob, the returning state champion at 113, lost a close 1-0 match in the semifinals to the wrestler that won State. Bradshaw overcame a very serious injury late in the year and battled hard to place at heavyweight. It was epic.

“Dallin Davidson, Chandler Curtis and Carter Johnson also had great tournaments,” the coach continued.   “Dallin and Carter are Academic All-State 4.0 students as well. I am very proud of our academics this season and I am sure we are the top team in the state for that. They are true student-athletes.

“We have several great kids coming back and we will use the spring, summer and fall to refine some skills and build experience,” Mangum said. “I see a very bright future for our high school and youth teams. All information for our team is on our website. www.Skyridgewrestling.com.”

Here’s how the Falcons fared individually in each weight class at the tournament:

• At 113, freshman Alex Lyon (7-17) was eliminated in two bouts by fall.
• At 120, sophomore Luke Stott(24-15)lost a narrow 12-10decision to Westlake in the first round. He defeated Davis by 12-5 decision in his first consolation match to earn a team point but lost the next one to end his day.
• At 132, junior Easton Vandehei (27-16) dropped his two bouts by technical fall and major decision.
• At 138, Millward (40-7) made a great start with a technical fall over Copper Hills in the first round. He scored a first-period fall over Bingham in the quarterfinal but ended up losing a heartbreaker in the semifinal to Westlake by a 1-0 decision. He earned his spot in the placement round by beating Layton with a 13-0 major decision and prevailed in another tight match over Corner Canyon by 4-2 decision to secure third place with 18.5 team points.
• At 150, junior Grant Eldredge(20-22) was pinned twice to end his appearance.
• At 165, senior Dallin Davidson(33-17)finished with a 2-2 record and 6.5 team points. He posted a first-round technical fall over Layton to get started, but next bowed to Corner Canyon with a third-period fall. He got a second-period pin over Westlake in his first consolation bout but then dropped a narrow decision to Corner Canyon 11-8 to finish his day.
• At 175, senior Chandler Curtis (32-10)bounced Copper Hills in the first round with a first-period pin and added 4.0 team points but then lost his next two matches to exit the event.
• At 215, senior Carter Johnson (27-15) bested American Fork by decision 9-6 to open his tournament and add 2.0 team points, but Davis sent him to the consolation bracket by fall in the quarterfinal, and he was edged by Copper Hills in an 11-10 decision to finish his participation.
• At 285, Cox bowed to Layton in the first round by major decision 16-4, but then won three consecutive matches in consolation. He topped Herriman by 14-9 decision, earned a third-period pin over Layton, and then bested Riverton by ultimate tie breaker 4-2. He lost his final two bouts but had progressed far enough to still make the podium and contribute 8.0 team points.