- Juab wrestlers take second at state, crown three champions
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JUAB HIGH SCHOOL WRESTLING TEAM • The Juab High School wrestlers won 2nd place in the 3A Tournament held at the Maverick Center in Salt Lake on Saturday. Dalton Harmon, Ashton Seely and Ryan Hatfield won State Championships in their weight classes.
By Dr. Joel Holman
JHS Wrestling Coach
Going into the state championship finals on Saturday night, Coach Lee Poulsen felt confident that Juab would be taking home a trophy. Payson was comfortably in the lead but we had wrestled well and we felt that the race for second was all but over. Since the completion of the Semifinals on Friday night, we had held a marginal lead over Uintah. Our wrestlers in the consolation bracket had wrestled with unwavering purpose and extended our slim 2 1/2 point lead to 8 1/2 . Most importantly, they had beat Uintah in both of our head-to-head matches. Uintah had three in the finals and we anticipated they would win two. If they pinned both they could earn 12 points and take second from us. We needed one win to put it out of their reach. With four in the finals we were feeling pretty confident.
Then the plot thickened. We wrestled first and unfortunately were beaten. Next, Uintah met Payson's returning state champion at 126. This was supposed to be Uintah's sure loss and they pulled it off! With a score at the buzzer all our calculations went out the window. They then won their second finals match by technical fall and we were now behind by one. With a win, and likely a pin, at heavyweight we now needed two wins to take second. Ryan Hatfield started us off at 152. He accepted the responsibility; scored early, scored often, controlled the match and secured a fall in the second period. Ashton Seely wrestled next at 160. He had a rematch of his Divisional final the week before but this time they had a new strategy; slow Ashton down. He adjusted and wrestled a smart safe match and for the win. With these two wins, we now had second place secured. The team race was over and Dalton Harmon went out to wrestle the most anticipated match of the night. He faced off with Kaden Campbell from Union, one of Dalton's three losses of the season. Dalton scored an early takedown on a blast double and the rest is history. He wrestled hard, wrestled smart and won our third State Championship.
In actuality, our trophy run began on Friday morning with a great first round. We went 10-2 and had already scored more points at that time than we did the whole tournament last year. After the quarterfinal matches midday Friday, we had six in the Semifinals and five on the consolation side.
Jayce Lind(106) started us off with a win in the consolation bracket and one more that night guaranteed him a top six finish. He dropped down to the 5th place match and won an important victory over Uintah when we needed it most. We are so pleased with how well Jayce wrestled in the post season. He peaked at the right time and earned a spot on the podium as a Freshman. We look forward to three more great years for Jayce.
Tanner Memmont(113) wrestled two great matches to make it to the Semifinals, meeting up with a returning state finalist and the Champion from our Divisional. Tanner wrestled the smartest match of his career and won, securing a spot in the finals. Unfortunately, he came up short in the finals match and placed second. This is a spectacular improvement from his state performance last year and now that he's been in the finals we are going to work to win it next year.
Jesse Ballow(132) was our second wrestler in the consolations. He suffered an unexpected loss in the quarterfinals that was a big setback to his personal goal of being a finalist. To his credit, he made the most of a bad situation and came back to place third. This was especially important as he beat Uintah in the consolation finals. Next year Jesse will reach his goal and we expect he will be a state champ.
Kolton Lynn(138) wrestled well through the morning and made it to the semifinals. Unfortunately, he lost a hard fought match and dropped into the consolation semis. He wrestled through to the consolation finals and lost in the last second to place 4th. This is an improvement from his 6th place finish last year. At this rate, he will be in the finals next year.
Ethan McPherson(145) also made it to the semifinals but came up short of the finals. This is especially disappointing because Ethan is a senior. He regrouped after this loss and came back to place third. It is because of the efforts of those in the consolations that we were able to extend the lead over Uintah and take second place. Ethan has had a great year and a great career. He has been a two-year captain and his leadership will be missed.
Ryan Hatfield(152) wrestled his perfect tournament. In three of four matches he scored bonus points for the team and when we needed it the most he got a fall in the finals. Ryan has also been a two-year captain and he has lead by example. He gave 100% every day in the room and it showed on the mat. As the match progressed, he would get better as his opponent grew more tired. Congratulations Ryan.
Ashton Seely(160) had a great tournament, taking state as a freshman! He dominated the first two rounds before meeting up with two opponents he had previously beaten. Both had the same strategy – do not let Ashton score. Ashton is dominating on top and both planned on beating him by not going underneath. Ashton wrestled smart, scoring on bottom and wrestling safe on his feet. He won both the semis and the finals by a point, but "one point is as good as ten" and he is a State Champion! We look forward to the next three years to see what Ashton can really accomplish.
Dalton Harmon(170) cruised through the tournament to the finals. In the finals he avenged an earlier loss from the season. He set the tone of the match by scoring first. He wore his opponent down and he won the scrambles. He controlled the tie-ups and the pace of the match to win. He was recognized for his performance by being awarded the Most Outstanding Wrestler, upper weights, in 3A. Dalton has been a leader for four years. His presence in the room and on the mat will be missed. Congratulations Dalton, we are proud of your accomplishments and your contribution to Juab Wrestling.
Tryler Greenhalgh(182) was our final place winner, taking 5th. He was one of our Saturday morning warriors who wrestled back strong to earn important team points in our quest for second. He had a good tournament, improving on his 6th place finish at Divisionals and improving on his state performance from last year. Tryler has one more year and we expect him to place much higher next year.
Not placing, but wrestling at state were Trevan Linton(145), Jayce Steele(170) and Brandon Aagard(195). All three gained valuable experience and will be back next year.
To cap it off, not only did we take second place and Most Outstanding Wrestler, but Coach Poulsen was honored as Coach of the Year for 3A. Congratulations Coach Poulsen and congratulations to the team for a great year and an outstanding state tournament. Juab Wrestling is headed in the right direction!
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