CEDAR CITY – Koalman Kimber punctuated Cedar City’s strong finish in the Class 3A South divisional wrestling tournament on Saturday when he pinned Juab’s Jaxson Kendall one minute and 35 seconds into the match.
It was the Redmen’s fourth win in the final five matches, giving them that number of top seeds heading into the state tournament at Utah Valley University on Feb. 12 and 13. Both of the divisional tournaments qualified eight wrestlers per weight class for that meet.
“We knew we had a strong group in the upper weights,” Kimber said.
“Our heavier weights did what we expected,” said Cedar coach Luke Payne. “And our two freshmen – (Dustin) Barrick and (Nathan) Ellis – were a pleasant surprise.”
Quaid Murray started things for the Cedar heavyweights when he beat Austin Biggs of Richfield 9-5 in the 170-pound final. McCrae Murray pinned Hootchy Brewer of North Sanpete at 195. Ellis beat Dallyn of Carbon 2-1, scoring a takedown just before the final buzzer.
“When we wrestled them at the Iron Town Duals, I beat that kid,” Kimber said of Kendall. “So I had confidence in myself.”
Juab won the super-regional title with 299.5 points. Cedar had 255 and Canyon View sneaked into third, edging Desert Hills 207-201.5 after the Thunder had set in the No. 3 spot for most of the tournament. Snow Canyon finished with 185.5; Carbon had 149, North Sanpete 126, Hurricane 120, Pine View 115, Richfield 93 and Dixie 83.
Canyon View got championships from Brady Lowry at 120, Kasey Robinson at 126 and Eric Gourde at 160.
Gourde outdueled Juab’s Joey Aagard 12-9, scoring an escape, a takedown and a reversal late to break away.
“This was a big relief,” Gourde said of his win. “I’m in tears right now. I’ve been working 15 years for this. I started wrestling when I was three.”
Juab and Cedar City are taking the largest contingents to state. The Redmen are taking 16, including those four champions.
In other matches of interest, Chance Bundy of Desert Hills finally went the distance in his final match at 132 pounds. Although he beat Snow Canyon’s Christian Case 17-4 to claim the championship, he had recorded three straight pins over the two-day tournament.
And the Thunder’s Liam Williams ran his record at 152 pounds to 39-1 when teammate Brady Jones forfeited.
3A South Divisional Championship results
106-Gentry Warner, Juab, pinned Dyllon Arevinar, CC, 3:20
113-Kaleb Nybo, Juab, pinned Dustin Barrick, CC, 1:19
120-Brady Lowry, CV, major dec. Jayce Lind, Juab, 15-5
126-Kasey Robinson, CV, pinned Zayden Rowley, DH, 4:38
132-Chance Bundy, DH, major dec. Christian Case, SC, 17-4
138-Gaitlin Peterson, NS, pinned Hobbs Nyberg, Dix, 1:35
145-Mason Mangelson, Juab, pinned Tanner Terry, DH, 4:49
152-Liam Williams, DH, by forfeit over Brady Jones, DH
160-Eric Gourde, CV, dec. Joey Aagard, Juab, 12-9
170-Quaid Murray, CC, dec. Austin Biggs, Rich, 9-5
182-Ashton Seely, Juab, technical fall over Brenr Nelson, PV, 16-0
195-McCrae Murray, CC, pinned Hootchy Brewer, NS, 0:32
220-Nathan Ellis, CC, dec. Dallyn Mower, Carb, 2-1
285-Koalman Kimber, CC, pinned Jaxson Kendall, Juab, 1:35
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