ST. GEORGE — With the state Class 3A wrestling tournament two weeks away, everyone is focusing on getting ready to put their best foot forward.
Cedar City, with a 4-0 record in Region 9 duals, needs a win at Hurricane on Thursday to wrap up the league championship. The Tigers, meanwhile, are 1-3 and are looking for strong performances from former junior varsity wrestlers to propel them into the divisional tournament, which will determine seedings at the state meet.
Competition this week actually starts on Wednesday when Snow Canyon visits Desert Hills. The other region meet on Thursday is Dixie at Pine View. All three meets are scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
“The last region dual against Hurricane is our last practice before our end goals of peaking at the state level,” said Cedar coach Luke Payne. “Right now we have wrestled well in our region duals but have come out the next day a little flat. We need to fix that before state on Feb 12th and 13th.”
Payne continued, “Our younger kids are starting to get more confident and we need them to keep improving over the next couple weeks to end in the top placings at state.”
Hurricane coach Ryan Christiansen is in a different situation.
“ I have a lot of wrestlers injured, and am going to need to fill those weights with young wrestlers.” Christiansen said. “We have already wrestled Cedar this year and will need those young wrestlers to step up to get a better result than last time.
“ I have a core of guys who really wrestle with a lot of guts. Our tenacity is what makes our wrestlers stand out. After Cedar, we have a week-long break to heal up for region (divisional) wrestling.”
The divisional tournament at Cedar High on Feb. 5 and 6 will bring together wrestlers from central and southern Utah.
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