The 13th annual Viewmont Invitational Wrestling Tournament saw defending 4A champ Pleasant Grove place seven wrestlers in the final round and walk away with a 58-point victory.
The Vikings took top honors at the 18-squad meet with 225.5 team points. Kearns High was a distant second at 164.5 while third place was claimed by Wyoming's Evanston High with 144 points. A strong West Jordan contingent placed fourth at 128.5, just edging lone 3A entrant Carbon High School at 126.5. Taylorsville totaled 125.5 to claim sixth place honors.The meet included several key matches with returning state champions and place winners. There were number of upsets, however, as less than half of the first-seed grapplers won their weight classes.
The semifinal match at 130 pounds witnessed the first upset of the evening as Jesse Hammons of Layton defeated Pleasant Grove's Luke Nehring. Hammons went on to defeat Nate Lester of Evanston for a first-place finish at 130.
The match in the 140 weight class between Pleasant Grove's Rocky Smart and Carbon High's Brock Fausett was considered the highlight of the evening. Smart entered the tournament as a returning state 4A champion, boasting an undefeated high school record and not having lost a match in over two years. Fausett boasted a similar undefeated season record but fell early in last year's 3A state tournament. Fausett decisioned Smart in a three-round decision match, 4-2.
"It is as good of a match I have seen in a long time," said Viewmont coach Bart Thompson remarked. "Both wrestlers have uncoachable skills."
At 152, Joe Callahan of Kearns was pitted against Theros Johnson of Taylorsville High School. The two grapplers had met earlier in the season, with Johnson topping Callahan for Callahan's only loss of the season.
Callahan faced a tough route to the final, having to get past previous state finalist Jimmy Ruden of Carbon in the semifinal. However, Callahan avenged his earlier loss to Johnson, picking up the victory with a 9-7 decision that ended Johnson's unbeaten streak.
Both Fausett of Carbon and Callahan of Kearns were named outstanding wrestlers of the tournament as voted by the coaches.
The tournament provided very even competition despite that three classifications, 5A, 4A and 3A were represented. In a tournament that tourney coordinator Thompson described as "Tough or tougher than the state tournament" the winners from this invitational often become odds-on favorites for their respective classifications.