Wasatch came up big in the state's largest high school wrestling tournament Saturday. Thanks to five first-place finishes, the Wasps racked up 239.5 points to win the annual Viewmont Invitational.
Seventeen teams sent full varsity and junior varsity squads to the two-day affair which featured 510 wrestlers and 930 matches."It's a major event," said Viewmont coach Bart Thompson, who directed the tournament. "The competition level here is better than the state tournament."
The field included last year's 3A and 4A state champions (Wasatch, Pleasant Grove), as well as four of the top five finishers in the 5A ranks.
Meet titlist Wasatch, ranked nationally by USA Today, was joined in the top five by Taylorsville (182), Alta (153.5), Evanston, Wyo. (145) and Pleasant Grove (135).
Individually, eight defending state champions competed in final matches.
Saturday. Atop the list of victors were the Sanderson brothers of Wasatch. Cody, Cole and Cael claimed top honors at 125, 130 and 135 pounds respectively. Other winners included Zac Hilton (119) and Rocky Smart (145) of Pleasant Grove, as well as Jimmy Ruden (152) of Carbon.
Jerod Timothy (119) of Carbon and Brian Blain (125) of Pleasant Grove were state kingpins who settled for second-place finishes.
Cole Sanderson and Bountiful's Ken Howard were named outstanding wrestlers in the competition.