OREM — Uintah's Candace Workman made history Friday at the 3A state wrestling championships.
With her 5-4 win in the semifinals, she became the first female to ever reach the state finals.
"It was my goal coming in to get here, but I am not done. I would love to go out and win a state championship," said Workman. "I knew I could do it, and I hope that by my getting here it can inspire all the other girls out there that want to wrestle to know that they can do it if they put the work in and try their best."
While her individual work was impressive, the team that really flexed its muscle was Wasatch. The Wasps reclaimed the lead at 257 points in the team chase as eight members wrestled their way into the finals. The battle for first, however, remains tight as Delta is right behind at 249 and Uintah is within reach at 237 points. The three powers also have the most wrestlers into the finals as Wasatch has eight grapplers, Delta seven and Uintah seven.
"We are pretty much exactly where we expected to be," said the Rabbits first-year coach, Joshua Wright. "We had 10 region champions, and with that comes the expectation that they will wrestle through to at least the semifinals and hopefully to the finals."
Delta's Westley Anderson was one finalist that surprised everyone at the arena and helped keep his team in contention. Trailing 11-4 in the third period, he scored 11 points over the final two minutes to win 15-14.
"I just knew I didn't want to lose," said Anderson. "Sometimes wrestling is all about heart, and I wanted it more than he did."
In the 2A competition Millard is once again showing why it has been the cream of the classification. The Eagles extended their first-day lead as they moved to 226.5 points compared to second place South Summit at 188. Juab is in third with 148 points and North Summit has 137.
"I am proud of how hard our guys have worked to get here," said Millard coach Blake Turner. "Not to complain, but we really could have had even a better result so far. Our big guys have stepped up and done what was expected, but we had a couple of upsets."
One wrestler that performed as expected was 145-pound defending champion Quincy Thatcher.
"There is definitely a pride thing to wrestling for Millard," he said. "If you have that name on your back, nothing but the best is expected from you. I would rather win the team title than an individual title."
Millard should clinch its third consecutive title as it has six in the finals. South Summit qualified seven, but the deficit is probably too much to overcome.
Duchesne entered the 1A tournament as the favorites and has done nothing but strengthen that notion. The Eagles are cruising to the title with 176 points compared to second-place Monticello at 97. Altamont is third with 80, and Wayne has 78.
Duchesne was so dominant that it put 11 wrestlers into the championship matches.
The wrestling continues today with the consolation rounds beginning at 10 a.m. and the finals taking place at 4 in the afternoon.
E-mail: mblack@desnews.com