There are some incredible wrestling teams and individuals at this tournament. We expect nearly 700 wrestlers from 70 different wrestling schools. – Tournament Director Cole Kelley
OREM — Wrestlers from Colorado, Idaho, Washington, Wyoming and Utah will converge on Utah Valley University's UCCU Event Center Friday and Saturday for The Rockwell Rumble, one of the largest wrestling tournaments in the United States.
This year, 70 teams will do battle with Maple Mountain High School returning to defend its team title.
This is the premier prep wrestling event in Utah and will be much more difficult than the state wrestling tournament.
Many weight classes feature several state champions from both inside and outside of Utah.
Tournament Director Cole Kelley expects the competition to be fierce.
"There are some incredible wrestling teams and individuals at this tournament," said Kelley. "We expect nearly 700 wrestlers from 70 different wrestling schools."
Pleasant Grove, the defending 5A state champs, comes into the tournament as the team to beat. The Vikings won the Millard Iron Man Duals and the Wasatch Intermountain Duals while taking second at the Reno Tournament of Champions, where they only being bested by California powerhouse Poway High.
Pleasant Grove is led by 285-pounder Zac Dawe, a two-time state champion and two-time Reno winner. But backing up Dawe will be Kyson Levin (113 pounds), who is a two-time state champion. Ben Anderson (126), Bailey Carlson (160) and TJ Wind (170) are Vikings with serious title aspirations as well.
Though bested by Pleasant Grove in three different events, defending Rumble champions Maple Mountain won't give up its title without a fight. Maple Mountain has some star power in Reno champ Kimball Bastian (170) and Taylor LaMont (132), a returning state champion. Ryan Hansen (120), Trent Kelly (126), Johnny O'hearon (138) and Brooks Robinson (152) will contend for titles.
Mountain Crest and Box Elder hope to also contend for the title. The Mustangs are led by Jordan Wengreen (152), while Box Elder's top wrestler is Breckin Gunter (195).
Two out-of-state teams also have serious team title aspirations: Centennial (Idaho), led by past Reno champs Hayden Tuma (145) and Jon Jay Chavez (160), and Broomfield (Colo.), the defending 4A champs.
A weight class simply loaded with talent is 152 pounds.
Box Elder's Matt Williams brings in a 32-1 record. Wasatch's Spencer Heywood placed second at Reno. Wengreen of Mountain Crest gave Williams his only loss at the Richardson Memorial last weekend. Maple Mountain's Robinson has downed Heywood in a dual meet and looks to upset things.
Other contenders include Salem Hills' Walker VanTassell, who boasts a glossy 31-2 record. Monticello brings in Colton Musselman, a three-time 1A state champion. Meanwhile, two out of state wrestlers want to reach the top of podium as Bonney Lake's Cayle Williams (17-1) and North Central's Cody Kiorakas (18-3) do battle.
Another weight to eyeball will be 160 pounds. Two Reno finalists could meet again this weekend. Centennial's Chavez took home Reno gold by beating Salem Hills' Jacob Armstrong, 3-0, to give the Skyhawk grappler his only loss on the season.
Utah wrestling fans would love to see rematches between Maple Mountain's LaMont and Cedar City's Dusty Hone at 132 pounds and Alta's Matt Findlay and Maple Mountain's O'hearon at 138 pounds.
Hone and Findlay are seniors who are going for their fourth state titles. But both survived tough one-point bouts in their match-ups at the Simplii All-Star Match with LaMont and O'hearon, respectively.
"If you're a fan of prep wrestling, you'll want to make it down to Utah County," said Kelley. "There's going to be great matches all over the place."
While nearly 700 wrestlers will do battle at the varsity tournament, more than 500 grapplers will compete at the JV Rumble hosted by Mountain View. A total of 1,200 wrestlers might make the The Rumble the largest high school event in the country.
Brian E. Preece is a freelance sports writer. He was the head wrestling coach at Provo High School from 1994 to 2006.