The list of state champions on the wall of the Stansbury High School wrestling room is blank no more.
Logan Gustafson made history and fulfilled his own lifelong dream in the process Saturday night at the UCCU Center at Utah Valley University in Orem, coming from behind to defeat Morgan’s Antonio Nava 9-8 in the Class 3A 138-pound state championship match.
“It feels amazing,” Gustafson said. “It’s obviously been my dream since I was little. My older brothers –– they were wrestlers and they never took state. They pushed it hard, but they had tough brackets. I had their experience plus my coaches, and I came out on top.”
Gustafson, a junior, trailed 8-7 entering the final period of the match after a frenetic second period that saw each wrestler nearly end the match by pin a mere 15 seconds apart. Gustafson opened the third period on top and never let Nava escape, seizing the lead with a two-point near fall with 58 seconds left.
“I knew all I had to do was wrestle hard and wrestle smart,” Gustafson said. “I knew that even if at times it looked like I was going to lose, I had to keep pushing because I knew I could bring it back. I was confident in my own ability.”
Gustafson managed to hold on from there, becoming the first wrestler to win a state championship in Stansbury High School’s eight-year history.
“We knew with Nava, it was going to be tough,” said Stallions coach Tyson Linnell. “With Nava’s upper body, he likes to throw, and Logan’s the same way. Our game plan was to let him throw and hopefully we could capitalize. Logan was able to get a tilt and capitalize.”
Nava embraced Gustafson following the match as both wrestlers stood in the middle of the mat, basking in the cheers from an appreciative crowd.
“Antonio’s such a great guy,” Gustafson said. “I’m glad he was the person I had to beat in the finals. We were pushing each other in that match and probably both hit a new level that we didn’t know we had.”
Gustafson’s victory put a cap on a successful season that included a win over Riverton’s Dylan Gregerson in the championship match of the Stallion Stampede in December. Gregerson went on to win the Class 5A 138-pound title. He also had to beat Bear River’s Holden Richards in the state semifinals after Richards beat him the previous week in the Northern Division semifinals.
“He’s beat some great guys this year and had an overall great season,” Linnell said.
Stansbury scored 110.5 points and finished fifth in the final team standings, with 113-pounder Dylian Moore and 120-pounder Josh Larsen also advancing to their respective championship matches. Moore lost 5-2 to Morgan’s Jarett Jorgensen in the finals, and Larsen was defeated by Juab’s Gentry Warner 10-1.
The Stallions had a program-best five placers overall despite a flu bug that went through the team over the weekend. Anthony Herrera bounced back from a loss in Friday’s quarterfinal round, winning four straight matches to finish third at 132 pounds. Dawson Stewart was fourth at 152 pounds.
Linnell’s team will make the jump to Class 4A next season, but expectations will remain high. Larsen is the only senior among the Stallions’ state placers, putting them among the favorites to compete for the team title next year.
“We’re going to come back pretty solid next year,” Linnell said. “Our depth is going to be pretty good next year, so we’re going to be able to compete with some of those top teams. I see us finishing in the top three … if not top two … if not first place next year.”
Tooele senior Brady Knight, who came in as the defending state champion at 120 pounds, lost 8-3 to Warner in the semifinals. But he didn’t let the defeat deflate him too much, bouncing back with a commanding 12-2 major decision over Ben Lomond’s Ashton Gualtier and a 57-second pin against Nate Olsen of Desert Hills to finish third.
Angel Garcia finished fifth at 182 pounds for Tooele after an impressive run through the consolation bracket. He was pinned by Snow Canyon’s Rhett Boatright in the first period of his first match Friday, but scored a pin over Bear River’s Jaxon Howard and won a pair of narrow decisions over Cedar’s Hayden Giles and Hurricane’s Shane Farnsworth to advance to the consolation semifinals. He lost 9-3 to Juab’s Talon Mangelson to drop into the fifth-place match, but finished with a flourish, pinning Morgan’s Conley Breshears.
Garcia, a junior, tearfully embraced his coaches afterward, drained from his impressive journey through several win-or-go-home matches.
Tooele finished 14th overall with 40.5 points.
Grantsville senior Bronco Cloward finished fifth at 285 pounds. After losing in the quarterfinals, Cloward beat Bear River’s Laramie Strong 3-1 and pinned Stansbury’s Josh Witkowski to advance to the consolation semifinals. He was pinned by Ridgeline’s Kody Pope, and was awarded fifth place when Desert Hills’ Enoka Fuailetolo was unable to compete due to injury.
Grantsville was 19th overall with 22.5 points.