Ten wrestlers from Tooele and seven from Grantsville placed in the top three in their respective weight divisions at the Grantsville Dual Tournament on Saturday.
The Buffaloes, who have more than 60 wrestlers in their program, fielded two teams at the tournament. The first Tooele team finished first, and the second team placed sixth.
Tooele’s top squad defeated the five other squads in dual matches for a perfect 5-0 record. Murray placed second followed by Grantsville, Park City, Ben Lomond and Tooele’s second team.
Tooele’s Jake Hansen, 132, finished the tourney with a 5-0 record and was selected the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the lower weights at the tournament.
Grantsville’s Chance Warr, 170, also finished at 5-0, and was selected the Most Outstanding Wrestler in the higher weights.
The Buffaloes dominated the lower weights with seven first-place finishes. Grantsville was strong in the middle weights with two first-place finishes, and Murray proved to be powerful in the upper weights.
Grantsville coach Clarence Evans said his team this year is one of his better GHS wrestling teams in recent years.
“I thought the kids wrestled pretty good overall at the tournament. They gained some valuable experience and mat time,” Evans said. “It was good to see how hard each of them worked throughout each of their matches. I am proud of each one of them for the effort they put out each time they step on the mat. They work hard.”
Tooele finished first in the first five weight divisions.
Brady Knight won at 106 with teammate Spencer Cameron second.
Mason Hansen won at 113 with Grantsville’s Briggs Kimber second.
Rico Yslas won at 120 with Grantsville’s Hunter Anderson second.
Trevor Gleed won at 126 with teammate Gavin Coates second.
Hansen won at 132 with Grantsville’s Brennon Kimber second.
Finally, Murray broke through with a championship at 138 with David Acura finishing first. Grantsville’s Chris Gunderson placed second and Tooele’s David Carreau third.
Tooele’s Tyler Behunin finished first at 145 with teammate Anthony Ventura second. Tooele’s Braden Richter placed first at 152.
Grantsville picked up back-to-back championships at 160 and 170. Chace Soule finished first at 160 with Tooele’s Chris Gomez third. Chance Warr placed first at 170 with Tooele’s Jake Brady second.
Murray closed out with first-place finishes at 182, 195 and 220. Ben Lomond nabbed its only first-place at 285.
Local teams settled for second place at the four highest weights. Colten Jensen of Tooele placed second at 182, and Grantsville’s Dean Fraser was second at 195. Tooele’s Nick Garcia finished second at 220 and teammate Donny Glazer was second at 285.
Some of the GHS wrestlers who have shined this year include sophomore first-year wrestler Briggs Kimber whose record is 9-4. Junior Hunter Anderson at 120 is 11-4 on the season. Senior Brennon Kimber looks good at 132. “If we can keep him healthy he should do good things,” Evans said of his 132 grappler.
Gunderson is now 8-3 on the season at 138 with six pins.
Soule, who finished first at 160 at the tourney, normally wrestles at 152. He wrestled up to fill in a weight for the Cowboys. Soule is now 8-3 on the season. “Chace has a lot of experience and works hard. He may just stay at 160,” his coach said.
Warr is a dedicated warrior for the Cowboys now in his third year at GHS. He is 16-1 in the 170 weight class. “Chance just has a vast amount of experience because he wrestles year-round.”
Grantsville will compete in the Best of the West tourney Friday and Saturday in Tooele. Matches start at 1 p.m. Friday and again at 9 a.m. Saturday. Final matches will start at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday