Sargent and Korth bring home wrestling titles
Mar 04, 2024 12:12PM ● By Liisa London Mecham
Zak Sargent won his first state championship after placing second last year. Sargent won 5-3 in his final match. Photo by Jessica Jorgensen
In 2023, senior Zak Sargent and junior Drew Korth both finished the State Tournament with silver medals. Saturday night when they left the Sevier Valley Center in Richfield, both had upgraded to gold. Sargent, who finished the season with a 50-7 record, scored two takedowns in his championship match to win his first title by decision 5-3. After being forced to sit out for part of the season due to injury, Korth, 38-2, won his second state championship, 16-10 after building a 13-4 lead after two periods.
The Trojans advanced four wrestlers to the finals and placed 10 wrestlers on the podium. In the team race, Juab won for the eighth straight year with South Summit placing second and the Trojans third. In addition to Sargent and Korth, junior Ryler Jorgensen and sophomore Blake Woolsey were state finalists.
Sargent wrestled with the ferocity and intensity of a man on a title mission, Sargent opened with a takedown early in the period. Union’s Deagan Davis got an escape later in the period to come within one. Neither wrestler scored in the second period, and Sargent opened the period with a point awarded for Davis stalling to go up 3-1. Sargent didn’t quit and earned another takedown with 34 seconds remaining to give him the 5-1 advantage. Davis escaped with nine seconds remaining and Sargent got slapped with a stall call with one second remaining to bring the final score to 5-3. After placing third as a sophomore, second as a junior, now as a senior, Sargent claimed his title!
After a loss to Richfield’s Dayson Torgerson in the finals last year, Korth (144) was able to avenge the loss on his sibling, Drexton Torgerson, and win the title this year, 16-10, and earn him the distinction of a 2x State Champion. In 2021 Korth won the title at 113 pounds.
In his match, Korth went up 4-2 by the end of the first period, and then he increased his lead to 13-5 heading into the final round. Torgerson attempted to take down Korth and narrowed the lead to 15-10 before Korth closed out the remainder of the period to win.
Junior Ryler Jorgensen (126) also advanced to the finals bout. Jorgensen went up against Ladd Holman, son of Juab Coach Joel Holman. Although he is a freshman, Holman came into the finals with a 45-8 record. In the final match, Jorgensen fell 7-0.
Jorgensen advanced to the finals on a 5-3 sudden victory overtime win over Holman’s teammate Drake Johnson. In the quarterfinals, Jorgensen defeated Emery’s Dixon Peacock, 2-0, and he pinned his opening-round competitor in 1:39.
Sophomore Luke Woolsey(132) pushed to the finals with an opening round pin (4:34), a quarterfinal pin (5:12), and a major decision in the semifinals (18-6). His opponent in the finals, Cooper Blackett, a Juab senior, was a familiar foe as Woolsey faced him at Morgan a few weeks before state in the Juab-Morgan dual. Blackett won the match by tech fall 17-2 (5:13) as Woolsey improved his 2023 placement from fourth to second.
At 106 pounds, sophomore Carter Wardell earned third place with his only loss coming to the eventual champion in the semifinals. Wardell won the consolation finals by major decision, 9-0.
Also placing third was senior Krew Galbraith at 175 pounds. Galbraith dropped his semifinal to South Summit’s Ryker Woodward in a tight 3-1 decision. Galbraith won his opening two matches in commanding style–a 1:34 pin and a 12-0 major decision. In the 3rd Place Match, he took a 4-0 decision over Union’s Tevin Davis.
Sophomore Chace Allen (165) bounced back after an opening-round loss and won four straight matches to qualify for the 3rd Place Match where he fell by decision 705.
In the 215-pound weight class, senior Treyson Rich was tied 7-7 with Canyon View’s Marc Richardson in the semifinals when Richardson pinned him in the second period. Rich pinned his consolation opponent and then fell by pin in the 3rd Place Match (3:33).
Chase Allen’s brother, senior Tavin Allen, in his first year wrestling, placed sixth after wrestling back following a quarterfinal loss. Allen (126) dropped a close 9-8 decision in the 5th Place Match to place sixth.
At 190 pounds, sophomore Gabe Toone earned sixth place. He fell in the quarterfinal match but put together two consolation victories to enter the placing rounds. He dropped an 11-5 decision in the 5th Place Match.
Exiting the tournament in the blood round were Ezra Cadena (215) 3-2 loss by decision, Skyler Crowther (157) loss by Major Decision (10-2); Joseph Belinski (150) loss by Major Decision (8-0), Maverick Guymon (138) loss by decision (4-0). λ
