MHS Alum Rylee Creasey places 4th at Nationals, earns All-American honors

Two Morgan wrestling alumni, Rylee Creasy ‘23 and Will Korth ‘22, competed with their team, the Snow College Badgers, in Council Bluffs, Iowa, March 1-2, at the National Junior College (NJCAA) Wrestling Championships. Korth, a two-year member of the team, and Rylee, a freshman, both earned automatic bids to the tournament based on their performances at the Region 18 Championships that were held in Roseburg, Oregon.  

At the Region Championships, Creasey earned first place in the 285-pound division and received a No.4 seed for nationals. Korth, wrestling at 141 pounds, placed third at Region and entered the tournament unseeded.  

Korth opened NJCAA action with a bye and fell in his opening match 17-5 to the No. 4 seed. Dropping into the consolation bracket, he won a 7-3 decision before exiting the tournament on a loss by fall in the next round.

As a team, the Badgers improved on their 2023 performance and placed 18th in 2024, up four spots from last year.

Creasey debuted at nationals with two wins by fall (2:15 and 1:36) to advance to the quarterfinals. In the quarters, Creasey came up against eventual champion, CJ Carter, of Western Iowa Community College. Carter defeated Creasey by major decision, 12-4, but Creasey wasn’t finished.   

He won a tight 12-11 match in his first consolation battle and then pinned his next foe (4:12). In the consolation semifinals, Creasey won 13-8 to qualify for the 3rd Place Match. In his match, Creasey fell to Western Wyoming’s Dmarian Lopez, 5-1, and placed fourth, earning All-American honors.

“I’m happy with the outcome,” Creasey said. “It was great to have my parents come from Alabama. They liked watching me, but it scared my mom when the big heavyweights were picking me up.”

Riley, like Trussell, is a light 285. He weighed in for nationals at 200 pounds, surrendering up to 85 pounds in weight to each competitor. When asked about the weight differential, Creasey said, “I like it. It’s fun to give up the weight. I feel cool doing it.”

“I started my year off slower than I wanted to, but as the year has gone by, I’ve found my flow. I feel like I’ve made big jumps in the year,” he said.

Moving from high school to college is different, said Creasey. “In college, everyone who is wrestling wants to be there and wants to work hard. There are no easy matches like in high school.”

“One big difference at college is that you have a lot more practice partners to work with. In high school, I had my man, Aydon Thomson, as a practice partner, and Ryker Adams, the year before. They were great, but it gives you so much more practice and experience to have different partners every day in college.”

Creasey said that prepping at Morgan High with Coach Dustin Rock and the wrestling culture at Morgan High helped prepare him for college wrestling. “I came from a school in Montana that did a good job for what they had, but there was no wrestling culture. Morgan has a great wrestling program, and I had Aydon and Ryker to beat up on me when I arrived.”

Creasey also said that living and attending school in Richfield, Utah makes it easy to become a good wrestler. “Life is pretty boring in Richfield. Living a boring life is good for wrestling; there are no distractions.”

Creasey is majoring in finance and would 100% love to wrestle at a four-year school after he finishes at Snow if the price is right. “Snow has been great for me,” he said. “Coach Strain has helped me a lot with the fundamentals. I am excited to wrestle again next year at Snow.”

Creasey has this advice for younger wrestlers, “For anyone who is interested in wrestling in college, the most important thing is a desire to wrestle. Don’t make wrestling a chore, enjoy it while you can!” λ