Morgan wraps up busy week of wrestling

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday… is it easier to count the days the Morgan High team wrestled this week or the days they didn’t? In a week full of great wrestling, Morgan had two grapplers represent them at the All-Star Dual (see accompanying article), hosted and shutout Grantsville in a dual and competed at the challenging Rockwell Rumble. 

Wednesday, the team hosted Grantsville and came away with a 76-0 shutout of the Cowboys. Coach Dustin Rock remarked, “It’s my first shutout as a coach. It was exciting. I was really proud of how the guys all came out ready to wrestle. They did a great job and took care of business on the mat.”

At the Rockwell Rumble in Herriman, 30 teams with hundreds of top wrestlers from Utah, Idaho, Nevada, Colorado, California and Montana competed for the bragging rights in the state and beyond. The Morgan team finished 14th out of 30, and Drew Korth (126) and Rylee Creasey (190) earned 7th and 8th places respectively.

Korth’s trip to the podium opened with a bye before pinning a Stansbury wrestler (1:53) and tech falling (15-0) a Kemmerer wrestler. In the quarter finals, Korth lost a tough match 6-5 to Fremont’s Jason Worthley. In the consolation bracket he picked up a major decision (11-1) over Westlake before falling in a 3-2 decision to Mountain Crest’s Easton Evans, the wrestler he beat last weekend for the Richardson Memorial Championship. In the 7th Place Match, Korth won a 4-3 decision over Layton’s Noah Bull.

“Drew wrestled well,” Coach Rock commented. “He had two tough one-point losses along the way, but he wrestled some great matches. It was a tough tournament.”

Creasey’s path to eighth place also opened with a bye and a pin (2:58). In the third round, he lost 5-3 in sudden victory to Shadow Ridge. In the consolation bracket Creasey won three in a row by tech fall (15-0), pin (2:49) and decision 7-3. Creasey’s 7-3 victory came over Millard’s KC Whitaker who beat him Tuesday night in the All-Star Duals and in December at the Millard Ironman Tournament. He was excited to get the victory over Whitaker. In the next round, Creasey lost by major decision (11-0) to Pleasant Grove’s Trevyn Gates and in the 7th Place Match, he lost by decision 6-4 to Maple Mountains’s Joshua Biesinger.

Coach Rock noted, “It was good for Rylee to pick up a win over the Millard kid that he had previously lost to twice. He wrestled well and faced a lot of good wrestlers. Gates took 2nd in 6A last year.”

Several Morgan wrestlers went deep into the tournament. Rylan Crowther (150) advanced to Consolation Round 6, and the following wrestlers progressed to Consolation Round 5 before losing their second match: Luke Woolsey (113), Lance Toone (175), Aydon Thomson (215) and Cole Keele (285).

“I’m so proud of all of our wrestlers this weekend,” Coach Rock explained. “Everyone worked hard, and we found out more things that we need to work on for divisionals and state. The Rumble is a tough tournament. I’m really proud of our JV team for taking first. They are working hard and pushing each other.”

At the JV Rumble at Riverton High School, the Morgan JV Squad took first place out of over 30+ teams. Morgan scored 207 to Bear River’s 182.5 and Payson’s 170.5. Morgan placed six wrestlers and several JV kids progressed deep into the tournament, losing in the blood round.

At 215 pounds, Treyson Rich won first place. He opened with a bye and pinned his next two opponents. In the semifinal match he beat Mountain Ridge’s Justin Thomas 1-0, and in the finals he took a 6-2 decision over Legend’s Aiden Griffin.

Tyson Pace, at 132 pounds, also advanced to the championship finals. He also opened with a bye and then reeled off three pins. In the semifinal he won a 6-0 decision over Castleview’s Evan Wallace. In the finals, Duchesne’s Kyler Jenkins pinned Pace quickly (:33) for the win.

The third wrestler to advance to the championship bout was Brayden Porter (126 pounds). After a bye and a pin, he won a 2-0 decision over Stansbury and earned a pin in the quarterfinals over Cedar Valley (3:04). In the semis, Brayden earned a 5-2 decision over Layton. In the finals, he was pinned late in the third period (5:24) by Pleasant Grove’s Wyatt Bingham to take second.

Skyler Crowther, 144 pounds, earned third place. After an opening round bye and two tech falls (15-0 and 17-1), he pinned his quarterfinal opponent (5:25) Jackson Beck from Lehi. In the semifinals, he fell to Union’s Denver Cloward by fall (2:2). In the consolation bracket, he won the semis by decision 4-2 over Timpanogos, and in the 3rd Place Match he beat Jackson Beck for the second time in the tournament by fall (2:25).

Ezra Cadena (190) and Carter Meibos (157) both earned fifth place. Cadena wrestled seven matches to earn his spot on the podium. He opened with two wins by fall and decision before falling in the quarters by decision 1-0. In the consolation rounds, he won two by fall and lost in the consolation semis by decision 8-3. In the 5th Place Match, Cadena got the pin (1:12) over Layton.

Meibos also needed seven matches (and a bye) to earn his medal. After an opening round bye, he won two matches by decision 9-2 and 6-2 before getting pinned in the quarterfinals. He won his first two consolation bouts by decision 6-2 and 3-2. In the consolation semis, he fell by decision 8-4, but he rebounded to take the 5th Place Match by decision 6-4 over Pleasant Grove’s Nash Parker. 

Morgan took on North Summit Tuesday and faced Wasatch on Wednesday. This weekend they will travel to Enterprise for a tournament to end another busy week of wrestling.