OREM – By Cari Doutre – Feb. 14, 2020
It’s like Deja-vu for the Bear River High wrestling team. For the second weekend in a row the Bears are trailing powerhouse wrestlers Mountain Crest High, but this time around a new player has entered the game - Uintah High.
And one more added detail - this weekend it’s all for a state championship title.
After the first day of the 2020 4A state wrestling tournament on Friday, Feb. 14, at Utah Valley University in Orem, Bear River is currently standing in third place with 117.5 points. The Bears are trailing behind Uintah (138.5 points) and Mountain Crest High, the defending 4A state champs (152.5 points).
But the competition isn’t over yet. Not even close.
What is most likely a fight for second place between Bear River and Uintah, there are 21 Bears still in it out of the 25 that qualified for state.
Nine of those Bear River wrestlers will be entering Saturday morning’s final day of the competition undefeated, while three Bear River wrestlers are still duking it out in the one-loss consolation bracket.
To make the tournament even a more exciting, two of those undefeated Bear River wrestlers will face each other in the semi-finals tomorrow in the 285-pound weight division.
Bear River High senior Logan Fraser and Jeshua Koch, a freshman at Bear River Middle School, will go head-to-head for that spot in the finals.
In comparison, Mountain Crest has 11 wrestlers still in the championship bracket undefeated and only five in the consolation bracket with one loss against them. Uintah has six in the championship bracket and 11 in the consolation bracket.
Taking on their opponents in Saturday’s championship bracket semi-finals (starting at 10 a.m.) from Bear River include:
Trenton Ward (106) vs. Seth Armstrong, Hurricane High
Kamryn Rees (132) vs. Dillon Dick, Uintah High
Cael Wilcox (145) vs. Ryker Boyce, Desert Hills High
Easton Winward (152) vs. Joshua Armstrong, Hurricane High
Maverik Skinner (160) vs. Rhett Gebert, Ridgeline High
Porter Tackett (170) vs. Dylan Swift, Uintah High
Zach Phillips (220) vs. Hunter Larsen, Sky View High
Bear River senior Logan Fraser (285) vs. Bear River freshman Jeshua Koch
Still in it fighting for third place tomorrow in the consolation quarter finals (starting at 10 a.m.) include:
Max Miller (106) vs. Carson Pease, Stansbury High
River Smith (120) vs. Austyn Ennis, Cedar City High
Tyler Howard (182) vs. Andrew Hugie, Ridgeline High
