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June
28, 2007: Wrestling USA
Magazine
Utah Athletes Shine at AAU Grand Nationals in Montana
June 28, 2007 — Six Utah wrestling clubs were
represented at the AAU Grand Nationals wrestling
tournament held recently in Butte, Mont. These Utah
athletes excelled in the national championships in
freestyle, Greco-Roman and folkstyle wrestling, earning 65
awards between the three styles, and coming in at fourth
place in the Super Team Competition.
"This was a great tournament, and a great opportunity
for our Utah athletes," said Bill Kilpack, director of AAU
Wrestling Utah. "With as small a contingent as we had, we
really shined. The first place team had more than 200
wrestlers. We showed them the difference between quantity
and quality."
Winning triple titles (taking a national title in
freestyle, Greco-Roman and folkstyle) was something of a
family affair, with two pairs of siblings numbering among
the five Utahns to achieve this feat. Brothers Carson and
Parker Kay of the Spanish Fork-based Diamondbacks
wrestling club, each won three national titles, Carson in
the Tots division (6 and Under) at heavyweight, and Parker
in the Bantam (ages 7 and 8) 70-pound division. Brothers
Taylor and Grant LaMont of the Springville-based Champions
wrestling club, also won three titles, Taylor at Midget
(ages 9 and 10) 55 lbs., and Grant at Novice (ages 11 and
12) 80 lbs. The fifth Utahn to win three national titles
was Brandon George, also of Champions, at Schoolboy (ages
13 and 14) 75 lbs.
Utahn wrestlers accounted for 10 more national titles.
In freestyle, newly crowned national champions included
Jarrett Morrill of Hyrum-based Pony Express, at Elite
(ages 17 and 18) 125 lbs. and Tyrell Wright of Coalville-based
North Summit, at Elite 171 lbs. In Greco-Roman, new
national champions included Hayden Peterson of Champions,
Elite 145 lbs.; and Wright at Elite 171. In folkstyle, new
national champions included William Kilpack of Sandy-based
Mountain Top Wrestling Club at Novice 90 lbs.; Kaleb
Ashworth of Diamondbacks, Cadet (ages 15 and 16) 130 lbs.;
Peterson at Elite 145; Jarrett Morrill at Elite 125 and
his twin brother Jake Morrill at Elite 130; and Brett
Kendrick of Champions at Elite 171.
Others achieving AAU Wrestling All-American status are
as follows, broken down by club and style:
Champions: freestyle - Alec Garcia, 2nd, Novice 80
lbs.; Brett Kendrick, 5th, 171 lbs.; Greco-Roman - Alec
Garcia, 2nd, Novice 80 lbs.; Brett Kendrick, 3rd, 171
lbs.; folkstyle - Alec Garcia, 3rd, Novice 80 lbs.
Diamondbacks: Spencer Kelly, 3rd, Bantam 80 lbs.; Trent
Kelly, 5th, Novice 70 lbs.; Josh Searle, 5th, Novice 95
lbs.; Mitch Kay, 6th, Schoolboy 100 lbs.; Kaleb Ashworth,
2nd, Cadet 130 lbs.; Greco-Roman - Spencer Kelly, 5th,
Bantam 80 lbs.; Josh Searle, 3rd, Novice 95 lbs.; Mitch
Kay, 4th, Schoolboy 100 lbs.; Jace Kelly, 8th, Cadet 125
lbs.; Kaleb Ashworth, 4th, Cadet 130 lbs.; folkstyle -
Trent Kelly, 4th, Novice 70 lbs.; Josh Searle, 2nd, Novice
95 lbs.; Mitch Kay, 8th, Schoolboy 100 lbs.
Mountain Top Wrestling Club: freestyle - Garrick
Kilpack, 6th, Tots 45 lbs.; William Kilpack, 2nd, Novice
90 lbs.; Greco-Roman - Garrick Kilpack, 2nd, Tots 45 lbs.;
William Kilpack, 2nd, Novice 90 lbs.; Ella-Maereen
Kilpack, 7th, Schoolboy 105 lbs.; folkstyle - Garrick
Kilpack, 2nd, Tots 45 lbs.; MacKelti Kilpack, 8th, Novice
75 lbs.
North Summit: freestyle - Jaxon Cole, 2nd, Midget 50
lbs.; Greco-Roman - Jaxon Cole, 2nd, Midget 50 lbs.;
folkstyle - Jaxon Cole, 2nd, Midget 50 lbs.; Tyrell
Wright, 4th, Elite 189 lbs.
Pony Express: freestyle - Corrick Knight, 4th, Cadet
125 lbs.; Jake Morrill, 2nd, Elite 130 lbs.; Anthony
Trippler, 6th, Elite 135 lbs.; Greco-Roman - Corrick
Knight, 4th, Cadet 125 lbs.; folkstyle - Zabinadi
Smethurst, 6th, Cadet 112 lbs.; Corrick Knight, 5th, Cadet
125 lbs.; Anthony Trippler, 7th, Elite 135 lbs.; Hayden
Snow, 2nd, Cadet 189 lbs.
Salt Lake City-based TAC: freestyle - Spencer Brown,
3rd, Cadet 125 lbs.; Greco-Roman - Spencer Brown, 2nd,
Cadet 125 lbs.
Utah took fourth in the Super Team competition, which
consisted of all athletes from that state and their
results in all three styles. "Utah really made a powerful
showing," Kilpack said. "It's a real testament to the high
level of wrestling in Utah."
Pony Express Coach Davie Swenson said, "This tournament
was a great experience, and I'm grateful that we had an
AAU state tournament this year. If we hadn't gone to that,
we wouldn't have come here. Corrick [Knight] had 24
matches up here - that's a season's worth of matches. What
a great deal!"
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