Jan.
24, 2008: The Salt Lake Tribune
Prep Wrestling: Viewmont Senior Now
23-0 with All-Star Classic Win
by Chhun Sun
Viewmont senior Nate Larsen has a lot of
national and local accolades many wrestlers would love to
have, the kind that tell opponents he's not going to be an
easy fight.
But that doesn't get to Larsen. All that
recognition - he was ranked No. 10 in a Wrestling USA
Magazine preseason poll of the nation's best seniors -
doesn't mean he'll go into a bout thinking win, win and
only win.
When Larsen faced an old opponent, one
that gave him a loss when the two were in elementary
school, South Summit's Cody Thornton left the center mat
at the All-Star Classic at the McKay Events Center in Orem
feeling disappointed - as he was dominated in the contest,
18-3.
Larsen said he won, in part, because he
doesn't like to lose, especially losing to someone more
than once.
"When I wrestle," said Larsen, who, with
the win on Tuesday of last week against Thornton, owned a
23-0 season record, "I try to wrestle like I'm the
underdog."
A Decent Showing
Despite a poor team showing, Bountiful
made a solid run at the Rocky Mountain Rumble last week at
the McKay.
The Braves had Travis Whiting win three of
his five matches in the 112-pound class — in addition to
losing to eventual tournament champion Bingham's Ryker
Vandertoolen in the first round. Tanner Herrick was 1-2 in
his 135-pound matches to finish the tournament with an
18-10 season record. Clinton Burnell won three of his five
bouts.
In all, the Braves scored 51.5 points and
landed in 41st place out of 60 teams in the annual
tournament.
Gearing for State
In two weeks, the Davis Darts look to do
what they've been planning to do all season.
And that's peak at right moments.
The Region 1 tournament will take place by
then - and the Darts hope wrestlers like Zak Baker,
Braiden Hart, Tanner Porath and Ben Lynch will all give
Davis a shot at the title.
And later on at the Class 5A state
tournament in three weeks, Davis will look to repeat their
sixth-place finish a year ago — if not better it.
But before then, the Darts will go up
against region favorite Viewmont in a dual meet Thursday.
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