February 2008:
Murray Journal
Spartan Grapplers Have Seasoned Bookends
by Tom Patton
Murray wrestling coach Todd Thompson feels he has a young
team with good potential heading into the post-season
tournaments.
With two varsity grapplers favored to go deep in the state
4A tournament and only three seniors wrestling in the 14
weight classes, Thompson says the team, while young, has a
good foundation for the future.
“Considering how young we are, I think we’re doing really
well,” said Thompson. “We have a couple of good strong
kids we work around.” Thompson is speaking of senior Matt
Fairbrother, who wrestles at 285 pounds, and junior Kevin
Sierer at the other end of the weight spectrum at 103
pounds, both of whom placed in last year’s state
tournament. Fairbrother and Sierer also qualified for the
Richardson Memorial and Rocky Mountain Rumble tournaments
in January, with Sierer taking third at the Richardson and
Fairbrother winning it. At the Rocky Mountain Rumble,
which features top wrestlers from five or six states,
Sierer made it through the first five rounds before
suffering a neck injury. Fairbrother pinned every opponent
in less than two minutes to get to the final where he lost
a
tough decision to Justin Blackmore of West Jordan 3-2.
“These two tournaments are tougher than the state
tournament. Place in these tournaments and you’ll do well
in the state tournament,” said Thompson. Fairbrother is
ranked in the top 30 high school wrestlers in the nation
in his weight class and will go on to wrestle for Utah
Valley University.
Should Sierer recover from his neck injury to challenge in
the state tournament, he might look to his family for
inspiration. To begin with, his father, Tony Sierer, is a
Spartan assistant coach, but he also has two uncles, Ted
Sierer and Matt Wood, who between them won five state
titles in a row at 103 pounds.
“Matt won three titles and might’ve won another as a
freshman, but he lost to Ted in the finals in 1990,” said
Tony Sierer. Adding one more twist to this Sierer family
wrestling story is the fact that Ted Sierer is the head
coach at Region Six rival Highland High.
Thompson feels he has some up-and-coming underclass
wrestlers.
“Jordan Schroeder, at 135 pounds, was one round away from
placing last year as a freshman,” said Thompson. He also
mentioned that sophomore Clint Nordin, 112 pounds, and
junior Andy Graves, 119 pounds, could both place this
year. Another varsity wrestler on the team, junior Kylie
Burton at 130 pounds, has the unique challenge of being
the only female wrestler in Region Six.
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