Morgan wins Divisional Wrestling Title

By Liisa London Mecham

The Morgan Boys’ Wrestling team brought home their third straight divisional title Saturday, Feb. 4, on their home mat. Behind four individual champions, Drew Korth, Rylee Creasey, Aydon Thomson and Cole Keele, the Trojans racked up 278.5 points to defeat second place South Summit (244) and third place Delta (214.5) and Union (214.5). Morgan qualified 25 wrestlers for state and two alternates. The 3A State Wrestling Championships will take place Feb. 15-16 in Richfield.

“The kids wrestled well,” Coach Dustin Rock said. “It was good to see the kids succeed and the kids battle through the consolation rounds and place. We have a good week of preparation before state and a few things to fix to get us up to point, but we’re prepared to work to beat South Summit again and come at Juab.”

Morgan hosted the Girls Divisional Tournament on Wednesday and the Boys Divisional Tournament on Friday and Saturday. It was a tremendous amount of work for all of the coaches, administrators, parents, volunteers and community. Rock would like to thank everyone who helped and participated. “It’s always fun to win in front of a home crowd. It was nice to host Divisionals and have so many fans out to watch.”

Morgan’s divisional champions started with Drew Korth at 126 pounds. Korth opened with a tech fall 22-6 (2:00) before pinning his North Sanpete opponent in 30 seconds in the semifinal match. In the finals Korth won by fall over South Summit’s Zane Winter in the second period (3:24). Rock said, “Drew had a great tournament. He wrestled really well.”

Rylee Creasey advanced to the finals at 190 pounds with three pins (1:07, 0:48 and 0:34) In three matches, the senior wrestled less than two minutes. In his championship bout, Creassey beat Delta’s Blake Carter by tech fall 16-1 (2:50). According to Rock, “Rylee came out and took care of business.”

The 215 pound championship was an all-Morgan affair with Aydon Thomson taking on Treyson Rich. “It was great to have two Morgan wrestlers in the finals. They have both done a great job this year,” Rock said. “I’m excited to see what they will both do at state.”

In the match, Thomson prevailed by decision 4-1 over Rich. Thomson advanced to the final with two pins (1:32 and 4:48) while Rich earned a pin in 38 seconds in his first match and a 9-2 decision in the semifinals.

In his championship match, senior Cole Keele had a previous loss to avenge. On Senior Night, South Summit freshman Traygun Boger beat Keele 4-1. In the divisional championship Keele came out patient and avoided being head thrown to win the re-match 4-1. Rock said, “Cole did a great job wrestling smart and didn’t try to force things. He worked on the things we pointed out in his previous match with Boger. I’m happy for his win. It’s always great to overcome an earlier loss.” Keele opened with a quick pin in the quarterfinals and won 3-2 in sudden victory in his semifinal match.

Zak Sargent (157) also advanced to the title bout. In his first two matches he quickly pinned his opponents (1:50 and 0:46). In the final, he fell by decision to South Summit’s Benjamin Smith to place second.

At 106 pounds, Max Holtry finished third with a pin (0:55) in the 3rd Place match, and Carter Wardell placed fifth with a pin in the 5th Place Match (1:12). Luke Woolsey (113) suffered a semifinal 6-2 defeat to Delta’s Robert Meinhardt, but he rebounded to earn third by fall (1:23). Also at 113 pounds, Reese Carter picked up a win by fall