Our Wrestling Lions experienced success, although somewhat bittersweet, at the Viewmont Invitational Tournament. Payson Crowned 4 individual champions and placed 4th overall. The downside is that we placed higher last year with a 2nd. The team placement is great considering that we resulted ahead of Millard and Delta. Coming off two losses to Millard, it felt good to lead by 40 points. Of the 26 teams, the tournament is attended by the best in the state of the 2A, 3A, 4A and 5A classifications. Box Elder took the Championship with 256.5 points. Layton 2nd with 229.0. Mountain Crest 3rd at 207.5 and Payson 198.5 total points.
Individually, Payson finished with 4 Champions. Mitch Brown 119 lbs, Jed Mellen 125 lbs, Cole ford 130 and Brady Loveless 171 lbs. Mitch Brown dominated Kyle Shepherd (Viewmont) and ended the match win a pin. His enthusiastic style earned him the title of Outstanding Wrestler of the lower weights. Congrats Mitch! Jed Mellen Solidly outdistanced Kenny Astle (Layton) with a 12-1 championship victory. In the same fashion, Cole Ford beat up Brett Naylor (Davis) 7-1.
Brady Loveless faced an extreme challenge as his match-up was a recently moved to Utah opponent. Brandon Mcbride (Olympus) had a list of accomplishments that was truly staggering! I do not recall all, but what I did hear was that he was a multiple Greco Roman, Freestyle National Champion and Illinois State Champ. Brady and this kid both started the match undefeated. Only one could walk away still undefeated and that was Brady with an 8-6 Victory. It was Brady’s superior balance and focused determination that helped him succeed. There was definitely shock and disappointment when the upper weights outstanding wrestler picked was not Brady.
Freshman Hagen Loveless placed third with a Major Decision 13-5 over #1 seed Nick Sorensen (Millard). Hagen originally lost to Sorensen but reversed his loss with this super finish. Wrestling with a lower back injury, Zac Loveless suffered and early loss to the Champion Brayden Humpherys (Layton) but fought back to beat Rasten Yeates (Box Elder) 3-2 for a Third. Kaelen Loveless suffered very close loss that kept him out of the championship by Cole Sorensen (Mountain Crest) Kaelen wrestled back for a fourth place.
Congrats to Dustin Nielson for taking the Championship JV medal at 112 lbs. He gained his championship by defeating Alex Romero (Bingam) with a superior 17-0 victory!
Championship Match pin (119)Brown, payson vs. Shepard, viewmont
Championship Match 12-1 (125) Mellen, payson vs. Astle, layton
Championship Match 7-1 (130)Ford, payson vs. Naylor, davis
Championship Match 8-6 (171)Loveless, Payson vs. Mcbride, olympus
(JV) Weston Orton, 3rd place
(JV) Dustin Nielson, Champion
(JV) Will Ford, 3rd place
(JV) Dustin Sorenson, 3rd place
(JV) Devan Judd, 3rd place
(JV) Weston Johnson, 5th place
(Varsity) Hagen Loveless, 3rd place
(Varsity) Mitch Brown, Champion
(Varsity) Jed Mellen, Champion
(Varsity) Cole Ford, Champion
(Varsity) Zac Loveless, 3rd Place
(Varsity) Kaelen Loveless, 4th place
(Varsity) Brady Loveless, Champion
Individual Champions at the Viewmont Invitationals 2010-11
Jed Mellen, Brady Loveless and Mitch Brown remain undefeated.
Mitch Brown was awarded "most outstanding" wrestler in the lower weights
