After daylong wait, Riverton emerges as champion

KEARNS — A funny thing happened at last Thursday's Region 3 wrestling championships — nobody knew which team won.

Many figured Riverton had held on for the win, but as the individual awards were being presented at the conclusion of the meet, none of the coaches seemed to know where their teams finished.

"It's kind of like a Seinfeld episode," joked Bingham coach Russ Paulsen.

Unfortunately, because four ineligible wrestlers competed and placed in the top six in their respective weights, tournament organizers needed to go in a deduct points from three teams, all of whom were competing for the title.

Even though Riverton ultimately was awarded the team trophy, the official team scores weren't finalized until Friday afternoon.

Riverton coach Russ Crump didn't mind waiting a little longer to learn of his squad's region crown.

"We're very pleased with where they started from and where they ended up," said Crump. "We have no state placers coming back from last year, all we had were region placers, so basically we're a no-name team."

Riverton won the Region 3 crown with 304 points, following by Hunter's 277.5 and Bingham's 276.5. West Jordan (245), Copper Hills (146) and Kearns (51) rounded out region standings.

Riverton's "no-name" team now consists of three region champs.

Riverton's Shaun Lott won the 152-pound title with a win over Hunter's Jake Farley in the championship match. Teammate Chris Savage improved his overall record to 21-4 with a narrow 6-5 victory over Hunter's Jesse Justet in the 171-pound championship.

Earlier in the tournament, Riverton junior Chis Julkunen pinned Hunter's Colten Griffiths midway through the second period to claim the 140-pound title.

"We're trying to take the baby steps to trying to make a program people can be proud of," said Crump.

It helps when you're team is healthy. In a dual match with Bingham earlier this year, Riverton was missing three key wrestlers and ultimately lost. At the 5A duals, Riverton forfeited four weights because of injuries.

"We were kind of like a "Mash" unit there for a while," said Crump.

Before the point deductions for ineligible wrestlers, Bingham was in third place. However, the point juggling helped the Miners vault past Hunter into second place.

That second-place finish was made possible by Bingham's 1-2-3-4 punch in the lower weights of Ryker Vandertoolen (103), Mitch Moss (119), Jesse Clark (125) and Blake Griffiths (130), who all won individual region titles.

"They all work together, it's quite a foursome in there," said Paulsen. "It just builds everybody else up as well."