OREM — If the ninth annual All-Star Wrestling Classic held Monday night at the McKay Events Center is any indication, the state of the sport in Utah is as strong as ever.

"I think Utah is underrated as a wrestling state," said Alta's Carson Kuhn, who defeated Chasen Tolbert of Delta 9-4 in a 112-pound battle. Both Kuhn and Tolbert are nationally ranked for their class and weight.

"When we get together at an event like this, you really see how many good wrestlers there are," added Kuhn. "All the guys here are tough. It is nice to get out in front of a big crowd and wrestle like that."

The event featured 56 of the best grapplers in the state divided into four teams of 14 by classification — the 1A and 2A teams were combined. The 4A squad flexed its muscle to take the team title. It won 10 of its 14 matches and picked up a couple of pins and a technical fall from three-time state champion Ethen Lofthouse finishing with 38 team points. The 5A team won the previous two years but settled for second at 25 team points and eight wins. The 3A team had 21 points and 1A/2A had 15.

Although it is truly just an exhibition and does not affect a team's or individual's chance at winning a state title, the athletes' competitive natures certainly show once on the mat.

"You go out there to show you are one of the best in the state. There is no way you want to lose," said Juab's Cody Keisel, who earned a hard-fought 5-3 win over Dixie's Chunner Nyberg. "We have a lot of pride to show that it doesn't matter how big of a school you come from, wrestling is wrestling no matter how you want to think about it."

Box Elder's Tucker Ray beat Delta's Derek Peterson 9-4 with the letters OMR written on the back of his leg.

"It means, 'One more round,"' said Ray. "Last year I lost the state title to Raider Lofthouse (who won his All-Star match 8-1 over Uintah's Creedon Merkley) in the last round, and I write that on me to remember that I need to push through that one last round."

The Utah Amateur Wrestling Foundation puts together the Classic as a fund-raiser to promote the sport in the state with most of the proceeds going to the Utah Valley University wrestling team. With a crowd of around 3,000, the event was again successful.

"We are happy to help the sport," said Ross Brunson, one of the founders of the event. "You can really see that we have a lot of quality wrestlers in the state, and I think we did a pretty good job of pairing them up tonight."

The committee was successful in making it competitive with many of the matches coming down to the wire and a couple needing overtime.

"You just try to dig deep and do what you have to," said Uintah's Colby Christensen, who got an escape with three seconds remaining to beat Trae Bennett of Fremont. "It was a fun time, and I am happy to get the win.

There are 28 other competitors that feel the same as Christensen. But for everyone involved, the 2009 version of the All-Star Classic was a success.

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E-mail: mblack@desnews.com