Defending champions left going for a repeat title

OREM — With the competitions for the team titles becoming much clearer, there still remains plenty of intrigue at the state wrestling tournament. Every year there are wrestlers going for a repeat championship, and this year's group has its share of great individual champions.

"Everyone, including me, is expecting it," said Kolby Bradley, a returning champion from Springville about the pressure to capture another title. "It is a lot to live up to, but I don't let it bother me too much. More than anything I want to satisfy myself and get it."

Each of the returning title holders has his own style, his own attitude his own method about how to become a champion, but each seemed to be very effective. Of the 14 defending champions, only one failed to reach the finals, and that one was Bingham's Mitch Moss, who lost to two-time defending champion Shay Warren of Weber.

Warren's win puts him in the finals with still the potential to become an elusive four-time champion. He is a junior looking for title number three.

"I try not to think about it," Warren said of the pressures of being a defending champion. "I really try to just go out and wrestle my best every single match and forget about the pressure."

Sean Porter of Davis has many similarities to Warren. He too is going for a third title in his junior year, and oddly enough, both wrestlers have coaches that are very familiar with not only how they wrestle, but their entire lives. Both Porter and Warren are coached by their fathers.

"Sometimes it's easier. You can go home and talk all about wrestling and what you need to work on," Sean said at the Layton tournament earlier in the year about having his father, Alan, as a coach. "Sometimes it is a lot harder. You have a lot more pressure to perform."

There is no denying the skills each of the defending champions possesses, but the thoughts about how that title affects a wrestler varies greatly.

"I think it's a bigger pressure to be the underdog. The fact that your opponent is wrestling someone who's won can get in his head, make him choke. I think it is just a big confidence boost to know that you have done it before," said defending champion Ryan Gonzales of Payson.

Jaren Day of Alta took the opposite side. "It is a lot of pressure put on you. Everyone expecting you to do well. I kind of like being the underdog better because you can sneak up on people and surprise the expectations instead of trying to live up to them," Day said.