Hunter edges Bingham for Region 3 wrestling title

SOUTH JORDAN — Bingham just didn't have enough depth to compete with Hunter at the Region 3 wrestling championships last week.

Despite finishing with four individual champions, the most in Region 3, it wasn't good enough to bring home the hardware as Hunter edged Bingham, 359 to 332.5, for the title.

"It's a little disappointing," said Bingham coach Russ Paulsen. "I thought we had the team who could do it, but it was a bit of a letdown on the whole team."

At 280 points, West Jordan finished third and was followed by Riverton (236), Copper Hills (125) and Kearns (95).

Bingham had 18 wrestlers place in the top six, whereas Hunter led the way with 24.

"Region is kind of different; it's like wrestling your varsity and (junior varsity) together," said Paulsen. "The region scores don't always reflect what's going to happen at state because of your power points."

That's a big reason why Bingham may finish as the top Region 3 team at the state tournament, which got under way on Wednesday at UVSC. The championship matches are scheduled for tonight at 7.

Bingham had seven wrestlers advance to the Region 3 championship matches, with Kade Moss (103), Mitch Moss (130), Blake Griffiths (135) and Spencer Paulson (285) all prevailing.

"Blake is the hardest-working kid we have on the team; you'd love to have those in every weight," said Paulson.

Bingham's three runner-ups were Ryker Vandertoolen (112), Riley Adamson (125) and Spencer Harris (160). Vandertoolen's overtime match with Copper Hills' Nick Branca was the most exciting, and controversial, of the tournament. Vandertoolen led 4-3 with 10 seconds remaining in the match, but he was taken down with five seconds remaining to fall behind by a point. He quickly escaped, but the third period ended just as he was taking down Branca.

In overtime, Vandertoolen was whistled for a penalty and lost, 6-5.

As for defending champion Riverton, coach Russ Crump was quite pleased with how his team performed. The Wolves advanced five kids to the finals, with Chris Julkunen (145), Kelston Blackburn (152) and Brandon Molder (171) all prevailing.

Riverton's Zack Ogden finished second at 103 pounds, while teammate Eli Fieldon finished second at 189 pounds.