Hunter's depth paves way to Region 3 wrestling title

SOUTH JORDAN — This time, Hunter's depth proved to be the difference.

A year after finishing second at the Region 3 wrestling champions just six points behind Riverton, the Wolverines had 24 wrestlers place in the top six last week, which was more than enough to help them hold off Bingham for the region title.

"Our biggest strength is we have a whole bunch of really tough kids, maybe not any real superstars, but a bunch of tough, hard-working kids," said Hunter coach Craig Stauffer.

Hunter finished the two-day tournament with 359 points and was followed by Bingham (332.5), West Jordan (280), Riverton (236), Copper Hills (125) and Kearns (95).

Wrestlers who placed in the top three advanced to this week's state tournament at UVSC, which got under way on Wednesday. The championship matches are scheduled for tonight at 7 p.m.

The key for Hunter, according to Stauffer, was the first day of competition, and more specifically, the last round on that Wednesday.

"My kids just wrestled out of their minds; we ended up only losing four kids that day," said Stauffer.

It was such a great performance, Hunter had the region title locked up before Thursday's championship matches. It's a good thing too, because the Wolverines struggled in the finals. Of the seven Hunter wrestlers who advanced to the finals, only Jake Sneddon at 160 pounds and Skyler Bird at 189 pounds ended up winning.

"(Sneddon) has done well all year long," said Stauffer. "We've been working on stuff on top for him, a head lever and a cowboy, and he's just wrestling better and better and I'm excited for him to do well at state."

As for Birds, he's as close to a superstar as Hunter has, as evidenced by his 30-5 record heading into the state tournament.

"He's basically been dominating all the way throughout the year," said Stauffer.

Hunter's runner-up finishers were Michael Daniels (119), Braden Wamsley (140), Colton Griffiths (145), Juan Donis (152) and Josh Larson (215).

"I was hoping for five wrestlers in the finals, so any more than that was great," said Stauffer.

While Hunter finished with two individual champions, Bingham led the way, followed by Riverton with three.

Bingham coach Russ Paulsen was a little disappointed with second place, but he knew Hunter's depth was going to be tough to overcome. He knows, however, that with his four individual region champs, the Miners should fare better at state than Hunter.