Beehive state's best high school wrestlers stage annual event Monday night at Utah Valley

OREM — Take the best high school wrestling talent from around the state, bring them all together on one glorious night for a lineup of promising matches pitting the best vs. the best, and what've you got?

Well, it's the Utah Amateur Wrestling Foundation's 12th annual All-Star Tournament.

And it features the Beehive State's most outstanding grapplers representing all five high school classifications, which will be competing against each other in a unique team format.

They'll converge on the UCCU Center on the campus of Utah Valley University beginning at 7 p.m. this evening.

The only other time you'll find this much high school wrestling talent taking it to the mats at one time is in the annual state championship meets. But in this tournament, All-Star squads are divided into their respective 5A, 4A and 3A divisions, along with a combined 2A/1A team, and they'll be battling for bragging rights with their prep counterparts from across the state.

"It's a good event," said Payson coach Chris Loveless. "It's fun to go and watch some of the best kids in the state wrestle against each other. It's an honor for those kids to be selected to participate in it each year.

"We have a tough schedule every week, and this is another good bunch of matches for us."

Coach Loveless will send four of his wrestlers onto the mats for the 3A team tonight — Mitch Brown (126 pounds), Jed Mellen (132), his son Zac Loveless (138) and Cole Ford (145) — and they'll all face tough opponents.

"All of them are good matchups. and three of them are first-time matchups," the Lions' coach said. "Brown, Ford and Loveless are each wrestling these kids for the first time, so that'll be interesting. Mellen's match is rematch of last year's state championship match against the kid from Logan (Quinn Hinckley).

"All of the kids are coming off a big Christmas break, so it's good to come back and get the second half of the year started with some good matches," Coach Loveless said. "It'll let them know where they're at and what they need to do to get ready for the rest of the season."

Pleasant Grove, the defending 5A state champion, has a pair of wrestlers going tonight in 120-pound Korbin Levin and 220-pound Brandon Dennison, as does last year's 5A runner-up Layton along with Bingham, Alta and Weber.

On the 4A All-Star squad, Maple Mountain and Mountain Crest will be well represented with three wrestlers each in the main event, while perennial prep wrestling powerhouse Box Elder has a pair of grapplers who will be in action.