High school wrestling: Pleasant Grove wins region tournament, looks to add to state dominance

PLEASANT GROVE — Quick, what teams come to your mind when you hear the word dynasty?

If you're a high school wrestling fan in the state of Utah, undoubtedly Pleasant Grove bounced around your noggin' like a pinball machine. The Vikings championship banners emblazon the rafters in the gymnasium endlessly.

Pleasant Grove has won a total of 13 wrestling championships stemming from 1971 until as recently as last year in 2011. The school has won 14 separate state titles in all other combined sports since its inception in 1912.

This year, the Vikings have only one voyage.

Win that illustrious 14th title and officially solidify the wrestling program as winning exactly half of the school's hardware.

Well folks, that journey is well on it's way as PG slaughtered the Region 4 championship with an overall score of 450.5 at its own stomping grounds Wednesday night.

Bingham finished second with a total score of 221.5.

"We just get after it, PG is known for wrestling," said Vikings senior captain Korbin Levin. "We have great coaches. When we get in tight situations we know what to do — we just wrestle hard. It's definitely (showed) by the score (tonight). That's how we needed to go into state, we wanted to qualify as (many) kids as we (could)."

Throughout the 14 weight classes, Pleasant Grove qualified 25 players for the state tournament.

Levin, a two-time state champion, easily trekked through the 120-pound division with two pins and a 19-1 decision in the second round to improve to 48-0 on the season.

"The pressure is on my back. I have two titles, hopefully going for three, it's a big target," he said. "When I lose it's a big deal, but when I win it's not — so it's kind of frustrating. I just have to wrestle my hardest and get the job done."

Lone Peak (172.0), Lehi (167.5), American Fork (151.5) and Riverton (55.0) completed the final standings for the meet.

In the championship bouts, PG was approaching a clean sweep of the competition — winning the 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138 and 145-pound divisions before American Fork's Tyler Horan stopped the bleeding and finally secured a victory in the 152 weight class.

"We just show up, dominate and go home. That's how PG does it. That's how we've done it for the last couple of years," said Pleasant Grove's Thomas Wind. "We're pretty confident we'll take state."