High school wrestling: Participants for 13th Annual All-Star Dual at UVU on Jan. 8 are announced

The Utah Amateur Wrestling Foundation has released the names of the participants in the 13th Annual All-Star Dual.

The event pits Utah's best wrestlers on four teams based on classification. Class 5A, 4A and 3A will each have a team of wrestlers, while 2A and 1A will have a combined team.

The dual takes place Tuesday, Jan. 8 at UVU's UCCU Event Center.

The event will have a slighlty different wrinkle with three headliner matchups instead of two, and two of these matches will actually feature wrestlers from the same classification going against each other.

"There seemed to be a lot of interest in seeing some specific matchups by the wrestling community," said UAWF selection committee member Brian Preece. "The All-Star dual has always had a team component but we felt there was enough individual talent in the weight classes in the classifications in which the wrestlers were pulled to give Utah wrestling fans the best of both worlds — a great team event between the classifications as in past years but also have some amazing matchups between some of our state's best wrestlers."

One of these headliner matches features Maple Mountain's Grant LaMont vs. Box Elder's Rasten Yeates. Both are two-time defending state champions. LaMont has wrestled at 152 and Yeates at 160 this season, but LaMont has agreed to bump up a weight to meet Yeates in the final match of the night. LaMont and and Yeates are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 respectively in the Utah USA Wrestling rankings.

In the opening match of the night Payson's Jed Mellen and Spanish Fork's Branson Ashworth will tangle. Mellen is seeking his third state title and recently won the Reno Tournament of Champions. He's ranked No. 4 in the Utah USA Wrestling rankings. Ashworth is a defending state champion ranked No. 8 in the same rankings. Both have wrestled 138 pounds this season, though Mellen competed at 132 in the Reno event. Both Payson and Spanish Fork have won state championships in the past decade.

The other feature match has Cedar's Dusty Hone taking on Alta's Matt Findlay in a bout at 126 pounds. Since both are from different classifications, this match between two extremely gifted wrestlers will count in the team standings. Hone has won two state titles and is ranked No. 3 while Findlay is ranked No. 7 and is a two-time returning state champ for the Hawks.

As in past years there will be 28 matches counting in the team standings as well as some additional "wildcard" matches. The action will take place on three mats with the exception of the feature matches that will take place as stand-alone contests.

The 3A team won this meet last year breaking a three-year winning streak by the 5A squad.

Listed below are the all-star wrestlers, with alternate team members listed second:

Class 5A

106 pounds: Ben Anderson (Pleasant Grove), Taylor Porath (Viewmont)

113 pounds: Brock George (Syracuse), Kyson Levin (Pleasant Grove)*

120 pounds: Andrew Astle (Layton), Tanner Luke (Viewmont)

126 pounds: Matt Findlay (Alta)**, Antonio Meikel (Kearns)*

132 pounds: Bronson Young (Pleasant Grove), Zach Colangelo (West)

138 pounds: Zane Rich (Syracuse), Josh Anderson (Pleasant Grove)

145 pounds: Ken Astle (Layton), Bridger Cutler (Pleasant Grove)*

152 pounds: Will Kilpack (Alta), Will Chavez (West)