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Show 2 WEST VALLEY VIEW Thursday, Feb. 17, 1983 Brighton Wins Sixth Straight 4A Championship - Five Aire a Wrestlers Take OGDEN. By the time the Class 4A state wrestling finals rolled around Saturday night, the team competi- tion had all but ended. Some schools were still jockeying to improve their overall standing, but in the race for the one position that really counts - first - Brighton was light years ahead of the rest of the field. As a result, the finals were little more than a chance for individuals to bask in glory. Thats precisely what five Green Sheet area wrestlers did that night. 4A State Champs Darren Leo 98- n (Brighton) Robinson (Davis) DAVID LUCERO 1 19- - DAVID VIALPANDO 126 - Rich Lewis 132- - REX WATSON 138-RASALAZAR 145- - Shan Wilson 1 (CYPRUS) (CYPRUS) 12-- (Weber) (GRANITE) (GRANITE) (Vlewmont) (Hlllcrest) (Brighton) Allen Grltton 167- - David Petersen 1 55- - 185- - MOLONAI HOLA HW Dove Stoedter All five - (GRANITE) (Alta) two from Cyprus and three from Granite - capped stellar prep careers by achieving a status which will be theirs for the rest of their lives. They are state champs. All five did it with impressive performances. For two Granite wrestlers Rex Watson and his good Molonai Hola - the friend, - 132-pou- finals afforded a second opportunity to experience glory and to shake off the bitter taste of championship losses. Not many wrestlers get that chance. Two years ago, Hola reached the final round before losing. Last year Watson did the same. This year neither went home disappointed. One shot was all that was available for David Lucero and David Vialpando of Cyprus and a third Farmer matman, Ray Salazar. They made the most of it. Lucero and Back-to-bac- Vialpando made mincemeat of their opponents in the finals. They quickly gained point advantages, then wrapped up the titles with pins. It wasnt so easy for Salazar. But he proved what hard work, endurance and concentration can acg overcomplish in a time victory at 138. He was, to say the least, happy. At the end of the match, after the with the opobligatory hand-shak- e posing coaches, Salazar leaped for joy into the arms of his father, who had been taking pictures at matside. They were a happy family. Actually, a big happy extended family. Salazar and Vialpando, as it turns out, are cousins. A third cousin, Granites Lenny Vialpando, went home with a share of state honors as well. He finished sixth at 112. Not a bad couple of days work for the Vialpando-Salaza- r family. Nor was the luster of the occasion confined to the wrestlers and their families. In his previous 10 years at the helm at Granite, Coach Sam nerve-strainin- Arishita had never had a state champ. Hed come close - Richard Metcalf in 78, Hola in 81 and Watson last year - but never won. That can be hard on a coach. Now he has tutored three state champs. Cyprus Coach Steve Hennefer, in his second year at the Pirate helm, didnt hide his enthusiasm. He gave both Lucero and Vialpando big bear hugs and lifted them off the ground after their victories. His assistant, Sam Nichols, wore a face-wid- e grin. No team could match Granite for three individual champions. And Cyprus had as many as Brighton. But the Bengals had so much quality depth that they had their sixth straight 4A title wrapped up by Friday. Brighton finished with 168 points, quite far ahead of second-plac- e Laytons 122. Hillcrest was third with 120 while Granite took fourth with 102'. West Jordan was a surprise fifth with 95. Cyprus was 10th with 65 points, while Kearns had 35Vfe (16th), Granger 23Vfe (18th), Cottonwood 16 (23rd), Taylorsville 11 (24th) and Olympus 5 (25th). The team outcome was a disappointment for Arishita, who entered the tournament feeling his squad had a legitimate shot at unseating Brighton. While that didnt come about, he was more than satisfied with the outcome of Saturdays finals. 112 wrestlers. beat out some But Lucero was so impressive at this weight that even before the vote was announced, many coaches were just taking it for granted that he had top-gra- won. Lucero sealed his claim to the designation with a thoroughly convincing victory over Laytons Hyde. He had total control of the match from the handshake to the pin at 3:39. It was his fourth pin of the tournament. Opening day, he took just 50 seconds to pin Todd Collins of Davis. He followed that with a fall over West Jordans Tom Simmons in Lucero Pounds To win most outstanding wrestler honors at the state meet, one must 5:18. And he reached the finals by pinning Clearfields Shadd Ragan in 5:09. Lucero comes from a family of quality wrestlers. In the opinion of Arishita, hes the best. Said Sam:. Theres nobody in his class. Hes so outstanding. Tremendous. 119 1:49. Then it was time to celebrate. As it turned out, his toughest match was a victory over Brightons Chris Hodgkins. Vialpansemi-fin- do had no problem whatsoever in his first two matches, a 2 win over 9-- Hillcrests Troy Mika and a thrashing of Mike Gerrard of Davis. 24-- 1 Hodgkins, the Region Two champ, was up next. But Vialpando handled him as well, winning Pounds 8-- For Vialpando, the finals were a breeze. An aggressive, determined wrestler, he scored a quick takedown, then used a four-hea- d scissor squeeze to put West Jordans Rod Fresquez on his back in just 132 Watson represented three championship (See Page 4, Col. 2) the first of tries for Hola Salazar Watson Vialpando Pirate Test Eye State Gold Homme - Lancers Drive Nail Into Colts' Coffin SOUTH COTTONWOOD. Granger highs Lancers assured themselves of no worse than a tie for a state tournament berth here Friday and all but eliminated Cottonwood from securing one with a 9 win over the Colts. Granger could find itself battling for the league championship Tuesday if it can get past Cyprus on the Lancer court tomorrow ( Friday) . The Lancers are 3 in league play. 65-4- 5-- have Cyprus and Granite to the tie mathematical chances Lancers and force a three-wa- y playoff for two tourney berths or a coin flip of some sort. Cottonwood ) could, with a pair of wins, still tie Granite and Cyprus if those two lose their remaining contests. Friday, the Colts must travel to Olympus where the Titans are red hot, standing now at 3 after a 3 start. Cottonwood will then host a (2-6- 5-- highly-motivate- d Granite team Tuesday. Granger will be out to erase the only blemish on its home record tomorrow when the Lancers host Cyprus. The Pirates captured the Green Sheet Classic title on the Lancer court, but no one else has won there. Granger would find itself matched up with Skyline for at least a share of the league title on the Eagle court Tuesday if it can defeat Cyprus. The better a teams finish, the better the seeding in the state tournament. It all boils down to an interesting finish in Region Three. Coach Scott GREEN SHEET PHOTOS DOIN' THE TWO-STE. . . While Granite's Rex Watson (right) and Brighton's mark Romine appear to be doing the jitterbug in the finals, it Mike Gorrell was actually a victory dance for Watson, who easi- y won the 4A state crown at that weight. Watson was one of three Farmer champs. P d Jordan And Tooele Vanquished Bulldogs To Battle West SALT predicted LAKE. Anyone who had a four-wa- y tie for the Region Six championship would off the court have been laughed DISCOUNT AUTO PARTS FOR ALL YOUR TRUCK 968-291- teams win. The only problem is that the home teams havent been doing all the winning. If they do so tomorrow with Judge beating West and Murray handling Jordan, then the four teams would sport 3 tourney-boun- d records and a coin flip would determine state tourney seedings. The tourney begins Feb. 28 at Weber State. Judge was the major culprit in forging the tie potential by going to Jordan and defeating the Beetdig-ger- s Friday. On Tuesday, as expected, the Bulldogs handled Tooele and Murray beat South, while West handed Jordan its second straight setback. Murray played well at Jordan and many had predicted that in the rematch the Spartans would prevail, as would the Bulldogs at home against a West squad that beat Judge by four at West. It wont be easy for either of the home teams, but it does give them an edge. 7-- A CAR NEEDSII 3495 Host 3500 South when the season began. But thats exactly what could -and should - happen tomorrow (Friday) if the games are played according to Hoyle and the home 4 Judge 51, Jordan 45 The environment was hostile, the foe was unbeaten in the league and Jordan had rather easily handled Judge on the Bulldog court. The perfect setting for a Jim d team. And the Bulldogs responded (See Page 4, Col. 5) Yerkovich-coache- 3495 Host 3500 South 968-291- 4 Iverson predicted a full house for the Granger-Cypru- s meeting tomorrow at 7:30. Against Cottonwood, the Lancers turned in four solid quarters and had good team balance. Just about everything went their way. Granger started quickly, opening up a 3 lead in the first period. Cottonwood kept pace in the second canto, but trailed 4 at halftime and in the third period the Lancers extended their lead to Seeing no need to pull the ball out, the Lancers kept firing away and scored an additional 21 points down the 19-1- 31-2- 46-3- stretch. Opening in a man defense with Wilder defending Owyn Anderl, the Lancers went into a zone after the first period, but the Colts could not take advantage of it. Anderl had a frustrating night, hitting 6x16 from the field, but still led the Colts with 14 points. He was the (See Page 4, Col. 4) Greg PRICES SUBJECT TO STOCK ON HAND, F.E.T.S1.53 to $3.01 GLANCING BACK w In sports . . . Kearns high cagers captured their first victory ever, a thriller 55-5- 1690 W. 3500 3 over Skyline, when Scott Steele drilled a jumper with 20 seconds left. George Thomas paced Coach John Woods squad, which trailed by nine going into the fourth quarter, with 15. (That was February, 1967.) 972-853- 1 190 E. 2 9400 So. 571-940- 1797 So. WEST VALLEY SANDY 2 So. STATE ST. OREM 225-73- |