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Show Two Park City wrestlers given top seed for Thursday's region tournament "How did I end up like this?" Park City wrestler Matt Burnett looks a little bewildered during match with Scott YVeyland of Manila. photos by David Hampshire Two Park City wrestlers have been seeded first in their weight classes for the region wrestling tournament to be held Thursday at North Summit High School in Coalville. Seeded first in the 126-pound class will be senior Mike Birch, who has yet to lose a match in his own weight class this season. Also seeded first in his weight class is 132-pound junior Ocey Leavitt, another consistent performer for the. Miners this season. Park City Coach Jesse Schaub said Park City will have two other seeded wrestlers at the tournament: Rob Bassett, seeded second at 105 pounds, and Matt Burnett, seeded third at 119 pounds. The Miners' last official competition competi-tion before the tournament came Thursday, Jan. 17 when they hosted Manila, North Summit and South Summit at Miner Gym. Although the Miners finished well behind both North and South Summit when the team scores were calculated (thanks in part to a number of forfeits), Schaub did find some noteworthy individual performances per-formances to talk about. One surprise came at 105 pounds, where Park City's Rob Bassett pinned North Summit's Wes Blon-quist, Blon-quist, whom Schaub calls "probably the best 105-pounder in the region." He said Bassett got Blonquist in a standing headlock, then took him down. "It's one of those types of moves that either makes you or breaks you," he said. For Bassett it was the right move. At 132 pounds, Ocey Leavitt picked up five near fall points against Theron Anderson of North Summit, then pinned him in the second period. "Ocey is becoming a little more confident on his feet," Schaub said. Mike Birch, who normally wrestles at 126 pounds, found himself in the 138-pound class this week when he chose not to "make weight" in his usual class. Even with this handicap Birch managed to pin Yancey Staples of North Summit. But his luck wasn't as good against Troy Prescott of South Summit. Schaub said he made a mistake by trying to use a "leg ride" against Prescott. "It was a real bad choice on Mike's part and a real good counter move by Troy," he said. The outcome: Birch found himself pinned to the mat, his first loss of the season and the first time he has been pinned jv n v ! ' . ; , going back to last season. Taking Birch's spot at 126 pounds was Matt Burnett, who came close to pinning his opponent from Manila, Scott Weyland, before losing on points, 16-11. Burnett had less success against Stu Ovard of North Summit, losing on a pin in the first period.- In other results: Chad Zierenberg, at 98 pounds, lost 17-5 to Rynn Ferry of North Summit and lost by a pin to Lynn Thornton of South Summit. Rob Bassett, at 105 pounds, pinned Troy Crittenden of South Summit. Greg Reed, at 112 pounds, won by forfeit over South Summit by was pinned by Clint Allison of North Summit. He also lost by a pin to Keddy Virdus of Manila. Brent Adams lost by a pin to Kirk Christian of South Summit at 167 pounds and lost by a pin to Troy Crofts of North Summit. Aaron Falls, at 185 pounds, lost 5-0 to Bart Shoda of South Summit and was pinned by Wes Lowham of North Summit. ' ' it .-;uU'i & v - "Please, clock, hurry up!" Miner Coach Jesse Schaub seems to be thinking as he gazes at the end of the vm |
